Barbara Bern

2009 Region 2 Gifted Scholarship Recipient, for Training in 2010


Thank You so much to The Dressage Foundation and to Carol Lavell for making this trip possible!  I am so grateful for the opportunity to go away for a week to be totally immersed in training with my equine partner!

I used my scholarship money to go to Wellborn, Florida to train with Eugene Abello.  He comes up to Kentucky once a month for clinics. A group of 4 of us caravanned down together in February.  This was quite a treat, Florida in the middle of winter.

Barbara and Gisele training with Eugene Aballo

My horse Gisele is a 5 year old Hanoverian mare.  I bought her from a breeder late in the year as a 3 year old.  They had not done much with her except to teach her to lead.   I started her myself, very slowly allowing her to mature mentally as well as physically.  At almost 6 she was ready to go away for a week of real Dressage school.

February 20, 2010, we loaded up, met our friends and headed to Florida.  We made frequent stops, arriving at our destination 12 hours later without any problems.

Our first day there was Sunday, so we let the horses rest, gave them a bath and gave them their Florida hair cut.

There are many advantages of going in a group. We shared the driving, were able to video each other so we could review it later and to see our improvement after our intense week.  And, we learned from watching each other’s lessons.  In addition, we were able to watch our trainer ride his horses in the morning before he began teaching us.  Auditing and watching professionals and others ride is such a great help in the journey of learning.

Monday we started lessons.  Eugene is a very classical dressage trainer, so, we basically worked on my seat and the training pyramid.

Gisele has a fairly natural rhythm and tempo, but, I needed to ride her more forward with a steadier contact to the bit.  We did a lot of 20 meter circles to loosen her back then on to leg yields while posting.  Posting on the inside diagonal helped to move her laterally, as well as getting her inside hind leg more active.  We also worked on my point of balance.  Eugene noticed I tend to move my seat too much during any lateral work causing Gisele to be confused about my aids.  Once aware of this the leg yields were much easier.  Later in the week we worked on shoulder fore and shoulder in.  Eugene had me posting, again on the inside diagonal.  To get the correct position I would come around a corner as if we were going to go across the diagonal but continue going down the long side instead. 

Another problem we encountered was going from the free walk to a medium walk.  Every time I shortened my reins, Gisele would go in to a trot.  With a young horse I was apprehensive at how to correct this without blocking her forward thinking.  Eugene helped me through this by instructing me to always think leg yield when picking up the reins and keeping my legs on.  As an adult amateur starting a young horse it is difficult to know how to best resolve these issues that come up.  I certainly do not want to create other problems down the road.  Thank goodness Gisele is fairly tolerant of me and forgiving, but, there are times when the red headed mare comes out.

Eugene was extremely strict on riding correct 20 meter circles, correct diagonals and riding letter to letter to be that I was the one in charge and that I was looking up where I was going.  Sounds simple, but, I get into bad habits riding on my own, and sometimes Gisele attempts to take over

Of course there is always improvements to be made on the mysterious half halts, getting the timing correct, and the reminder to always use leg and seat first.

As the week progressed we did more sitting trot and a lot of serpentines, which helped with suppleness and acceptance of the aids.  In the canter work we did very shallow leg yields and shallow serpentines to prepare for counter canter.

By the end of the week we were working on trot extensions.  We went outside the arena to find a small hill.  Going down the hill I collected Gisele in a collected trot, going up the hill I would post and encouraged her to use her shoulder more to help her take a longer stride.  This exercise did help a lot and is one I will use frequently in the future.

Eugene also encourages his riders to hack your horses outside on a long rein.  This has definitely helped Gisele’s mind, plus it is so relaxing and peaceful. 

At the end of the week there was a noticeable difference in both Gisele and I.  My seat was more stable and quiet.  I was looking up again, shoulders relaxed, softer wrists and longer legs.  Gisele was more forward, supple, much more willing to move off my leg and steadier in the bridle.

This week was absolutely wonderful!  It took me away from my daily life stressors and gave me a lot more time to bond with Gisele.  It was a treat to watch her in the field, spend more time brushing and massaging her.   The experience made a huge difference in our Dressage Education and my mental state.  Thank you again for making this possible for Adult Amateurs!

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