High Mountain Dressage

Often when I ride a horse I am in complete awe - here I am, a potential predator, and this incredible animal not only lets me sit on his/her back, but performs movements smooth and relaxed, only because I gave him/her the cue to do so. This realization often wipes me away and it is invigorating and stunning to feel a horse bloom underneath me. My biggest goal in my professional life is to never lose this appreciation and gratitude for horses and to keep my amazement for these moments of mutual understanding.

In my life journey so far I had the pleasure to work with some great teachers and many students and horses on all levels. But only portions of the whole range were touched at a time and I had never had the honor to train a single horse from zero (meaning completely raw and untouched) to GP. I would love to experience this some day and can only imagine what an incredible bond that must be.

I believe that the person you have trained with does not necessarily tell anything about yourself and if you are able to use the knowledge shared from this trainer/instructor. Besides: one's best teacher is the horse. A 30 year old three legged backyard horse or 7 year old flashy warmblood. It does not matter. They will teach you things that no instructor can get across to you. All you have to do is listen.

Dressage will unfortunately neither save the planet, nor stop hunger or war. This sport deserves devotion and serious work, but it is sometimes taken too seriously. People get tense and moody, even at local schooling shows. We think since Dressage is not that powerful to destroy or save the planet - we might as well have fun with it, enjoy it together and learn from each other.

Amen.

And last but not least I would like to share two favorite quotes of mine with you:

Went with my man (has no clue about that sport) to a dressage show to watch.

I think it was the first Grand Prix he had ever seen.

So here he is eating some burger and fries and looking at the diagonal with the one tempi changes,

pokes me with his elbow in my rips and said: "Look at these cute little hop skips!"

(I laughed so hard)

My son - 2,5 years old - was watching online with me a ride of Hubertus Schmidt on Forest Gump and after several minutes of sitting quietly (!) he shouted full amazement: "That horse is dancing!"

(I cried and had goose bumps)