International Academy of Equestrian Studies in Germany,
A Journal
by Marissa Toomey
Lendon Gray Scholarship Recipient— 2003

Day 1: 6/30/03

Well, though my perennially un-settable watch (a button is missing) is trying to convince me that it is 2:40 p.m., my body- still on Eastern Standard Time but awake since 5:45 (German time) this morning definitely thinks otherwise. But that’s all right as Linda, the very nice uber coordinator and barn manager, planned on a little jet lag, and I’m off to bed soon. First though, let me quickly recap my first day here. Yesterday, too, since I’ve got my pen handy.

I arrived in Munich shortly after ten yesterday morning with about half an hour to catch my connecting flight to Muenster. The terminal my flight arrived at was brand new- so new that not only was my flight the first ever to arrive at it but that security was not yet set up so well. Despite the agonizingly slow pace with which I was ushered through, I made it to my flight in the nick of time and even arrived on time in Muenster. Of course when I got to baggage claim, my suitcase came right out but not my duffel bag. Apparently, my duffel bag had made it to Munich but missed its next flight. Fortunately, my bag arrived at the stables today. At least I fared better than another student whose complete set of luggage did not arrive until this evening.

Now that I’ve digressed, time for all of the good parts (and there are many, in my humble opinion). For one thing, everyone here is very nice. There are nine girls, all between the ages of 15-18 who hail from all over the US and one from England. At first, I was a little intimidated by the ‘horsey-ness’ of everyone else’s background in comparison to mine. About half live on horse farms, and one girl- my room mate in fact- even takes correspondence courses instead of attending high school so that she can ride all day and travel around the country to horse shows. Despite the equine intensive backgrounds of my peers, some of them are definitely more serious than others, and it is immediately apparent watching them ride. Our chaperones are the dorm mother, my room mate Tara’s mother, who is a little too intense, and Erin, a graduate of the Academy’s “A” trainer certification program and the trainer of Jackie from California.

There are three trainers over at the Academy, all of whom are excellent riders and inspirational to watch as they ride all day. Christiane, a berieter going for her mastery this winter, is responsible for teaching us, though Stephan is always attentive. Marcel works for Stephan and formerly worked for the Academy, so he is always riding and it is fun to watch him ride because many of the horses he rides are difficult ones sent to him for retraining. One of the things that I immediately noticed was different about the riding here was that none of the three- all superbly finessed riders- was hesitant to correct the horses in a big way- such as Stephan sending a horse to gallop when he slacked off- but then he immediately became quiet again. And I don’t even mean quiet: I mean completely still. Probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned so far is the true effectiveness of these riders with their tall, solid seats. Lendon knows from encouraging me once to watch a great rider at a horse show and telling me to imitate her (was it Birgit Ostergaard?). Getting to watch these riders for hours on end is a big incentive to ride better.

We may be guests here for two weeks, but that doesn’t mean they don’t put us to work. We rise at 5:45 to get to the barn by 6: 30 so that we can muck, hay, straw, and sweep the barn by 8:00. They try to make everything very efficient here. Instead of little wheelbarrows, for example, we use these huge metal carts called Lauries which easily fit the soiled bedding for 4 horse’s stalls. The brooms we use to sweep look remarkably like the ones Harry Potter flies around on, only bigger and more effective than the brooms we use in the U.S.

After chores we get a nice sit-down breakfast of juice, tea, and rolls, followed by theory sessions given by Stephan then on to riding lessons with Christiane. I’ve been assigned to a horse named Ironside, who, contrary to his name is plenty supple and light, perhaps too light as his tendency is to suck back and go behind the bit. He’s probably about 16hh and does roughly I-1 work and he is very, very sweet and a pleasure to ride. I think I’ve really lucked out in this choice of horse, because while he is very light to the aids and will do the movements much, much more easily than Nelson can, I can have lots of practice making my half-halts correct so that he will step under and use his back well and come in to true collection. In addition to a daily ride on Ironside, I’m told we’ll be having jumping and longe lessons later on which sound like something to look forward to. The schedule they have us keep is rigorous but I’m having fun already and looking forward to the next two weeks.

Day 2: 7/1/03

The morning routine is becoming more…well, routine already. Today was our first theory session with Stephan. He went over the 6 stages of the training scale in full detail as well as briefing us on the history of dressage. ( Training Scale/ German System of training: 1. Rhythm; 2. Relaxation; 3. Contact; 4. Impulsion; 5. Straightness; 6. Collection) Stephan is masterful at really breaking it down and showing us the logical progression of the system and how it is impossible for the horse to progress correctly without following the scale. Then I had my lesson on Ironside. He really is almost too light sometimes, as he drops behind the bit if I don’t watch out, but I am able to focus a lot on my position, trying to keep my hips swinging while not losing any of the tightness in my abdominals and back.

After riding and lunch, we went to a horse veterinary and rehabilitation clinic, Revito, which is right next door to the Academy. Here we were given a lecture on the horse’s back and the importance of its being used correctly. The vet demonstrated the flexion of the back muscles on two horses of different degrees of strength, then we watched a horse as he began to increase the swing in his back as he became more warmed up on a treadmill. It was neat to see all of the devices they use to rehabilitate the horses- the treadmill, swimming pool, solarium, and longing ring.

After the vet’s lecture, we returned to the Academy. I had a group jumping lesson on a very big, eager horse who happily took each fence. As a result, my preliminary apprehension about jumping dissolved and the lesson was a blast. I think we jumped about three feet by the end- which wasn’t so bad considering the limited jumping experience of all of the members of my group.

Some things really haven’t surprised me- the quality of the training of the horses, the meticulous care taken in maintaining the barn, and the discipline used in applying the German system. Some things have been a bit different from how I expected them to be, though. For example- two things Lendon constantly stresses- forwardness in the walk and going into corners- have not even been mentioned to any of the students by the trainers, even though some of the members of my group seem to have no concept of these things. Another thing that I’ve noticed is that for the majority of the time, we really are left to our own devices. I got about ten minutes of concentrated instruction from Christiane, but aside from that, I’ve mainly worked on my own and enjoyed the horse I’m riding. Just being here, riding in the same arena as riders with nearly perfect seats as well as riders with extremely poor ones, has been a great motivation to focus on the quality and effectiveness of my position. Beginning the day as we do, with a very serious hour-long lecture on dressage and riding theory, is also a nice way to start thinking about what needs to be accomplished when I get on the horse.

Day 3: 7/2/03

Following morning chores and breakfast, we went to the D.O.K.R. to watch a qualifier for the young horse championships for 5 & 6 year old horses. While I realize that the horses we watched were the cream of the crop, it was breathtaking to watch three hours worth of terrific horses- all well ridden. I must say, though, that I agree with Jessie (Rizzi) on Ingrid Klimke. The woman DOES NOT move on a horse yet all of the three horses she rode were spectacular-particularly the first horse she rode- a big black five year old who moved like a mature top Grand Prix horse. There was definitely not a single bad horse in the bunch, though it was interesting to watch all of the riders and see how each affected his or her horse. Some definitely rode the horses for collection and suspension, while others rode their horses with less elevation and in their natural paces. At first, I was surprised that none of the riders were wearing show attire- after all, these horses had been polished to perfection and this was a very serious qualifier. The riders were all dressed down a little so that the focus would be on the horses, and only on the horses. While I was at the show, I ran into Nancy Later (small world, isn’t it?) who was there to watch and to accompany the trainer she’s been working with and will be working with through November- a very good Dutch rider showing two enormous chestnuts.

After watching all morning, our humbled but inspired group returned to the Academy for lessons. Ironside was very good and I must say he’s doing an admirable job trying to teach me about collection. The importance of keeping my seat bones VERY deep and sitting as tall and as elegantly as possible is really becoming apparent. When I am sitting correctly with a deep seat, my half-halts followed through with a driving aid actually work and his neck grows upward and I can actually feel the increased suspension. This may not seem all that exciting, but on this horse who lets you know when you are executing an aid correctly or not, it is pretty darn cool. It’s really difficult to maintain since Ironside loves to suck back behind the vertical, so Christiane reminded me to keep up the half-halts and work on controlling his entire body before sending me off to work on my own again. It was difficult to work today because a woman who is in touch with a prospective buyer for Ironside was there filming my ride- or rather the horse- but I felt I was able to accomplish something despite the nerve wracking scrutiny on the sidelines. I discovered yesterday that nearly half of the school horses at the Academy are for sale; they keep them for a year or two and then sell them because they always want to have fresh school horses who haven’t been ruined by too many riders or too many sub-par riders. All of the horses are really well maintained, but they don’t get the attention of privately owned horses, so selling them also insures them a more contented life in the long run. This is a pretty good idea, I think.

Once we’d finished evening chores, we drove to the German Riding School for a lecture on horse anatomy and the importance of stretching the back given by Dr. Hauschmann, a well-known vet in the area who treats some of the Academy horses. He said a lot and demonstrated using the skeleton of the former breeding stallion Foxtrot. I’ll try to summarize his lecture:

*Stephan contradicted this later on using Farbenfroh, a winner at the young horse champs., as an example of horse whom this statement did not apply to

Some of us didn’t know quite what to think- the vet was a bit zealous in his convictions, and some of what he said was contradictory to other things I’ve heard or been taught, yet everything he said did make sense when he explained it. Something to think about, I suppose.

Following the lecture, we went back to the Academy for a barbecue, courtesy of Linda and her friend Olav since Freckenhorst had long since stopped serving, then finally to the hotel for bed.

Day 4: 7/3/04

Today we just stayed at the Academy. We had an interesting lecture from Stephan this morning where he showed us 4 videos: a 4 year-old, a 9-year old at 3^rd level but schooling FEI, Anky van Grunsven riding the young Grand Prix horse Krack C at the WEG, and finally Ulla Salzgeber on Rusty (also at the WEG). It was really neat to see the different stages of development all in a row like that, particularly as a follow-up to our prior training scale lecture. Stephan’s main points illustrated the effect of training on the gaits. The 4 year-old was very well balanced but fairly ordinary, yet Stephan informed us that as a five year old he’d developed into the reserve champion at the bundeschampionat. His strength over the back had improved and so, in turn, had his gaits. With the 9 year-old, she showed fabulous gaits at the beginning of her test, but as the test went on, she began to tire and her gaits became a little flatter, a little less cadenced. With the 2 Grand Prix horses, we were able to see that Rusty was stronger and more experienced as he was able to maintain so much energy throughout. Despite this, Stephan could not say enough good things about Anky’s freestyle to music from Carmen (he told this long story about watching the freestyles last summer and I guess this one was the highlight of his evening).

My lesson was very educational today, albeit a little frustrating. I received a lot of help from Christiane, working through to a high degree of collection in trot. The horse almost wound up being too passage-y at points, and Ironside wasn’t strong enough to maintain it for very long, but it was still a lot of fun. Our new goal is longer strides now that I’m starting to half-halt a little better. Later in the afternoon, I had a longe lesson with Andrea where, under Christiane’s suggestion, we focused a lot on loosening my hips while not losing any of the effect of my seat or the strength in my abs. We did some useful exercises, and I hope I can apply the focus of my longe lesson to my riding tomorrow.

Day 5: 7/4/03

Happy July 4^th! Though you wouldn’t necessarily know it over here. Today, we began with an anatomical theory discussion focused on rhythm and looseness by Stephan- following chores, of course. Afterwards, I had a riding lesson with Christiane during which I don’t think the quality of our collection was as good as yesterday’s because I held too much with my hands and don’t think I sat as well. Curious was this because I had a great longe lesson yesterday afternoon, so my seat should’ve been better. I hope to work on more movements tomorrow while still focusing on the same ideas. I’d love to learn to sit straight and half pass at the same time. I’m having so much fun on this horse I can’t even start to explain- he’s just so sweet and generous.

This afternoon, it was off to a jumper/dressage show in Warendorf. Both Christiane and Marcel rode (jumping and dressage, respectively). The jumpers were a lot of fun to watch, also a bit terrifying to see warm up because collisions seemed inevitable. They had what looked like some sort of pony equitation class in the next ring where some awesome little ponies were strutting their stuff. (Lendon would’ve loved it.) Because this was a local show, there were plenty of green horses being shown and the atmosphere was relaxed. Some of the riders, including one who came over to my friend and me and asked me to hold his horse while he walked the course, were very good, while others were quite bad, to be brutally honest. It was interesting to me to see such a variety, but I guess we’re smack in the middle of horse country. Many of the Academy horses are difficult, too, and all definitely have their quirks-which is why they are such great school horses because while they’re not easy, they definitely all know the tricks and know how to go correctly when they’re ridden well.

This evening, after a light dinner, Jessica Blackmon (of Stargate Sporthorses fame; a good rider who is in my group for riding lessons) and I went for a walk on the roads and trails near where we’re staying. The area is so beautiful it had me wishing I lived here. We got lost though and wound up walking several miles further than anticipated…but we made it back just before dark, which falls around 10 p.m.

Day 6: 7/5/03

Today began similarly to all of the others with chores. Instead of a lecture, though, we watched a video on correct and incorrect positions and seats during which nearly everyone dozed off because the lights were so dim and everyone was so exhausted. After the video, I had my lesson- this morning I probably received the most thorough instruction as of yet, as we were able to progress to doing lots of movements, mostly ones that were meant to help with my control over the horse’s body. We’re headed for straightness, so first we have to go crooked. Well, not really of course, but _ pass, shoulder in and such. I think I was definitely sitting better today (thank goodness) and that was helpful because it meant the horse could go better.

This afternoon, we took a nice bike ride around Warendorf where we did a little bit of shopping, learned a bit of history from Linda’s friend Olav, watched beach volleyball in the town square, and finally went to a nice Italian restaurant and an ice cream parlor. All a nice way to end a busy week.

Days 7 & 8: 7/6- 7/7/03

Yesterday (Sunday) we got very lost going to a horse show. As a result, we missed nearly the entire Grand Prix Kur (Hubertus Schmidt was the victor, George Williams 2^nd as I recall), but we stayed for the Riders Tour jumping class, which was very exciting to watch. Roderigo Pessoa, who is much shorter than I’d thought, and Peter Wylde, were highly finessed in their styles and made quite an impression. Pessoa won by a huge margin in the jump off- he’s truly in a class of his own. The way he cut corners, was able to gallop at fences but collect just in time to jump neatly over…that just takes pure skill. The audience was huge, the fans were vocal, and there was even entertainment- a full fledged wild & crazy marching band playing in the arena while they set up courses. The closest thing I’ve seen to the amount of enthusiasm from all sides at this show was when I went to the National Horse Show a few years ago at Madison Square Garden- and this show was a big CDI but not even one of the premier ones everyone thinks of.

This morning there was no lecture, but I had what I thought was a great ride…until I saw the 30 seconds of infamy that Tara’s mom had videoed (she filmed everyone for a little bit so we could check our progress). I was frustrated and motivated after seeing how short I’ve been riding the horse. Christiane gave me some helpful pointers as we watched the tape, and she advised me in particular to focus on my warm up, something she hasn’t commented on yet, explaining that I should get Ironside low and through back-to-front before progressing further with other things. Later on in the day I had a cavalleti lesson with Andrea on a big chestnut named Skippy. The horse was very nice to ride, but there wasn’t much use in the cavalleti lesson, since I spent most of the lesson teaching the horse who’d never done cavalleti before how to go over comfortably, and there didn’t really seem to be much other purpose. Nonetheless, it was fun. After evening chores, I tried to get the Internet working to e-mail mom about the uselessness of Dr. Wunderlich (let’s just say all I got out of it was a few laughs and a promise to send him a post card from New York), but was unsuccessful. Then it was back to Freckenhorst again and another walk with friends.

Days 9 & 10: 7/8 and 7/9/03

No theory again today or yesterday, as Stephan is still in England, but there are other interesting things going on. I had a longe lesson with Andrea this morning and we did many of the same exercises as last week. We progressed faster, though, and worked on exercises to deepen my seat, such as lengthening and shortening trot and canter and I would sit deeper and use my stomach muscles- a lot of work on separating the use of body parts in an effort to create an independent seat. According to Marcel who’s friends with Jessie from Texas, my seat would be much improved- or at least not at all crooked- if I were looser in my hips. This seems to be the general consensus as it is what Christiane has been harping on, so it is definitely something I have to focus on.

Following morning lessons, we watched The Visible Horse. In the afternoon, I had my lesson on Ironside. I have one word to describe the experience: forward! Silly me: I mistook the horse’s sensitivity and lightness for being really in front of my leg. In actuality, as Stephan returned today in quite a mood with aspirations of making good riders of us, he told me to shorten my stirrups (a cure for my chicken legs, Lendon?) and ride forward leg to seat and allowing the horse more freedom while containing him so as not to lose the push power and suspension from behind. Ten minutes later, I was sitting well and FINALLY had a collected trot that Stephan deemed “quite decent.” Well, thank the riding gods. I’d thought we would get more instruction from Stephan, but as it turns out, he only ever teaches one of the members of our group when he’s in a really bad mood or when he actually thinks we’ve got discipline and potential embedded somewhere deep inside. He’s pretty good at drawing it out, too. At his clinic at Lendon’s, he was very kind, but at home, he is not afraid to curse, insult, and really push- all with the best of intentions, then he is very generous with praise when you finally get it right. I was really grateful for his help today because I finally got it right after how long…? I hate to think. It felt really awesome to ride like that, too. Can you tell I’m excited yet? Tomorrow, warm up should be with the horse stretching and sharp off my leg, then we’ll see how it goes from there.

7/12/03

Due to circumstances out of everyone’s control but the dorm parent’s, Stephan had everyone’s journals for a few days so I have been unable to write. I’ll try to recap everything of importance for the last few days.

In addition to my rides on Ironside, which have been downright awesome the last few days, I have had a cavalleti lesson and a longe lesson. Thursday was my second “cavalleti” lesson, and this time I rode a former four-in-hand horse called Cartier. I spent the first half of the lesson getting the horse through. He was extremely reluctant to bend one way and is rarely ever ridden through, so it was an accomplishment to have him working so well. I really experienced how useful transitions from gait-to-gait as ridden per the horse’s needs are- we spent about 10 minutes just doing transitions, and by the end the horse was softly chewing the bit and working into my hand. We moved from a set of 5 or so cavalleti to 4 small jumps set equidistant on a 20 meter circle- we did this exercise at canter and the turns were tight so I really had to count strides and maintain a steady rhythm- rhythm is a pretty big deal and they won’t stop drilling it into our heads. Finally, we proceeded to a gymnastic (and here I thought I’d already had my jumping lesson the prior week). This was a lot of fun- the horse was really very happy to bounce on through, a relief to me since I’d never done a gymnastic before. Again, though, this whole experience has been about rhythm, rhythm, rhythm. On Ironside, after I’ve established a nice strong rhythm with the horse swinging through his back, I am told to half-halt and drive to get him stepping longer and more under himself- building collection.

Stephan’s theory lectures also keep the training scale in my head, and he’s always asking me questions to make sure I understand the application of all the things he is saying. This is difficult, because he does at times seem to be putting more pressure on me than on any of the other seven girls sitting at the table, but ultimately it’s useful. The training scale truly is a very logical progression and though it is all easier said than done, thinking of it and trying to apply it every day is ridiculously useful.

My final (3^rd) longe lesson was really very nice. The exercises they had me doing are designed to deepen my seat bones, give me a more independent seat, and most of all to feel the rhythm. It was nice because my longe lesson came before my lesson on Ironside so I was able to sit better in the afternoon. Marcel rode the horse he was on around our longe circle, giving Andrea pointers on exercises I should do to help with my seat. The indoor is a little to claustrophobic sometimes and everyone rides a little too close for comfort; Stephan has been known to tap the haunches of the horse in front of him with his whip, which can be a bit disturbing for whatever poor rider is on the other horse, but at least they get a little extra impulsion. Something really wonderful here, though, is that everyone is so generous with his or her help. So long as they see you are determined, they simply approach you with suggestions to better your riding.

Today (Saturday) I rode only once. I had my final lesson on Ironside with Christiane, and I was really determined for it to be my best ride so far, and I think I may have actually succeeded. This horse has been such a pleasure to ride- I’m going to be glad to get on Nelson again, but I’m really going to miss this horse because he’s just so downright fabulous- even if he does suck back sometimes- a problem which I now know how to remedy. Anyway, now that I’m all done riding, some ideas to bring home with me:

I had a great time at the Academy. It was slightly frustrating that I did not have time or opportunities to ride more, but I have just had two weeks of watching incredible riders and trying my best to emulate them. I feel like my riding did not improve that much the first week, but between the first and second weeks, there was a definite positive change. I only wish I had another month to stay here, ride, get lessons, see more barns, see more good riders, and spend time with all of the amazing friends I’ve made- German, English, and American. There are just so many wonderful things to see and do over here. Oh, speaking of which, I forgot a few things:

Thursday, we visited the German National Stud at the German Riding School and toured the facility where all of the berieters are examined. This is also an enormous breeding facility for Westphalian horses. The original ‘type’ of Westphalian stallions look like some of the most enormous draft horses I’ve ever seen- talk about having cross bred to lighten this breed up!

This week, several riders with disabilities came to the Academy to work with Stephan in preparation for the qualifier for the German dressage paralympic/Special Olympic team. These riders are some of the best I’ve ever seen. One rider, who has trouble using her legs and is blind, rode Stephan’s liver chestnut stallion Franz. This horse is always exciting to watch not only because of his expressive talent but because he is the most vicious horse I have ever seen. When he is resistant, he looks lame on all 4 legs and he looks like he is prepared to kill anything and everything within reach. Once Stephan gets past the resistance, the horse is absolutely incredible. Watching this horse behave as gently as a puppy and move so well under a rider with such disabilities was just plain neat to witness.

Every one of the disabled competitors we watched yesterday afternoon had a different problem but each had more than enough determination to compensate for his or her physical limitations. One rider we saw had no arms and instead of holding the reins in her hands she held them in her mouth, from where they were passed through the bit to her stirrups. This one blind woman rode one of the most accurate dressage tests I think I’ve ever seen. This experience was extremely humbling yet very uplifting (which seems to happen often at the D.O.K.R. for me). And with that note, I think I’ll end this journal. My trip was just one illuminating experience after another, and though I worked hard, I spent my days in the company of some of the nicest people I’ve ever met and had some of the best experiences I’ve ever had aboard a horse.