My last day at Olli's was not the best.  My mom got into the Dusseldorf airport a full 24 hours late, so we decided to just spend the night there and pick her up Monday morning.  We got her and hopped in our new, bigger rental car and drove back to the cottage.  B y that time it was almost 9:30, so we hurried to Olli's and I rode Fred and Four Seasons.  Olli had me try yet another bit with Four Seasons - a really fat single jointed loose ring snaffle.  Definitely not a good choice.  He has a slightly low pallet and kind of a big tongue, and I think a big bit is not a kind bit for him.  He was a million pounds in the hand and not feeling good in his back.  My mom took video, which is below.  I wish I had better video of our last time together, but he still gave me some good work.  It was raining all weekend, and the horses don't go out when it's raining.  I hope that someone walks them, but with 34 in total, I kind of think they don't all get walked.  So poor Fritzi might have literally stood in his stall all weekend before I rode him Monday...

Then we were off to eastern Germany where we were going to spend 2 days in the Spreewald - a kind of a protected area with many canals.  People said it's like Venice without the city.  

I really learned a lot during my time at Olli's, and I am so grateful to him for his instruction and letting me ride such fantastic horses.  As usual, the horses were the best teachers, so I mostly have to thank Four Seasons as well as Floriscount, Don Dayley, Barclay, Salcido, Fred, Fuerstin, Dellenger, and any others that I am forgetting!

Again a big thank you is in order to everyone back home who made this trip possible.  Emme Johnston and Kate Tackett, who work for me, kept everything running at the farm, and I never had to worry, because they are both so capable and responsible with the horses.  My mom taught them both along with some of my other students.  And thank you to so many other students and friends who donated to this trip.  It was an absolutely incredible learning opportunity, and I couldn't have done it without the support of so many.  

Saturday I hit the road early to head to Aachen to watch the GP Special at the European Championships. I have been to Aachen once before, many years ago, and I know what an amazing facility it is, but it completely blew me away all over again. It is really like a horse city. There are so many arenas, barns, vendors, food places, etc, etc, it's just crazy. 

I helped organize The Dressage Foundation's International Dream Program this year. This is a trip for 4 very lucky Advanced YRs to go to Europe and learn from the best of the best for a week. Usually they drive around to a different trainer's barn each day to watch and learn, but this year we sent them to Aachen for the whole time. Not only did they get to watch all of the competition, but they also met up with trainers, riders and judges to talk throughout the week. I was really happy to meet the four wonderful young women who were selected this year - Rosie Simoes, Sarah Cohen, Sadie Lahey and Jennifer Foulon. Charlotte Bredahl from CA was the primary chaperone this year, as she was when I went on this trip 12 years ago! Annie Morris from CT was the secondary chaperone, and they both were wonderful choices to lead the trip. I had such fun chatting with them and sitting with them all day to watch the Special. 

I won't give a blow by blow report, because you can read a very good account of it on Eurodressage. But I will say that Valegro was absolutely more incredible in person than on the video and deserved to win by a wide margin, which he did.  Jessica Werndl, Tinne Vilhelmson, Kristina Sprehe were some of my favorites to watch, whom I'd never seen before. Carl Hester was like watching a master class. He ended up 5th overall, and his horse is not as amazing as Valegro or Desperados, but Carl's riding was the absolute top, I think.  

I got to watch quite a bit of the warm up, which is always more interesting to me than the actual show. I got there about an hour before the competition started, around 10am. Edward Gal was schooling Undercover when I arrived. He worked him for a long time, riding every movement multiple times. He gave him many walk breaks, so the horse was not overly sweaty or exhausted, but I kept thinking, wow - you are going to ride the GPS in a few hours and then (presumably) a GP freestyle the next day. I would think you would not want to work the horse so hard. But clearly he had a strategy to try to get the horse to calm down/use up some nervous energy. Unfortunately it didn't work, because Undercover came into the ring having a full blown panic attack. He looked like what I imagine it would feel like to ride a TB in the starting gate. Or maybe they are more relaxed than this.... And then halfway through his test, one side of the arena started whistling and cheering, and we realized he had been wrung out for blood in his mouth. 

The other drama was that Patrik Kittel had to retire because Deja got her tongue over the bit and reared in both piaffes. During his warm up his groom came into the ring 3 or 4 times to adjust something with the bridle. The mare must be very sensitive in the mouth. 

I hurried home to put Daniel to bed and get to sleep early myself. My mom was supposed to arrive the next morning at 6am into Dusseldorf. But we heard from her that evening that her flight had been postponed because of computer problems, and she would not be arriving until Monday at 6. This was a bit of a problem since Linda (Jonathan's mom) was flying out Sunday morning, so that we would only need to make one trip to the airport - to drop her off and pick up my mom. But we decided to just stay in Dusseldorf overnight Sunday and pick my mom up the next morning. 

We had fun exploring Dusseldorf, even though it was Sunday (when everything except restaurants are closed) and it was raining all day. But we did a Rhine River cruise anyway and had some great food. 

Below are many pictures from Aachen.  

Today started with working my sweet Freddie and doing a video of him.  I really like this boy, so if anyone back home is interested in a lovely, sweet, beautiful moving guy with super rideability, check him out.  He's by Fuerstenball, a nice size, about 16.2, and SO comfortable.  He's very sensitive to ride but not crazy in any way.  He was actually much more relaxed outside than in the indoor, since he didn't have to deal with 6 other horses!

Next up was my wonderful Four Seasons.  We started out in the indoor with our normal warm up routine - low and loose posting trot then forward canter in a light seat.  We did a little canter work with a half pass each direction and then some pirouettes.  The single changes felt very good today.  We then did some trot work and worked to get him active behind through half halts in the corners but not too much hand, so he stays out in the neck.  The trot felt fantastic.  I rode some shoulder in, which is not something I see ridden here very often.  But it helps me get that R shoulder and L hind under control and keep the trot seated and not too passage-y.  

Olli went outside with Charlott-Maria Schuermann, who is preparing her stallion, Burlington, for a show soon.  She is one of my favorite riders in the barn to watch.  She is young (22 or 23?) and petite but gets so much out of this stallion.  He is a son of Breitling, and they are not known for having the fanciest gaits, especially in the beginning, but his talent for collection is incredible.  

I wasn't sure whether to go outside or stay out of their way, so I let Four Seasons walk for a bit and then rode walk-piaffe transitions until they felt quick and easy.  I saw in the mirror that he did some that were good and seated with his hind legs under him.  Since Olli was still outside with Charlotte, I wandered outside to walk Four Seasons and watch.  They were working on the pirouettes on the center line from the GP.  

After a while, Olli said, "Ok, let's do some canter work."  So back to work we went, and Four Seasons actually felt super after such a long break.  We did a few long half passes and then a zig zag that was quite good and pretty easy.  Then back to trot and some transitions from trot to passage and back out to trot.  Olli wanted me to really use my seat and not too much hand.  This is a somewhat frustrating request when the horse is 100 lbs in your hand.  But I had a good breakthrough at the end.  I kept trying to give a big enough half halt so that I could then let go afterwards - really let go, like an uberstreichen.  But too much giving in that way is really just another version of "busy" hands.  If I thought of STEADY and ELASTIC instead of LIGHT, then I could focus on using my seat more.  And he also did end up getting lighter.  I think Olli's version of light and my version of light are two different things.  All of these horses take SO much more contact than I'm used to.  But I don't think that's a bad thing.  They really GO to the hand.  And while the end goal is to have a horse going with a light contact, I think I err on the side of having the horses too light and therefore not truly connected.  Pulling on the reins is always a bad idea, but so is throwing them away.  I need to forget (somewhat) about the contact when I am trying to get more activity, more engagement, etc.  If I have the reins a good length, have a steady connection with the horse, and ride him from back to front, then the contact will end up being what I want.  This is simplifying it a bit, but it helps me to think of it this way.  

Tomorrow I will head out to Aachen to watch the GP Special.  Everyone is abuzz in the barn about Totilas.  Olli said he thinks we will never see the horse in competition again after this.  I hope he's wrong, because that would be a very sad ending for such an incredible animal.  I will hopefully get to meet up with The Dressage Foundation's International Dream Program, since they are all there and watching.  They have been having a wonderful time and have met up with Kyra, Carl Hester, many judges, Bo Jena, etc.  I helped organize the trip this year, and I'm so glad it's going smoothly.  I'll be sure to take lots of pics!

I got to the barn bright and early on this beautiful day, but no Olli.  This is the second time this has happened.  There is no schedule written down anywhere, and no one seems to know what is going on, other than Olli.  I asked one of the grooms if he was coming this morning, to which I got her standard answer to almost every questions - ummm...I don't know.  Maybe?  I asked another young rider in the barn who said he and Antin were at a show, and she had an 8:00 ride, so they should be back fairly soon.  Then after some more investigating, it was determined that maybe he was coming in around 2:00pm.  

So, I went ahead and rode Floriscount and Four Seasons.  I don't want to take advantage of these wonderful horses, but I do want to take advantage of this opportunity to ride said wonderful horses, so I worked on pretty much everything with both of them.  My love of Four Seasons is already well documented, but I have to gush about Floriscount a little.  What an unbelievable animal!  Not only is he stunningly beautiful, he is just an all around dreamboat.  He is so sweet to groom and very polite and SUCH a nice ride - soft, elastic, sensitive but not too hot.  My other rides on him have just been very brief light workouts.  I let him walk for a long time today and then did some really stretchy trot and some forward canter in a light seat.  He is such a supple guy, both laterally and longitudinally.  We then worked on canter.  He wants to be a bit crooked to the left, with haunches in and shoulders out.  This is true of pretty much every single horse that I EVER ride (so maybe I have something to do with it???) and I have learned a good lesson here, which is to think of the crookedness as a R shoulder problem, not a L hind problem.  I always feel horses crooked in this way and think - ugh!  That Left Hind!  Always falling in!  But then I push it out (over and over and over) and never really get them straight because it's the R shoulder, and the R rein connection, that is really the problem.  When the shoulder falls R, of course the haunches fall L, or at least they feel like they are to the L.  When I worked for Lilo Fore, and a horse was too heavy in one rein, she was always adamant that is was the OTHER rein (that they didn't take enough) that was the problem, not the heavy one.  This is what I have to tell myself when I feel this straightness problem.  Instead of thinking, damn LH falling in!  I need to think - R rein controls R shoulder.  

Anyway, back to the Dreamboat.  We did the Steffen Peters exercise of a diamond (E to C, C to B, B to A, A to E) with quarter pirouettes approaching A and C then did half pirouettes.  He has an amazing canter and very easy pirouettes as long as he is really straight before them.  He didn't seem to recognize this exercise, but it was a good one for controlling the start and being able to ride out after only a few strides and back onto a very straight line.  We took a walk break in between working each side, then another walk break before riding some changes.  I tried to sit into him and very still and just think of each new inside seat bone heading a little toward his inside ear.  This way I stay really centered over his back and don't think L and R, just very slightly R seat bone in the direction of his R ear in the change to the R, then same to the L.  He has such a big canter, it's good to practice really sitting and staying "plugged in" with my seat bones, otherwise he tosses you a bit out of the saddle.  

I then rode some trot and really nice shoulder in and half passes.  His half pass to the L is like something out of a dream.  To the R is harder because of the L Hind (no, RIGHT SHOULDER) but still pretty amazing. I rode one trot extension, because why the hell not.  Then a little passage and then loads of petting and walking an telling him he was the most amazing thing since sliced bread.  

Next I rode Four Seasons outside, since it was a gorgeous day.  (Or "so hot" as one girl in the barn said.  Honey, you don't now what hot is...) He felt super and very relaxed.  I could get him to stretch WAY down in trot and then we did forward canter in a light seat, which he loved.  I did a similar routine with him, riding the diamond exercise for the canter pirouettes.  I then rode the changes, and since I was in a big arena, I tried to ride REALLY straight, REALLY well placed 3s and 2s.  The change to the R is not as easy as to the L, so I had a couple mistakes in the twos the first time around but then a very nice line of 7, and I felt like I could place #4 right at X.  

I decided I would ride pieces of the GP, because why the hell not?  I got the trot feeling nice and rode an extension (whoa! haven't done one of those on Fritzy yet - hold on!!) and then steep half passes.  I ended up riding the half passes a few times with a volte in between them to get him balanced again and not running away.  When those were good we took a walk break then rode the extended walk to collected walk across the short side to passage at M, then passage-piaffe-passage and then into canter at E.  I just made the canter feel good and then came back to trot at M, like in the GP, then extension and then a centerline of passage-piaffe-passage.  He felt super, and I feel like, with time, we could put that test together without too much trouble.  I took him for a long walk all around the property and tried to get him to eat grass, but he is way too well trained to do such a thing...

This afternoon Daniel and I went to Dusseldorf to pick Linda up - she went to France for a few days to visit a friend and is now back with a us for a few more days.  We walked along the promenade next to the Rheine and shared some chocolate ice cream, although Daniel is not so great at sharing yet, so he got most of it.  Then we headed to the airport and got there early enough to go up on the observation deck and watch the planes take off and land.  He loved it!  

Today I had a lesson on Fred first. He warmed up ok but it was super busy in the indoor and Olli was schooling piaffe and passage with Barclay, which made Fred a little nervous. In the trot Olli wanted me to activate him more and bend him more in the corners. Going L this made him break to canter every time I put my leg on because he was still tight in the back (and possibly because of the RH issue he has). So after many mistakes, I went ahead on my own into canter to try to get him to relax in the back and let go a little. After canter he was able to bend left better and then push into that RH a bit more but still not reliably. We took a walk break and then Olli wanted me to do some sitting trot work. This horse has the most comfy trot to sit. He wanted me to really push him more with my leg and use my seat to infuse the swing into his back. We still had many of these mistakes where he would canter when I pressed him for more trot. Olli said, "You need to be like a detective with these horses. Find out what doesn't work so well and work on it!" Definitely this guy doesn't get understand how to bend through the body. For me, I would like the feeling of teaching him this first in a more "normal" trot before asking for his biggest, most impulsive trot and also for bend. But Olli wants both, and he kept saying, "come on! He needs to learn this now." So we gave it our best shot. 

The bend and activity got much better and then we did some more canter work. Same story in the canter - Olli doesn't want me to just go with the nice canter that he has. He wants more jump, more activity behind, more into the outside rein. When this got better we then came back to trot and were able to keep the swing and push each direction. This horse has an awesome walk, so we just rode free walk at the start and the end, and Olli was very happy with that. 

Next up was my buddy Four Seasons.  Today Olli wanted him in the snaffle with a D ring double jointed snaffle. We warmed him up the same as yesterday, very low and trying to get him to go out.  Very forward in canter to get his back loose. Then back to trot and a little more up but still out as much as possible. 

After a short break I went back to trot work and tried to start out with some walk trot transitions that were quick and in front of me. I have to ride a few abrupt halts first to make him be a little more respectful of the half halt in walk. Then in collected trot a half halt over A, E, C and B but only for one to two steps and then out so that he doesn't shorten too much. I got a better feeling for really using my leg forward at the girth today both in trot and canter to help lift his shoulders up and quicken him. When I reach too far back with my leg he is not as reactive and it takes me off my seat bones. 

We did some half passes which were good, but I still feel like he is running away by the end of the diagonal. I rode some renvers when going R, which really helps with the stiff left side. 

Then on to canter where he felt super in the contact right away. I just made him really jump and activate behind but gave strong enough half halts that he couldn't lean on me. If I can keep my hands low, then I can keep him out more with the nose. I rode a working pirouette to the right that was easy. Olli wanted him not to climb too much in front when he gets into the pirouette, so he just wanted me to think of using my seat and a quick leg when I feel him get too slow, because then he will need to lift in front too much. He wants him in travers around the working pirouette to talk to the outside hind leg more. This is where I really felt the difference with my inside leg forward. If I used it too far back, then I pushed the haunches out. In order for me to bend him as much as Olli wants, without him over flexing, I need a supportive inner leg at the girth to make him grow taller on the inside. 

We then rode a few changes, and I still get the feeling that Olli thinks I am over-aiding him with my leg, although I'm trying not to do much. We rode some threes that were better and straighter and then did the pirouettes to the L. 

After another walk break we did some piaffe and passage. The passage is easier for me to figure out and keep seated and active. What's amazing about Four Seasons is how small or big you can ride his passage. So as I approach the piaffe, I need to "smaller" the passage, as Olli says ;), and then just think of the rhythm with my seat and a very light but steady hand. If I throw him away too much in the hand, then I lose his back, and it will be hard to get out of the piaffe. 

Some stretchy trot to end, and then I walked around the property with Leonie Richter. She is the YR leasing Salcido, the Sir Donnerhall gelding I liked so much in the beginning. She competed him at Verden in the developing horse PSG and got 68+. She and her identical twin sister are both top YRs in Germany. Her sister, Ellen, was there today for a lesson with her gorgeous Florestan gelding. They live about an hour away but come regularly to ride with Olli. Leonie comes now almost every day to ride Salcido. She said she will do the I 2 with him for the first time soon - very exciting! 

Below is the (obviously) unedited video of my ride with Four Seasons on Monday. It's a bit long, bug skip ahead to see first some canter pirouette work, then trot & piaffe & passage. The P & P were much better Tues and today, but oh well. 

Olli was busy in Warendorf this morning coaching the U25 riders for the quadrille this Sunday in Aachen. I got to sleep in a little and come to the barn a little later. They had me ride Fred, my favorite little 4 year old Fürstenball gelding. He is so wonderful! He's built a bit like a pony, and apparently he has broken his splint bone on the RH either twice or three times (??!!) depending on who you ask. Because of this, he is not as far along in his training (but still way farther along than the average 4 year old at home). Some days there is a lot of swelling in that hind leg, other days not so much. It's hard to find out from them what all has been done/is being done to rectify this. But I just do what I'm told and work him lightly. He is super sensitive, which I love. It's a bit crazy to ride the green ones in this little indoor with so much going on. Olli was back and having a lesson from Herr Meyer zu Strohen on Floriscount, and they were doing work in hand with him, while three other horses were working as well. Trying to trot and canter this sensitive baby was a bit much, but he handled it really well. 

Jutta (Olli's wife) complimented me the other day when I rode Fred. This never happens. Not that Jutta isn't super nice (she is wonderful!) but they just don't seem to ever say whether they thought your horse looked great or horrendous. So it was nice to hear that she thought I was doing a good job. Then today Olli told me he looked really super. He said, "This is your horse!" And he's right. Well, he's not right that he's mine, unless he'd like to give him to me. But he's right in that I just totally click with this guy. (There is also the strong possibility that they are hoping I will buy him, so that's why I'm being told how great he looks...)

We then did a lesson with Four Seasons, which was really super. He had me warm him up lower and more forward in canter to try to get him to really let go in the back. He wanted him very low and reaching from the base of the neck to try to get rid of every ounce of under neck.  And then he wanted the canter VERY forward to get him really in front of me and really up and soft in his back. It's a bit confusing sometimes to have Olli talk to me about getting Four Seasons in front of my aids, since he's so sensitive and so overly forward. But I understand the difference between a horse that's running forward and a horse that's really in front of the leg and seat. 

We then worked on the transition from walk to half steps. This was really good to practice, because this shows off that he is NOT actually in front of my leg, even though he's sometimes running away in every gait, including the walk. Often, I will get him feeling good in walk, make him wait for me, then I ask for trot and ..... nothing. Or he takes a huge first step. But getting a quick, active hind leg reaction is surprisingly hard. But it makes sense that when he is running away with his front end, he's on the forehand and can't access his hind legs easily, because he's falling forward every stride with big steps. It's just that it still looks nice, because he's a beautiful mover. But when I finally got some good transitions from walk to half steps - voila! He was light in the hand and waiting for me. Once I could reliably do that, then we did walk - trot. But still the same idea - a small, quick first step, then let it out into a big, beautiful collected trot. 

Next we rode transitions from trot to passage and then passage - piaffe - passage. I was better today at trusting him to do the piaffe without too much leg from me. Olli keeps saying, "just use your seat," for the piaffe. This confused me at first, because I was not taught to use my seat much in piaffe. I was always told to sit lightly so that the horse could lift in the back. But Four Seasons needs a bit of a deeper seat to keep him on the spot. Olli helped a little from the ground, which is tricky, because this horse is TERRIFIED of the whip. But Olli didn't actually touch him. He just stood near him and clucked. The piaffe was really, really amazing - very seated and active and big off the ground. Olli said if he could keep his tongue in, it's some of the best piaffe and passage in the world. 

We let him walk after each good set, and then I just did some posting, stretchy trot to end. I asked Olli what he thinks I need to improve as a rider, now that he has seen me ride many horses. He said in the beginning I didn't really RIDE them - I sat up there and did the movements, but I didn't get into the horses and change/improve their way of going. But now he thinks I am doing that much better. He said I need to learn to get the half halts to go through the whole horse while keeping the back up and swinging, so that I don't stop them with the half halts. This happens when I can sit deeper and use my seat instead of too much hand. He said at first my half halts would block them in the back and make them go flatter instead of rounder over their backs. 

So, no biggy. I'll just do that from now on ;)

Two super lessons today.  I had been hoping to ride Don Daly again, so I could practice the ones again.  And today I got my wish.  I started with him on my own, as Olli was finishing up with Floriscount and taking him outside.  Don Daly is so strong in the contact, but I think I am figuring out the best way to ride him.  I would like to ride him a bit long and low to begin with and let him stretch way down, but he is 13 and very savvy, and used to being ridden VERY round, so he treats me like a little girl on a pony if I try to ride him like that.  (Picture me being literally pulled out of the saddle, and I'm not a lightweight...) Maybe if I had him to ride everyday, I could try to eventually start him a different way.  I also have to remember that he will become WAY better with the collected work.  And he is not dull, so there is no need to activate him a great deal to get him off the hand, he just needs some time to get supple through his body and back, and then he needs to sit and collect in order to become lighter.  Once this happens, he is SUCH an amazing horse.  I rode some changes on my own, and I was very happy with them.  I'm trying to sit TOTALLY still and in the middle and not move around with my upper body and have very small leg aids.  He is such a good teacher for this.  He does extremely straight changes and is very sensitive to the seat.  The ones felt easy and good, although twice he did two more than I asked for - extra credit!  

We then did some trot work.  He is the most comfortable to sit, and I even found myself thinking the saddle was comfortable!  I am always really happy with the feel of the trot, and then Olli wants me to activate them more behind, especially in the corners.  It's amazing to feel how much trot is really in there.  I am always settling for a 7ish, and Olli is expecting a 9+ quality trot.  The difference in power and activity is not really that much, and it's very easy to access, but it's impressive to feel what a "real trot" is like.  This is no Sunday stroll, people.  I am out of breath after these sessions!  We did some nice half passes and then piaffe and passage.  I hadn't done the piaffe & passage on Don Daly yet.  He has a very nice passage, as you might expect, because the natural trot has lots of suspension.  His piaffe is a bit small and not so much off the ground, but very reliable.  

It's really invaluable to feel the transitions with these horses, who know their jobs so well.  I tend to want to over-do in the piaffe and when my aids get too loud it shuts them down.  Especially with a horse like Don Daly, I need to just LET him piaffe, with an occasional quick reminder with one leg to activate one hind leg more.  For the passage, Olli wanted me to think of medium trot, then half halt (mostly with outside rein and seat) and use my leg forward at the girth to think of lifting the front legs of the horse.  We did a few piaffes that were really on the spot and super.  I then finally got to stretch him down the way I wish I could in the beginning.  He was still strong but much softer over all.  

All of this work is done with no whip in hand.  They pick up a whip only when they need one.  I haven't felt like I needed one, except a couple times.  And I tend to always ride with a whip at home, so it is good practice to not have one.  

Next up was Four Seasons.  We rode him in the double again with pads all the way around his nose.  Picture a chin pad (neoprene), now picture one under the jaw, one over the bridge of the nose, and one on each side.  Yes, that's four pads, so that the entire noseband is very padded.  And then he doesn't want the noseband too tight with him or the bits too high.  He only had the tongue out a couple times at the end today.I think he likes the Neue Schule bit.  We started with a normal warm up.  Olli was watching in the canter, and he said, "You watched many of the German riders at Verden, yes?"  Yes, I told him.  "You are now riding like a German," he said.  I think that's a compliment...

We did some super pirouette work in canter and a few changes.  Again, I was to think more of my seat and less with my leg in the changes.  In the pirouettes, he wanted me to really bend him to the inside, without letting him fall down in front.  He wants me to use my inside leg to get him more up, but my outside leg to activate him, so that the canter doesn't get too slow.  My outside leg should quicken the outside hind leg and really make him bring that leg under, so that he sits.  My inside leg should stay very near the girth (Olli is always telling me it's too far back, but I'm getting better) so that I can lift his shoulders up, but not push the hind legs OUT at all.  

We then did some trot work, and this is feeling MUCH better.  This horse has such a huge trot, in the beginning, I felt like I was just getting run away with in a very fancy way.  But now I can activate him in the corners to keep the trot really good behind, not just huge and pulling in front.  He gives me a good feeling for how to use the curb in a helpful way.  I've not ridden too many horses in the double where I really used the curb much.  I was always just trying to be light with it.  But there is a reason it's in their mouth, and Four Seasons is a perfect example of how a well timed half halt with (mostly) seat but some serious curb can really engage his hind legs, and then you can do an uberstreichen afterwards and shorten the snaffles and have a lasting (at least for a long side or two) effect.  Certainly better than riding half halt after half halt with only the snaffle that doesn't go through his body and doesn't make much difference.  

We did some passage and then some piaffe transitions.  With him we did the transitions first on a circle, so that I could bend him and keep his topline softer.  My friend Dan was videoing, and he promises to send me the video.  It felt really amazing, so I am hoping to be able to post it soon.  He has a much bigger but slower piaffe than Don Daly, almost more like passage on the spot.  He can really sit down, but he can also keep his hind legs out behind him.  The difference is whether you have his back up and with you or if he is pulling against you.  This is, of course, true for any horse, but I have never seen a horse that can go from such extremes.  I mean, this horse can SIT like a Spanish horse in the piaffe, or he can do it with his hocks completely up and out behind him.  It's really quite remarkable.  And while visually, it's obvious, it's even more obvious when you're starting to get it from on top, because he becomes so soft in the back, light in the hand and laterally supple.  We did many, many transitions.  This guy is such a hard worker, always willing, always eager to please.  It was quite warm today, so he got really sweaty, and I took him for a long walk afterwards and a nice bath.  I bring him an apple everyday, and he is so excited to see me now.  He's gotten very affectionate, and quite obnoxious.  I'm sure the grooms do not think this is cute, but I love it.

Olli is coaching a U25 quadrille ride of 8 riders at Aachen, which will happen Sunday.  So he is working with them this week to prepare in Warendorf.  Tomorrow we will have a later start, since he will be busy with that.  But hopefully I will get lessons every day this week.  

Aug 7-9Friday I rode Dellenger, Four Seasons, and a 4 year old gelding named Fred. No one could remember Fred's breeding, so I will have to find out when Olli gets back. But he is fabulous!! He has three beautiful gaits and is so handsome and sweet. He's super sensitive and forward and lovely in the hand. I want him to come home with me!

I had a really super ride on Four Seasons. I am normally very hesitant to ride someone else's trained horse and do any "fancy" movements when they are not around. But I gave him a very light day on Thursday, and he will have the weekend off. And I am here to learn, and he is most definitely my best teacher, so I decided to work on a little bit of everything. The canter work was really super, and I never saw his tongue out. I practiced the pirouettes on the circle first and then on the diagonal. They were quite good, although I had a hard time keeping him from over rotating, so they were often 380* or so instead of 360*. The changes were very good and easy. 

I really feel like I got a better feeling for the trot work. While Four Seasons feels very good in the contact in piaffe and passage, he feels so strong in the collected trot work. But I had some much more effective half halts in the corners. I told Olli how good he was when I saw him in Verden, so now I have to make sure to do it again Monday!

We all went to Verden on Saturday - Jonathan, Linda, Daniel, and our friend Dan. Dan used to be a professional in the hunter jumper world in CA, and he still follows the show jumping world. Verden also has an international jumping competition going on next to the dressage, so this was perfect. 

We got there around 10 am and watched some of the small final (consolation) for the 6 year olds. There was also a CDI Grand Prix going on in the other arena. In between these three (including the jumping stadium) is a humongous vendor village. So it's lots of fun to walk between the rings and see the different classes and do some "window shopping" along the way. 

Hubertus Schmidt won the Grand Prix by a huge margin. It is always so wonderful to see him ride. He is one of my all time favorites to watch - so soft and harmonious and the horses always want to work for him. I didn't get to watch his warm up, unfortunately, but the test was really lovely. That stallion has an incredibly big and slow passage, and then a fairly quick, small piaffe, but Schmidt is a master at softly getting in and out of those transitions, and the canter work was so lovely. He ended up with a 77+, and the second place was 70.8.  Catherine Haddad was the only GP rider for the US.  She was fourth with a 70.7 and had a really nice ride. 

The 5 year old finals started at 3, which was unfortunate, since my family was ready to leave around 2. But I made them stay through the American ride, which went at 3:30. Endel Ots did a beautiful job with his gelding, Lucky Strike. The horse has a limited walk, especially compared to the first two who went, but Endel rode so beautifully and the judges really emphasized that in their mark for submission. They talked about the harmony between horse and rider and how much the horse wanted to work for him. That was fantastic to hear, and Endel should be so proud to finish 11th in the world!

Today we explored the old center of Münster, and walked all around. We had some delicious food, took in the city museum, and had a lovely time strolling the promenade and chatting. Tomorrow it's back to lessons, and I'm really excited! This is my last week, so I want to make the most of it. I still have not decided yet if I will try to go to Aachen. Linda leaves tomorrow, and it's about a 2hr drive. I feel like I don't want to miss any more days of lessons, but I also feel silly to be two hours away from the European Championships and not go and watch one day!

Some images from our time in Muenster today...

Above is a clip from the warm up at the Grand Prix today in Verden.  

The first two horses who came out to warm up for the 5 year old Final.  Look how many people are out there to watch two horses WALK around the warm up.  Crazy!

Claudia Ruescher on Florina, a Fuerst Romancier / Donnerhall 5 year old mare.  This mare is so closely related to my Flowy, so I was very interested in watching her whole warm up.  She won the consolation finals yesterday and then finished 4th overall toady with 9.5 on walk!!

Quiet day today.  Olli is in Verden all weekend (where Antin and Sir Olli tied for 5th place today in the 5 year olds!).  I went to the barn a little early this morning and schooled Floriscount, Dellenger and Four Seasons very lightly, since I had to be back to pick up Linda and Daniel as 10:15.  We all hopped in the car and headed to Muenster to Hengstation Holkenbrink where I was looking at a 3 year old for a friend back home.  She was a very cute Totilas/Rubinstein mare who had JUST been started under saddle, so it was kind of fun to sit on a real baby again!

Then Linda and Daniel and I went to the zoo in Muenster.  When I was here working for Mr. Balkenhol, I visited this zoo, because they have a museum dedicated to the horse.  It covers everything from eohippus up to current sport in Germany with jumpers, dressage horses, driving, eventing, etc.  It is super informative.  But I figured Daniel and Linda would rather just see the zoo, so off we went.  We saw elephants, bears, giraffes, all manner of birds and snakes, etc.  Daniel loved it but got VERY sleepy after a couple hours, so we headed home.  

Tomorrow I will have more time to really work the horses.  I'm eager to try to get some good work out of Four Seasons without Olli there and see if I can replicate the feeling in the pirouettes and changes.  Tomorrow our friend Dan arrives for a short visit over the weekend.  We will all go back to Verden Saturday, where it should be PACKED!