The Gifted Fund

Adrienne Dickerson

USDF Region 3

Step it Up

The Gifted fund provided my horse, Cavalier, and me a two-week intensive training session with Roel Theunissen in Madison, GA.  A common theme those two weeks was the need to “step it up” if I wanted to step up to Prix St. Georges!  For the first two weeks in February of 2008 Cavalier and I both stepped up and put ourselves to work.  To seal our commitment to this goal, I went ahead and sent off my entry for a show immediately following my training dates.
   
    In the first week of our training Roel focused on the bending reaction to my inside leg and overall throughness of the horse.  Cavalier can sometimes be overly-sensitive and react in a forward direction rather than bending in response to lateral aids.  I concentrated on lowering the poll and bending him through his body during all work – especially in the warm-up as we started with steep shoulder-ins and bending lines and progressed to long half-passes.  Roel explained that my ability to place Cavalier’s inside hind under the body was a precursor to correct bend and control of the shoulders.  Even if the “feel” is that his haunches fall out, I must first create the correct placement of the inside hind and later “catch” him with my outside aids for a true bend throughout his body.  This was a good reminder that what you feel beneath your seat is more important than what you see in front of the saddle.

    As the first week progressed Roel stressed the importance of carry-over.  That the warm-up must carry-over into the work and that the work must carry-over into the next day’s warm-up so you are always building.  He also pointed out that the warm-up should be as long as necessary but as short as possible.  Cavalier becomes more through and together as he moves into the “work” for the day.  So the sooner he is loosened up and starts into the work the more productive our time is.  As the week went on we also began to focus on a more active hind end and a quicker but appropriate forward response to the driving aids.

    We did a run-through of the trot work of the PSG, which for us is fairly solid, and selected a few things to “step up” for higher scores.  I also explained to Roel my goal of “rideability” in the canter tour.  As the canter tour progresses, Cavalier gets tighter and more difficult to ride; it has improved over the winter, but the tempis and that last extension to flying change across the diagonal can be very touch and go at times.  With that in mind we moved into our second week of training.

     To address the rideability question, Roel took two approaches.  First, he again had me ride in a rounder frame and stressed the importance of being able to ride Cavalier more through, more round, and with more bending in the tricky moments rather than backing off or changing the subject to reclaim the suppleness as I had been doing.  Second, we focused on riding the tempi lines in an overly forward canter but with small aids so Cavalier learned they were not as exciting as he originally thought.  After only a few days of this work we ran through the full test twice one day about a week before the show.  I was pleased with the improvement in rideability and overall throughness.  Cavalier actually improved as the test progressed, and I was able to ride through the difficult moments or past the tense moments and back to suppleness.  Just a few more days of lessons and then off to the show with us!

     Cavalier has not had a lot of show experience, and I never know how he will settle in at a new facility.  To my relief he got right to work the day before the show, and we had a very productive schooling session.  I was pleased with the show overall, I had three (3) opportunities to ride the PSG and we put in a consistent test each time.  I was especially pleased that our tempis were solid throughout the weekend as those have long been a source of tension for Cavalier.  Our best ride was the second day with a 63.5% which was good enough for 1^st place out of 6 in the FEI test of choice class.

    I left the show and my two weeks of training with some homework to focus on until my next clini opportunity with Roel. Overall it was a fantastic experience and one of the most productive periods of training I've had. Cavalier and I both clearly progressed in our riding and performance at the show, and I could see an obvious improvement every few days. Without a doubt the scholarship and our 2+ weeks of dressage immersion allowed us to "step it up!"