Aachen Wrap Up

Wow, I am still on cloud nine after our fantastic trip to Aachen! In case you're just tuning in, four young riders (Sadie Lahey, Rosie Julian-Simoes, Sarah Cohen, and myself) and two chaperones (Charlotte Bredahl, FEI 4* judge and Olympic bronze medalist, and Annie Morris, USDF gold medalist and USDF certified instructor through 4^th level) just returned from an incredible week spent at the FEI European Dressage Championships in Aachen, Germany. Aachen is a world class place in so many ways! There were so many top riders and horses who reminded us just how breathtaking dressage can be, tens of thousands of spectators for dressage alone who understood what was happening in the tests and verbally reacted to mistakes or highlights, and countless vendors we passed by who sold everything from hot tubs and kitchen knives to bridles and boots to sushi and pasties.

L to R: the female German team riders Isabell Werth, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, and Kristina Broring-Sprehe. All are amazing riders and horsepeople!

While there, not only did we watch much of the schooling and all of the test rides, but we also had the amazing opportunity to meet with some of the best judges, riders, and trainers in the world! A huge thank you to all the people who took time out of their busy schedules to talk to us: Mary Seefried, Australian FEI 5* judge; Katrina Wuest, German FEI 5* judge; Anne Gribbons, American FEI 5* judge; Carl Hester, British Olympic gold medalist and Charlotte Dujardin’s trainer; Kyra Kyrklund, Finnish multiple time Olympic competitor; Oliver Oelrich, German young rider and young horse trainer; Mikala Gundersen, Danish Grand Prix rider; Bo Jena, Swedish FEI 4* judge and chef d’equipe of the Swedish team; Hans-Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen, German junior and young rider team trainer; Jan Bemelmans, German FEI trainer and French chef d’equipe in Aachen; Christoph Hess, German FEI 4* judge; and Henk van Bergen, Dutch FEI trainer and coach. Everyone was so incredibly generous and shared a vast wealth of knowledge with us. I do not think I can choose a single favorite person or quote, but here are eight of my top takeaways from our conversations:

1) Listen to your horse! No two horses have exactly the same personalities or preferences, and no two horses react to the same training schedule in exactly the same way. Be willing to experiment and adjust your program to each individual horse’s needs.

2) Ride accurately! Whether you are riding your first Introductory level dressage test at a schooling show or a Grand Prix test at the European Championships, you still can improve your score significantly by riding accurate lines and transitions. The riders that showed near-perfect accuracy here were the same riders who finished at the top.

3) Treat every horse like a Grand Prix horse. Sometimes a horse that may not seem like it will be a Grand Prix horse turns out to have incredible talent for the Grand Prix. Plus you never know where or with whom the horse will end up!

4) Work on your seat, and then work on it some more, and then some more! You cannot truly be a top class rider without a top class seat. Frequently working without stirrups is a great way to improve your position. Even Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, a top rider with a gorgeous and effective position, schooled Unee BB without stirrups at Aachen!

5) To be successful, you have to take initiative. For instance, stop waiting for the perfect Grand Prix horse to come along; instead, find a young horse and make him into that perfect Grand Prix horse yourself! If you work a little bit harder than everyone else, you will find success.

6) Judges are humans too! I know that phrase sounds obvious, but as a rider I also know it’s so easy to unfairly blame a judge for giving scores that seem too high or too low to yourself or others. Judges are honestly rooting for every horse and rider combination to succeed! Sometimes they make mistakes, but changes are happening in the sport to make judging fairer for both judges and riders. The Judges Supervisory Panel is a recent, wonderful addition to dressage that serves this purpose (see the Day 5 post to learn more about it!).

7) If possible, match good young riders with good young horses and good coaches to benefit all involved. For example, set up a two year contract where the rider pays the horse’s expenses in exchange for the opportunity to learn from and compete a talented horse. The riders learn about the training process and improve their riding skills, the horses receive good training without their breeders or owners having to bear huge expenses, and the trainers can help mold these young riders and future trainers into high quality professionals.

8) A horse must enjoy his work; he has to want to perform for you! You have to remember to reward your horse often (for example by praising him, patting him, walking him on a long rein, or hacking him) to show him how much you value and appreciate him. If respect flows from the rider to the horse, it will flow from the horse to the rider too!

The judges gave Charlotte Dujardin a well deserved average score of 9.2 for her position and seat in the Grand Prix!

These tips will definitely stay with me forever, and I hope that you will remember them and that they will benefit you too! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who made this trip possible: Mark Foulon and Lynda Clarizio, for believing in my riding dreams; Marcus Orlob and Shannon Stevens, Frank and CeCe Maddlone, Ariane Vasquez, and Jaine Aldinger, for recommending me for this program; Jenny Johnson, Eliza Sydnor Romm, and Beth Baumert, for spending countless hours preparing and organizing our trip; Michael Poulin, for turning his dream for young riders into this fantastic program; Charlotte Bredahl and Annie Morris, for being not just chaperones on this trip but incredible mentors, advisers, trainers, and friends; Sadie Lahey, Rosie Julian-Simoes, and Sarah Cohen, for all the discussing and debating and laughing; and the Dressage Foundation, for giving us the opportunity of a lifetime.

L to R: Sarah Cohen, Jennifer Foulon, Rosie Julian-Simoes, and Sadie Lahey waiting for the Grand Prix freestyles to start. I learned so much from talking to these incredibly dedicated riders and passionate horsepeople, and I feel lucky to now call them my friends!

Day 6 and Day 7

Yesterday was our final day at the Aachen showgrounds. It was definitely bittersweet! We began the day by meeting with German youth coach and young horse trainer Oliver Oelrich. He explained the German youth and young horse systems to us. The young riders begin doing the ponies, then do the juniors, then do the young riders, then do the under 25 Grand Prix, finally do the senior Grand Prix; the young horses begin doing the 3 year old classes, then do the 4 year old classes, do the 5 year old classes, do the 6 year old classes, do the Nurnberger Burgpokal developing horse Prix St Georges classes, do the Louisdor Cup developing horse Grand Prix classes, and then finally do the senior Grand Prix classes. These pipeline programs allow talent, in both riders and horses, to be spotted early on and guided to the ultimate senior Grand Prix level success. He really believes in matching young riders (with good coaches!) with young horses owned by breeders. These matches are mutually beneficial: the rider takes on the expenses of the horse but gains training mileage and show experience while the horse is well trained without breeders having to pay expensive monthly training fees. Thank you Oliver for sharing your knowledge with us!

L to R: Annie Morris, Sarah Cohen, Rosie Julian-Simoes, Oliver Oelrich, Sadie Lahey, Jennifer Foulon, Charlotte Bredahl

In the afternoon, we watched the Grand Prix freestyles. It was a very exciting and close race, with Charlotte Dujardin on Valegro edging out Kristina Sprehe on Desperados for gold by only 0.25%. The judges were split right down the middle as to whose freestyle was superior! Dujardin is an incredible rider and Valegro epitomizes power with relaxation, but they had mistakes in both their lines of one tempis. Sprehe is also a gorgeous rider and Desperados looked the most consistent that he had all week. I don’t think I could have decided which freestyle was better! Both were a pleasure to watch! Beatriz Ferrer-Salat on Delgado took the bronze with an extremely harmonious ride and wonderful music. The whole class was fantastic to watch, even in the cold and rainy weather!

After the class, we had the opportunity to speak again with German FEI 4* judge Christoph Hess. He is such a positive, enthusiastic, passionate ambassador for our sport! He shared his opinions on the freestyles and answered our various questions about judging. Thank you Christoph for the education and the laughs! We then had to run off to catch the train back to Dusseldorf, as we planned to spend the night in the airport hotel before heading back to Newark the following day.

Today we returned to Newark and went our separate ways. It was so hard to say goodbye! Charlotte and Annie were amazing chaperones and mentors. Charlotte gave us a judge’s, trainer’s, and rider’s point of view as we watched the schooling and the tests. She really helped us train our critical eyes! Annie helped us understand the way a rider’s position can positively and negatively affect the horse’s way of going. She made sure that we really understood the theory behind what we saw, which was incredibly helpful. Both Charlotte and Annie are such kind, honest, wonderful people and it was pleasure to get to know them! Sadie, Sarah, and Rosie were also so much fun to be around. None of us had ever met before, but through our shared passion for riding and horsemanship we quickly bonded. Thank you so much again to the Dressage Foundation for sending us on this incredible adventure!! Wow, we learned more than I even thought was possible!

I still plan to post more photos and tidbits in the next few days, so stay tuned for more updates to come! Thank you to everyone for reading and I hope you've been enjoying everything so far! :)

Day 5

It is crazy to think that today was our second-to-last day in Aachen. We are having so much fun, we don’t ever want to leave! Our day began talking to Australian FEI 5* judge Mary Seefried, who is a member of the Judges Supervisory Panel (JSP) here in Aachen. The JSP, Mary explained, is a device that has been in place in lots of sports with semi-subjective judging (like gymnastics and figure skating) and so was recently instituted in FEI championship dressage competition in order to keep judging fair for both competitors and judges. It consists of a panel of three people (two judges and one trainer): one person looks at the test going on in the arena, one person watches the marks come up, and one person watches a video of the ride. If the first person sees something funny, he asks about the scores. The second person tells him, and if the individual marks from the judges are two or more points apart, then all three people rewind and rewatch the movement on the video. They can only change a score for a technical reason (for example, one judge does not appear to see that the rider made a counting error in the two tempis or that a flying change was late behind – or a judge appears to see a mistake when really there was not one), not for a quality reason. They can adjust an individual judge’s mark up or down, but only to the highest or lowest of the other judges’ marks. They have to finish this process before the next rider comes into the arena, so this whole process happens extremely quickly. Out of approximately 16,000 marks given during the 72 rides in the Grand Prix test, 55 individual marks were changed (a very small percentage!).

L to R: Annie Morris, Sadie Lahey, Rosie Julian-Simoes, Charlotte Bredahl, Mary Seefried, Sarah Cohen, Jennifer Foulon

Next we spoke with Dutch FEI trainer Henk van Bergen. Henk spoke about his life and journey and we were all incredibly inspired by how humble and honest he was. He is the son of a baker, and when he was young he put a shoebox covered in horse photos in the bakery and asked for donations so that he would be able to buy a pony! The main takeaway: if you want to be successful, you have to take initiative, and also work a little bit harder and do everything a little bit better than everyone else.

Sitting with Henk van Bergen

Then it was time to watch the Grand Prix Special! It was an incredibly exciting competition, with some horses and riders really excelling and others making unusual errors that kept their scores lower than expected. Tinne Vilhelmson Silfven impressed us with her lovely contact with the bit and quiet aids while riding Don Auriello and finished on a score of 76.148%. Fiona Bigwood’s mare Atterupgaard’s Orthilia showed absolutely fantastic passage, and we can’t wait to keep watching this mare as she continues to grow stronger and stronger. Today she earned a 74.510%. Carl Hester produced a fault free, harmonious, wonderful ride aboard Nip Tuck, scoring 77.003%. Then Kristina Sprehe and Desperados came in and blew away the competition, also producing a nearly fault free effort to go into the lead on 83.067%. The question was then: can Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro top this result? The answer: yes they can! They came in and had an incredibly powerful yet relaxed round. Despite a small error in the one tempis, they commandingly took the lead with a 87.577%. Beatriz Ferrer-Salat on Delgado and Hans Peter Minderhoud on Glock’s Johnson followed Charlotte and Valegro, and both put in consistent and powerful rounds as well. Beatriz Ferrer-Salat ended up in 4^th place with 77.395% and Hans-Peter Minderhoud took the bronze medal with 79.034%.

Carl Hester on Nip Tuck waving to the crowd after an excellent ride

Kristina Sprehe on Desperados

Charlotte Dujardin on Valegro

After watching the awards ceremony, we had the opportunity to speak with German FEI 4* judge and master trainer Christoph Hess. He is also one of the commentators here at Aachen and we discussed the rides we had just watched. He was really impressed with Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro (as were we all!) and felt that they absolutely deserved the win today. He also felt that many combinations, such as Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro as well as Kristina Sprehe and Desperados, produced much better rounds today in the Grand Prix Special than earlier in the week in the Grand Prix. He explained that it is very important to recognize not just mistakes (which everyone sees) but also correct riding and training. The goal of dressage training is to have a happy horse, and you can see if a horse really is happy by looking at his body language. He told us that the eye of the horse tells a story, which I thought was a really cool insight! We also discussed the importance of correct rider aids: you must use your calf, not always your spur, when using your leg aid.

Thank you so much to Mary Seefried, Henk van Bergen, and Christoph Hess for all of your words of wisdom today! We learned a lot and had a blast talking to each incredible person. It’s hard to believe but tomorrow is the last day of competition here in Aachen! The top 15 combinations from today’s Grand Prix Special will compete in the Grand Prix Freestyle. Then we will get on a train and head back to Dusseldorf, where we will stay the night so we are ready to fly back to Newark on Monday. Please keep following for more update and photos in the coming days! :)

Day 4

Today was not a competition day, but there was so much to watch and we got to talk to several amazing people! We watched many riders school their horses, including Jessica von Bredow-Werndl on Unee BB, Emma Kanerva on Sini Solina, Diederik van Silfhout on Arlando, Pierra Volla on Badinda Altena, Michael Eilberg on Marakov, Marina Aframeeva on Voska, Inessa Merkulova on Mister X, Beatriz Ferrer-Salat on Delgado, and Kristina Sprehe on Desperados FRH. We really enjoyed watching each of these combinations; one of our favorites was the very sympathetic rider Jessica von Bredow-Werndl on Unee BB. She warmed the stallion up cantering around the ring on a long rein in half seat, smiling and laughing the whole time. Then she did a series of short collection work sets, with lots of walk breaks on a loose rein in between them. Halfway through her ride, she took the stirrups off her saddle and did the rest of the work stirrup-less, which improved her already amazing seat and really put her in complete harmony with the horse. Unee BB looked so relaxed and happy! They were a pleasure to watch.

Jessica von Bredow-Werndl on Unee BB (stirrupless!)

Michael Eilberg on Marakov

Marina Aframeeva on Vosk

Diederik van Silfhout on Arlando

We had the opportunity to speak to Danish FEI rider and European Championship team member Mikala Gundersen, former US dressage team technical advisor and FEI 5* judge Anne Gribbons, German FEI rider and youth coach Hans-Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen, German FEI rider and French team trainer Jan Bemelmans, and spoke more with Swedish chef d’equipe and long line master Bo Jena. Everyone here at Aachen has been so kind and generous, passionately and honestly answering all of our questions.

Mikala Gundersen spoke about her pre-European Championships training schedule: she explained that the week before a show, she does not work My Lady quite as intensely, wanting her to be physically and mentally fresh at the competition. There is nothing that you can really change in such a short time, so you ought to focus on keeping the horse “supple and happy.” She also talked about how Denmark can qualify a composite team for the Olympics (since Denmark did not place highly enough in the team competition at Aachen to qualify a team for the Olympics that way). If Denmark has three riders ranked highly enough in the world dressage rankings, then Denmark can choose three riders – they do not have the be the top ranked riders, but most likely they will be – to go to the Olympics and they then become a team.

Anne Gribbons, one of the judges here at Aachen, spoke about the super quality of the horses and riders in the competition. She also explained how difficult judging is, especially judging certain movements from certain angles (for example, it is very hard to see if tempi changes are completely through behind if the judge is sitting at “F” and the changes are coming on the diagonal straight at her). She discussed the importance of fairness as well: she explained that a judge should not even see the breed of a horse, only the quality and accuracy of the gaits and movements. Finally, she told us about some amazing places that she has judged, such as Achleiten in Austria, which is in the Swiss Alps and she described it as looking just like The Sound of Music. 

Hans-Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen talked about what is takes to be a really top rider. He strongly emphasized the importance of having a superb quality seat. The first time he saw Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, the first thing he noticed was her amazing seat. He felt that a rider also must have a really good feel, both for himself and his horse. A rider has to spend time in the stable with his horse and learn all about and appreciate him. A rider’s trainer is very important too: the trainer must be very honest with you and tough on you, but at the same time supportive and willing to answer questions. He felt that a horse must enjoy its work, and that judges can tell when a horse has a happy expression and reward it. The key is knowing when you need to make the work fun and knowing when you have to be a little tougher and ask more from your horse.

L to R: Rosie Julian-Simoes, Sadie Lahey, Anne Gribbons, Hans-Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen, Charlotte Bredahl, Annie Morris, Jennifer Foulon, Sarah Cohen

Jan Bemelmans told us the story of the chestnut mare Badinda Altena, one of the horses on the French European Championship team here that we absolutely adored. Her rider, Pierre Volla, had been a jumper rider and had bought her when she was 2 or 3 years old. She was not easy as a young horse: unbelievably hot and explosive. Learning the flying changes was difficult for her. However, once she started working on the piaffe and passage, everyone really began to see the potential in the horse. She did her first Grand Prix test ever just this year, and now will be competing in the Grand Prix Special tomorrow (the top 30 out of the 72 combinations competing in the Grand Prix qualified for the Grand Prix Special). He noted that sometimes the horses that are difficult as youngsters turn out to be the best horses for the Grand Prix. He also talked about how he prepared the French team for the European Championships. One week before having to be at Aachen, the team came to Germany. They trained for two days, then on the third day they ran through the Grand Prix test. Then they spent the remaining days working on any issues that had arisen during the test. Once at Aachen, they kept the work light and easy, so the horses would be fresh for the tests. Like Hans-Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen, he emphasized the importance of a good seat, and explained that riding bareback is an excellent way to feel the muscles of the horse and develop a good understanding for his mechanics. He suggested riding on the lunge line and without stirrups and reins as well. We also discussed how to bring a horse and rider from small tour level to big tour level, and he told us to remember that you get points with big movement from the horse in the Prix St Georges but that you get points with quick movement from the horse in the Grand Prix.

L to R: Sadie Lahey, Rosie Julian-Simoes (bottom), Sarah Cohen, Jan Bemelmans, Jennifer Foulon, Annie Morris

It is getting quite late here in Germany, so I will compile yesterday and today's notes from Bo Jena and post them another time. We had a wonderful time talking to him as we watched a little bit of the cross country today! Thank you so much to Mikala, Anne, Hans-Heinrich, Jan, and Bo for spending so much time with us today!! We are all so inspired!

Day 3

Day three at Aachen was the most exciting one yet! Today was the second half of the Grand Prix class, so the scores today combined with the scores from yesterday determined the team medals, and it was an extremely close race between the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Germany. The top three (out of four) scores for each country counted for the team ranking, and the Netherlands already had a very strong 77.586% from Hans Peter Minderhoud and a 75.814% from Diederik van Silfhout when Edward Gal came in and blew the competition away.

Edward Gal and Glock's Undercover

He rode incredible piaffe and passage, even scoring 10s from some judges, and scored 82.229%. This score gave the Netherlands a very high overall score (235.629%), but with the strongest riders from Great Britain (Charlotte Dujardin) and Germany (Kristina Broring-Sprehe) still to go, it was unclear if the overall score was high enough to secure the gold medal. Charlotte Dujardin followed Edward Gal, and all eyes were on her to see if she could score highly enough to earn Great Britain the gold (her score would be added to Fiona Bigwood’s 75.800% and Carl Hester’s 75.400%).

Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro

Her test began absolutely beautifully, with some 10s awarded for her extended trot and trot half passes. However, she had uncharacteristic mistakes in the canter half pass zig zag and one tempis, which brought her score down a bit. Her final score was 83.029%, which put the overall score for Great Britain 1.4% lower than that of the Netherlands. However, the Netherlands still had to wait for Germany’s Kristina Sprehe, the last rider of the day, to see what would happen. Germany already had a 75.971% from Matthias Alexander Rath and a 75.200% from Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, so with a high enough third score Germany could potentially move into the top spot. Kristina Sprehe is a beautiful rider, but she also made uncharacteristic mistakes in the canter half pass zig zag and had small errors in the piaffe and passage. Her final score of 79.743% left Germany in the bronze medal position. The final team medal results were: 1. The Netherlands (235.629%), 2. Great Britain (234.229%), 3. Germany (230.914%). Spain, Sweden, and France followed in 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th places respectively.

Charlotte and Annie gave us several helpful tips during the Grand Prix class. Some horses swung their hindquarters in the flying changes, and they suggested schooling changes along the rail (with the side that the horse swings the haunches to more on the rail). Some horses showed lateral collected walks, and they told us that if you have a horse with a lateral walk, you should experiment with the tempo to find which tempo gives the walk the clearest rhythm and you should also ride lateral movements (shoulder-fore, leg yield, half pass, etc.) in the walk to break up the rhythm more. Like yesterday, we all paid special attention to the accuracy of the riders (for example, several did not do a clear transition back to collection after the extended trot, which is really just throwing away points) and their positions (many were really impressive!).

We also spoke with Swedish chef d’equipe and long line master Bo Jena and German FEI 4* judge and master trainer Christoph Hess. They were wonderful – so passionate and honest – and gave us several useful tidbits. We are planning on talking to them more tomorrow, so I will post their words of wisdom later.

Tomorrow is a day off from competition, so we are planning to meet with more riders, trainers, and judges as well as watch plenty of schooling in the warmup rings. Saturday is the Grand Prix Special and Sunday is the Grand Prix Freestyle, so stay tuned for more exciting updates!

Day 1 and Day 2 at Aachen!

Day 1

Aachen is incredible! After a fairly uneventful flight, we arrived in Dusseldorf just after 6 am, then took the train to the town of Aachen, where we arrived just after 9 am. Aachen is on the Germany-Netherlands border, about 40 miles southwest of Cologne. The town is wonderfully old and full of history, with many beautiful buildings. I am staying in an adorable apartment with Sadie, Sarah, and Rosie, the other young riders on the trip, who are SO much fun! After a few hours of rest, we headed to the Aachen showgrounds. WOW! There are several warmup rings and huge stadiums with perfect footing, rows and rows of vendors with every horse and human product imaginable, and food stands offering everything from sushi and stirfry to candy and waffles! The grounds are super manicured and clean, and everyone is incredibly friendly. 

We watched some gorgeous horses school in the warmup rings, including Victoria Max-Theurer’s Blind Date, Fiona Bigwood’s Atterupgaard’s Orthilia, Kristina Sprehe’s Desperados, and Anna Kasprzak’s Donnperignon. I am always interested to see how riders get their horses in front of their leg (it sounds so simple, but it can be so tricky!), and watching these pairs was really informative. Victoria Max-Theurer’s horse responded positively not only when she used her calf but also when she took her leg up off the saddle, which allowed her to ride in a very quiet and harmonious way. All of the riders emphasized transitions, transitions, and more transitions! They might give the horse one sharper leg aid, but then they expect the horse to respond to an extremely subtle one.

While we were watching the warmup, we ran into Finnish Olympian and master trainer Kyra Kyrklund. She is so nice and so knowledgeable, and she was kind enough to speak to us about her training philosophy and experiences. Some of my favorite pieces of her advice are below:

• When training, try to have a different focus every day. One day work on the trot, another day on the canter, etc. This method prevents the horse from getting too physically or mentally drained.
• Listen to the horse! She made this point repeatedly, and her remarkable respect for each horse as an individual was evident. The horse will tell you what kind of schedule works best for him, though you may have to experiment to find the right fit.
• It is important to ride the horse on different surfaces. You never know what the footing at a show will be like, and it’s important to make sure your horse is comfortable on a variety of surfaces.
• She does not believe that horses should swim for fitness work, because they lift their heads to breathe and that sustained motion could muscle the underside of their necks. This does not include something like a water treadmill, where the horse is still doing a walking motion, just with the added resistance of water.
• When looking at bloodlines, do not focus solely on the sire. The dam can be very influential. If you are interested in a certain line, look at offspring and note any trends, but always remember that horses are individuals.
• Train the things that the horses offers first. If a young horse offers piaffe, even if it is on a trail ride because he is nervous, embrace it.
• Treat every horse like it will be a Grand Prix horse. It is better to have a Prix St Georges who can also do piaffe than a Prix St Georges horse with no piaffe!
• "Be a passionate horse idiot!” In other words, love your horses and your sport, and learn everything you can. :)

L to R: Jennifer Foulon, Sadie Lahey, Kyra Kyrklund, Annie Morris, Sarah Cohen, Rosie Julian-Simoes, and Charlotte Bredahl

After speaking to Kyra, we took a quick stroll through the shops and got some dinner. At night, we attended the European Championships opening ceremonies. The stands of the huge jumper stadium were absolutely packed (incredible for a Tuesday night!). Several prominent German equestrians were honored and a team of 64 stallions (!) performed a quadrille with incredible harmony. Then, people on horseback in over-the-top costumes, each representing a different European country, paraded about with flags and much fanfare. After they finished, reiners (wearing helmets!), dressage riders, vaulters, and jumpers all showed off their craft in the ring together. Then it got really crazy! The ring cleared out as a trapeze artist attached to a giant balloon and several characters on stilts entered! The trapeze artist spun and spun as the balloon lifted her higher and higher! I have never seen anything like it, especially at a horse show! They finished off the opening ceremonies with a huge firework display. It was so exciting but we were all pretty wiped out after a sleepless night on the airplane, so we quickly headed back and immediately fell asleep. The Grand Prix class is split over the next two days, and we all could not be more excited to see so many world class horses and riders going head-to-head!

Day 2

Today was amazing day at the Aachen showgrounds! The first group of the riders contested the Grand Prix. The dressage ring had been set up in the middle of the huge grass jumper ring; the audience was a bit separated from the ring itself, which I think made the atmosphere nice and a little quieter for the horses. Music played during each ride, and it even changed as the horses changed gaits! Spanish music played for the Spanish horses and ABBA played for the Swedish rider. We were all really impressed with some of the younger up-and-coming horses, such as Arlando, Badinda Altena, and Annarico. One of our favorite riders was the Swedish rider Emilie Nyerrod: she was so soft and quiet, and had the most beautiful forward-thinking hands. We sat as a group and discussed the rides as we went; some of the key points were:

• Pay attention to transitions! Clear, accurate transitions make a huge difference in the overall picture and in the overall score.
• Taking more risk in the extended trot and canter is really rewarded. Do it!
• We saw a variety of different mechanics in the piaffe and passage, and Charlotte explained that a smaller, more consistent passage should score better than a flashier but inconsistent one.
• If a horse gets too passage-y in the trot half pass, add more bend, because it makes it much harder for the horse to try to passage.
• Practice centerlines and halts! Any horse can do a good halt; you are throwing away points by doing it sloppily. Also, as a side note (which I did not know!), resting one hind leg in the halt is more expensive than not halting square.
• Horses have to want to work for you! Harmony will always be rewarded!

We also got to talk to two amazing people today: British Olympian Carl Hester and German 5* judge Katrina Wust. Carl Hester has so many accomplishments, I don’t even know how to begin to introduce him! He has been on many Olympic, World Equestrian Games, and European Championship teams, as well as coaching Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro to three world records and countless major championship wins. Carl is incredibly charismatic and hilarious, and was so generous with his time and his advice. All of his words of wisdom were so useful, I thought I would share several here:

• At his stable, the horses are worked in the ring four days a week and spend two other days just hacking. He gave us three reasons for this schedule. First, due to the horse’s learning process, the horse always performs best on the second day (you work through any issues on the first day, then the understanding is there for the second day). As a reward, you let the horse hack on the third day. So working two days, then a day hacking, then two more work days, then a day hacking (then of course a day completely off) makes sense mentally for the horse. Second, all horses, especially top Grand Prix horses, have to be incredibly fit. Hacking builds fitness! The horses walk on the roads (where they are exposed to many environments and distractions, also important preparation for competitions!) and trot up and down hills. Third, he has to devote much of his time to teaching in order to support himself, and if there are days when other people hack all of his horses, then he has more time to devote to his students.
• Whether or not to do the young horse classes really depends on the horse. Success in the young horse classes is not an indicator of future Grand Prix success! The young horse classes were educational for Valegro, who he says was quite nice as a young horse, but not for his Grand Prix mount here Nip Tuck, who was built long and who was nervous.
• You have to think that every horse will be a Grand Prix horse and train with these same goals in mind.
• Try to use all the resources available to you. In England, the lottery funds athlete performance development programs, so elite athletes have access to resources like sports psychology programs. He says that sports psychology greatly helped Charlotte Dujardin!
• In the warmup, the main goal is to get the horse to the point where you can collect him. That said, relaxation (stretching) comes first. You also have to get the horse in front of your leg. At a show, don’t be tempted to show off in front of people in the warmup area. You must keep the same routine as at home.
• Walking is very important! His horses go for a short hack before and after working in the ring. Walking helps the horse both mentally (it helps him relax) and physically (after working, it releases the lactic acid that has built up in their muscles, which reduces soreness).
• He really recommends (to a professional or budding professional) buying your own horses and training them. Even if you find a sponsor who will buy a trained horse for you, things happen (for example horses go lame or get sold). If you can buy a horse – any horse that you can afford, even a fairly inexpensive 2 year old – then you can train it, learn from it, sell it and buy another one and start the process over again. It may take you longer to get to the top, but you will eventually. When you find a horse with that extra special talent, you will have the skills to train it up and hopefully be able to keep it longer.
• As an employer, it is very attractive to have someone who really wants to be there. Charlotte came to his stable temporarily as a fill-in groom, but she was determined to stay and she told him she would do anything and ride anything. It worked!
• When riding a GP (or any) test, he thinks about each movement as he does it through to its completion. He does not think about the next movement(s); this method helps you not rush through the test. Also, make sure to show your best horse in between the movements. The short side is a great place to show an energetic, uphill, harmonious picture.
• It is easier to get a horse light in the bridle than to get a horse to take the contact. He told a story about a Stephen Clarke (British 5* FEI judge) symposium years ago when a girl asked Mr. Clarke how to get a horse to take the contact, and he opened the question to the audience. They threw out many ideas but he rejected them all. He said that if a horse won’t take the contact, you have to take the contact! Carl agreed completely with this point. He said that you need to teach the horse to feel the bit in the corners of his mouth and suggested checking to make sure the horse’s bit is not too low in his mouth.

L to R: Annie Morris, Rosie Julian-Simoes, Jennifer Foulon, Carl Hester, Sarah Cohen, Sadie Lahey, Charlotte Bredahl

Speaking with Katrina Wust was also incredibly informative. She is so intelligent and passionate, especially when discussing musical freestyles; here is some of her advice:

• In a dressage freestyle, good execution is the most important thing. If you are a less experienced rider or have a greener horse, keep the choreography simpler and perfect it (rather than trying to ride a more difficult pattern and always making mistakes). It is the rider’s responsibility to know which sequences are (relatively) easy or difficult.
• When designing freestyle choreography, tailor it to the strengths and weaknesses of the horse. If the horse does not have a strong walk, then show the walk on the long side away from the judges.
• Do NOT do the same choreography as the standard tests!!!
• Combinations of movements are a great way to add to the degree of difficulty. These can be done at any level: for example, freestyles at many levels could show an extended canter into a walk pirouette into an extended trot.
• Freestyle music must fit the rhythm of all of the horse’s paces. Catchy music is always a plus: the audience becomes excited and the judge finds it memorable. Also, try to get the audience and the judges to feel emotionally engaged with the music (she described it as “let them dream a little”).
• She sees the double bridle as an instrument of riding culture and believes that it should be mandatory at a competition of this caliber.
• Ride precise lines! One of the first things she notices when she judges is how the rider prepares for movements, rides corners, and performs accurately.

Thank you so much to Carl and Katrina today, as well as Kyra yesterday, for sharing so much of their knowledge! All of these people are incredible horsepeople and it is obvious that they care deeply for their horses and their sport. Tomorrow is the second half of the Grand Prix class, and it will be incredible to watch horses like Totilas and Valegro face off! Germany, the Netherlands, and Great Britain are currently neck and neck in the team rankings; the gold medal for the team competition is anyone’s game!

(Also, I have many more photos! When the Internet connection is stronger, I will post them all in a separate entry, so stay tuned.)

We fly out today!

Hello! I am Jennifer Foulon, a dressage rider from Maryland who has been selected to go to Aachen, Germany for the 2015 European Dressage Championships as part of the Dressage Foundation's Young Rider International Dream Program. I plan on chronicling the trip on this blog, so stay tuned for lots of exciting updates! We fly out today!

Before the trip starts, I would like to introduce myself. I am currently a fulltime college student at Princeton University, where I study economics. I have been riding dressage for the past fourteen years and for the past three years I have trained with Marcus Orlob and Shannon Stevens in Annandale, New Jersey. Previously I trained with Barbara Strawson in Clarksburg, Maryland. I have been lucky enough to clinic with some amazing trainers, such as Charlotte Bredahl, Lendon Gray, Nicole Uphoff-Selke, Jeremy Steinberg, and George Williams. I have earned my USDF bronze and silver medals, bronze freestyle bar, and several regional championship wins. Also I have competed at competitions such as the North American Junior/Young Rider Championships, Festival of Champions, Dressage at Devon, and Global Dressage Festival. In the next few years, I hope to compete at the Under 25 Grand Prix level.

I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has made this wonderful trip possible! Thank you to my parents, Mark Foulon and Lynda Clarizio, for always supporting my riding dreams. Thank you to all the horses in my life that have taught me so much, especially but not limited to Ferrero, Little Granny, Mr. M, and Whispering Diamond. Thank you to all the people who believed in me and wrote the recommendations that helped me get into this program: Marcus Orlob and Shannon Stevens, Frank and CeCe Maddlone, Ariane Vasquez, and Jaine Aldinger. Thank you to my college roommate Clara Kerwin for helping me get the application on its way. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard preparing this trip, including Jenny Johnson, Eliza Sydnor Romm, and Beth Baumert. Thank you to Michael Poulin for having the vision and originating this fantastic program. Thank you to Charlotte Bredahl and Annie Morris for joining us on this trip as chaperones, we are incredibly fortunate to have such accomplished and talented trainers come with us to make this experience even better. Last but certainly not least, thank you so much to the Dressage Foundation for giving us such an amazing opportunity! I can't wait to share this experience with you all!! :)