My Journal from the Theodorescu Clinic

I spent four months in the fall of 2004 training in Germany with three-time Olympic gold medallist Monica Theodorescu and her living legend father, George. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and totally revolutionized my riding. So when I learned that George was coming Stateside to Virginia in November, I had to find a way to go! Thanks to a scholarship from Dressage4Kids, I was able to.

The clinic was held at Mike and LeAnn Hansen’s stunning Glamorgan Manor just outside Richmond, Virginia. Mike and LeAnn were awesome hosts, providing home cooked lunches for us all three days, and were super helpful when we ran into some major shipping trouble. My wonderful Grand Prix horse Bellinger and I arrived in the wee hours of Thursday night, after hitting major traffic on the Washington DC Beltway (ugh). No rest for the weary, though – a few hours of sleep and we were off and running for our Friday morning lesson.

Because Chef (that’s German for “Boss,” and it’s what all the working students at his farm call him) knows Billy and I well from our time spent in Germany, it was right to work. From moment one, Chef told me I had to sit more, and bring my upper body back. I think I could make millions selling tapes of him saying “Upper body back!” over and over again! Billy is a hot horse, and tends to show it by getting very short and high in the neck. My natural inclination is to try and use my hands to bring him down, but Chef got on my case right away, instead encouraging me to just ride him slower. I slowed my posting, set my hands quiet and low, and used serpentines to help control the speed, focusing on going really straight across the center of the ring. And wouldn’t you know it, 10 minutes into our ride, I had a different horse – quiet, submissive, with a nice long neck and poll at the highest point.

We spent a little time on lateral work, where Chef reminded me to use my weight as an aid. Stepping in the inside stirrup, especially in the half-passes, means that I need less leg to send Billy sideways. I still need my leg, though, as the half-passes get steeper, like in the Grand Prix, and Chef had me use half-halts on my outside rein to slow the forehand down and let the haunches catch up. And, of course, “upper body back!”

We finished up the trotwork with some medium trots on short diagonals, with voltes before and after each medium. Chef had me use the first volte to put Billy on my inside rein, which I’d never heard of, but it makes a lot of sense: if he’s on my inside rein going to the right, I don’t have to put him on my outside rein when we change to the left – he’s already there, and can just focus on the transition back from the medium. We also worked on keeping my “upper body back!” (see a trend here?)

We only did a little work on the piaffe and passage, which was a little frustrating. I feel like that is our weakest point, and I wanted to spend more time on it, but the work we did do was really very good. We rode the passage out of the medium trot, which helped me keep more power in the hind leg. Between that and – you guessed it! – “upper body back!” I felt like I was sitting very deep and heavy in the saddle, and could really drive the hind leg and the back up. It was an incredible feeling. It also helped the transitions to piaffe, the bane of my existence, to have more push from the passage, because I felt like I could ride a big passage to a smaller passage to a big piaffe to a little piaffe.

We then went to work on the canter. I didn’t feel the same great neck as I did in the trot, but the work was still very good. By this point we’d been working for more than 45 minutes, so Chef had me do a little bit of everything – half pass, pirouette and tempi changes – and we decided to work more with it on Saturday. We finished the ride at the trot, going back to the serpentine, and Chef had me let my reins get longer. Staying at the sitting trot and following the serpentine line let Billy stretch down, but not get so wild like in a stretchy circle. He felt so super I didn’t want to get off, but I knew Saturday was another day.
We were one of the last rides on Saturday, and had a whole flock of spectators watching. Billy gave them the hairy eyeball once or twice, but settled in beautifully, just where we’d left off the day before. We went back to the trotwork, and focused a little more on bringing the haunches in the half pass. I think that’s something I’ll never be able to take for granted.

Chef had us spend more time at the canter. We talked about the pirouettes a great deal – I tend to come into the pirouettes a little on the big side, and then make them smaller as the movement goes on. Chef says I need to think about the opposite – starting small and allowing Billy to flow out of the pirouette, like a crescendo. We practiced riding the first half like a half pirouette, and then making the remaining steps bigger one at a time, “like a volte”. I think Billy was content to just stay in the small pirouette, and got a little frazzled when I started encouraging him out, so his nice long neck suffered a little, but on the whole we made some good progress.

We also worked on going more forward in the lines of tempi changes. We did a very wishy-washy line of 3s, and Chef made me put all my reins in one hand so I wouldn’t block Billy’s momentum. We did 4s, 3s, 2s and (on the second try) beautiful 1s, all one-handed! We got a little applause from the audience, which made my day. Billy is still finding the balance a little bit with the new impulsion, so he’d occasionally change short behind, but Chef encouraged me to continue forward – “He will find it on his own; the forward is the most important.” And, of course, “Upper body back!”

We did some more piaffe and passage, and got one really super transition. I asked Chef about it, and I could tell it was something he couldn’t quite put into words. He said that the transition can never lose the impulsion, that I have to ride it forward come what may. The more forward energy I have, the more steady the rhythm will be, even in the transition. I think this qualifies as having “feel,” something I haven’t quite found at this level of precision yet. Above all, Chef encouraged patience. But it’s so hard to be patient when we’re so close to figuring it all out!

Sunday gave me plenty of opportunity. After a trot warmup, Chef threw us right into the passage, and had me ride steep trot half passes into the passage to help engage the hind end. I felt Billy was a little tired, and he got a little flustered and tried to canter. Chef had me wait him out, and we did a few 20 meter circles in a very forward piaffe until Billy settled into a great rhythm with really good steps. The transitions we rode were the best they’ve been, and after the very last (nearly perfect!) one Chef said “STOP! HOP DOWN!” I jumped off right in the middle of the ring and rolled up my stirrups – when one of Chef’s horses makes a big step forward in his training, the ride is always over. Billy got lots of carrots from Chef, and definitely knew he’d done well – he dragged me all over the place when I went to walk him out, and let a few good bucks loose in his stall, completely ignorant of the fact that he’d just worked his heart out for 45 minutes!

Overall, I’m thrilled with the weekend’s progress. More than anything, I learned that I cannot expect my horses to sit quietly on their butts if I can not sit quietly on mine. It was amazing how a few degrees difference in the angle of my body and the depth of my seat made such a tremendous difference. The other big lesson I’m taking home with me is to have patience. Rome was not built in a day; neither is a Grand Prix horse. Billy trusts me and is getting confidence in his work, and the best way to make sure I keep both is to never push him beyond what he’s capable of, and always know when to stop. I was also reminded of how lucky I am to have such a wonderful dance partner as Billy. There’s no greater feeling in the world than finishing up a lesson with a legend in the sport to have him point at you and tell the audience, “Now, that is a horse!”

Thank you again so very much to everyone at Dressage4Kids for this tremendous opportunity!