Boneo Park was the scene for the Heike Kemmer clinic. Heike Kemmer has been a regular member of the German Dressage team on a number of horses, most recently her chestnut, Bonaparte – a horse she bought as a foal some 14 years ago. Heike was the Individual Bronze Medalist at the Beijing Olympics and a member of the German gold medal team there, and is at the moment targeting Bonaparte for the WEG in Kentucky. Heike has an Australian connection – she is sponsored by Peter Horobin Saddlery.
Heike is not only a seriously dedicated and talented rider, but also a great coach. She gives many clinics in America and spent four days prior to the master class coaching talented riders in a clinic at Boneo Park.
The interest in the master class (which was sponsored by Credit Suisse Private Banking) was amazing, with not a spare seat to be seen, 250 viewers enjoyed sit-down meals served around the indoor arena, and over 200 silver seats were sold. It was a sell out!
Her first horse was the beautiful Sandro Hit stallion, Smash Hit, who is out of the famous Rubinstein’s full sister. Heike wondered why Germany had allowed such a great horse and breeding stallion out of Germany and was exceedingly complimentary. This six year old stallion is now ridden by Gina Montgomery and at his first showing in a six year old young horse class, the weekend prior, scored a 7.8!
Heike started in such a logical way allowing Gina to simply show the horse the spooky surrounds and after a few minutes of absorbing the atmosphere, it was down to work.
Whenever it looks easy, you know it’s simply because it is being produced by experts! The advice was always spot-on, the timing so good, it was Heike and Gina and the stallion as one!
Simple exercises: trotting on a 20 metre circle, spiral in, and leg yield out, increasing the lateral and longitudinal stretch to allow the stallion to reach for the bit and open his back to allow more freedom and room for the hind leg to move through. Simple, but effective.
The leg yielding was done on both reins with attention to the submission to the inside and the bending through the body. Heike made sure that during all the exercises the horse remained on the outside rein, and there was no hint of the shoulder falling to the outside.
The work progressed, from one 20 metre circle to another, with attention to the new bending and the equality of the balance and fluency from on rein to the other. It was easy to see that this stallion was developing more swing and reach with the hind leg, simply through the lateral bending and the submission this created to the hand. A stretching back and neck allowed Smash Hit to show better throughness of the hind leg from his acceptance of the contact and the bend through his body.
It was then on to straight sides with the bending to the inside without the body becoming stressed and crooked, and at the same time within the bending, making some transitions forward and back with sharp reactions to the leg – still mindful of keeping the shoulders from falling out.
A walk break and a long rein, where Heike pointed out that this stallion shows walk for a 9, “With a clear definition of the footfalls, and a stretching frame to follow the contact, and most importantly, when the walk is collected or shortened the rhythm stays the same with no lateral tendency, and this is a rare commodity with a horse who has a huge overtrack!”
So then it was pick up the reins and on to the canter.
Exactly the same exercises in canter as in trot, and the leg yielding in canter to control the suppleness and to feel the elastic contact and stretching over the back and through the neck. Again bending through the body on the long sides and forward and back in tempo, and then a change of direction across the diagonal and counter canter – a mistake as the stallion loses balance and changes in front. As Heike explained, it’s no problem, re-establish the counter canter and proceed. It’s that simple, and when you are starting changes, it happens. A transition from counter canter to trot is followed by a period of relaxation in trot allowing the stallion to reach forwards and downwards and to again open the back and neck whilst remaining in balance and staying in the same speed and tempo.
The exercises were all done methodically on each rein, and then some stretching following the contact down and forwards in the canter, without allowing the stallion to fall over the front legs and gain speed – he must wait in balance and not run away.
To finish there was some amazing medium trot and it was obvious that both horse and rider found this elastic forward trot easy, it certainly was a highlight of the session!
They ended with a long rein walk and with the enthusiastic crowd clapping in appreciation. Smash Hit was totally calm and relaxed with the applause.
After the session Gina said she had come to realize over the few days training, how important it is to have lively reactions and that without this there is no half halt and no ability to stretch the horse. Gina also let everyone know that Heike was a hard task master and for this she was grateful and assured Heike that next time there would be a great improvement. She said she had benefitted from the opportunity to train and that her ride with Smash Hit is truly a wonderful experience and she is confident he will be a great horse with careful and systematic training with the greatest attention to the basics!
Next was the upstanding chestnut mare Donna Fidera ( Don Gregory/ Fidermark) ridden by Greer Maloney, who bought the newly broken in mare while training overseas.
Similar work for this 5 year old, trot circles and the leg yielding in the trot, then with bending through the body on both circles and from one to the other. Again on the long side, the bend to the inside but at no moment was there to be a hint of the shoulder falling out, and if so, then a quick check that there was an ability to yield to the outside rein to help with the shoulders.
A period of stretching long and downwards followed each lesson, showing balance and acceptance of the contact. It was easy to see the difference in the mare as she started to relax over the back and was able to bring the hind leg more forward and under. With this achieved, quicker reactions to the forward and collection were worked on, with sharper transitions within the pace. A period of walk and a free rein and then into the canter.
The canter was again started with exercises to increase the bending and submission with transitions to walk to improve the collection and response to the half halt, and then quite some time was spent in counter canter.
This mare found it quite hard to maintain the balance and was loading the outside shoulder (the shoulder opposite to the leading leg). The mare lacked straightness and lateral suppleness, and with a canter that was a little lacking in collection, balance was difficult to maintain. It was here that the whip on the outside shoulder was introduced to help her keep the balance. Heike explained: riders tend to pull back and jerk on the reins as they use the whip behind the saddle. The whip on the shoulder encourages a good response and helps put the rein and hand a little forward. This helped the mare a lot, even if she kept looking at the crowd on the outside – not a help in getting the mare straight. The transition to trot was also encouraged with the use of the voice. After a few mistakes and simple corrections in the straightness, the counter canter improved and with this also the balance and clarity of the working canter itself.
On asking Greer what she had taken with her from her Heike experience, her reply was enthusiastic and clear. “ I have enjoyed my lessons and this class with Heike. Above all I have been shown many exercises that I can take with me to help our areas of difficulty. This means after Heike has left our shores I am able to continue in a positive way.”
The last horse before the break was Candi Ka with Clare Porz. If there is a combination that is really on the improve, it must be this pair. With great scores at the Nationals and then again at the Victorian Dressage Festival, and having taken part in many master classes, they are now on the 2010 National Dressage Development Squad and for a young rider this is a great achievement. Candi Ka is a 10 year old mare and was imported from Denmark.
Candi Ka was also warmed up in the same way, but with this mare, the emphasis was not letting her rely on the reins for the balance, and then when she was stretching, she had to keep her weight back and not run off, and not slow down. An interesting comment from Heike: in the warm up, riders should remember to listen to the breathing of their horses to see that there is a relaxation, and this was evident with this brown mare. She was a little tight at the start of the work, but after the bending and leg yielding exercises, her breathing indicated her relaxation and acceptance to work.
It was then a matter of getting the mare to be more attentive to Clare, especially to keep her sharp to the forward aids, and for her to be more consistently forward. This involved many transitions within the pace, and keeping the horse really sharp to the first hint of the driving aids. Medium canter to collected, and then straight out to medium, then collect again. Again the whip on the inside shoulder to help with the balance and a lighter forward hand had a good effect to keep the mare from falling in especially before the corners.
The advice that meant so much was “refresh the pace!!”
So when the work in half pass began, it was easier to keep the flow within the half pass. Clare was made ride forward and collect often. It was fantastic to see the difference. Clare has been working along these lines in every master class I have seen her participate and in lessons with her own instructors, so it is good to have reinforcement with everyone working in the same direction. It only says there are no short cuts and everyone is along a similar way and that’s so good!
Between each exercise, the stretching and relaxation was emphasized but with care that it was always in balance and no with change in tempo nor rhythm.
In the work on canter pirouettes, it was so good to see this combination show simply wonderful international standard technique. You could sit there and be complacent and say that’s excellent – but no, there is a fault, and Heike was on to it! “You must own the pirouette and make it yours at all times.” Never let her take over, even though she does it in the nicest way!
The flying changes were much better, but there was the odd one late behind and Heike was on to it. A walk and a discussion and the answer was simply that the mare needs to be more in front of the leg and with not so much changing of the flexion! Hey presto, it works! Simple easy and uncomplicated and that’s what eyes on the ground are all about.
Heike asked Clare what Candi Ka was like to sit on. Clare was immediately tough on herself saying she needed Candi Ka to be more forward thinking in the changes, and was so honest in saying that she hasn’t ridden many other horses in pirouettes and the feel was normal to her. (Does she realize that this feeling is rare and one she will come to learn was amazing?) A great lesson and a great mare.
Heike had a break after answering questions, questions that were often surprising. Peter Horobin gave a great lecture and demonstration about saddle fit and its relation to the anatomy and muscle and joint function of the horse. The lecture was informative and oozed with the passion that Peter always puts in to every saddle makes. Plus there were some amazing door prizes were won!
The last horse in the master class was the chestnut Dutchman gelding WS Nevada with Caroline Wagner. This gelding is Caroline’s first FEI horse and she has trained him from medium. Heike used the same warm-up for Nevada with a great emphasis on the quicker reactions to all the aids, which is so important at this level. In canter, the lengthening to the shortening was emphasized, with constant reminders to refresh the pace no matter what the exercise.
In the half pass in trot, shoulder in was used to develop the bending and then from this into the half pass and once the angle and position was achieved, it was then to be ridden very forward to develop the stretch and the swing. More ‘refresh the basic pace’.
In the walk, it was interesting to hear Heike explain that as in all paces the horse must take you with him, sit and relax, then sit deep on your seat and follow. Heike also encouraged Caroline to use her voice from time to time to discourage any feeling of the work becoming hectic. In the piaffe and passage, Heike was encouraging the rider to create a lot more energy and bounce in the work – Caroline needed to do less and the horse more. There were some great moments and it was easy to see that the quicker her horse was to the aids, the better all the work becomes.
In the canter, it was simply keep him forward and to finish a great line of 15 one tempi changes, full of energy and expression followed by the reward of longer and stretching work to finish what had been an inspiring demonstration.
Caroline was very pleased with the progress and humble in the praise she was given having brought this horse through from medium to Grand Prix.
The finale of the night was Heike Kemmer riding Byalee Magic and what a masterful job she made on this Grand Prix horse. Heike rode a freestyle to music she had brought with her and was so pleased with Byalee Magic and his one tempis that she made them on a twenty metre circle!
The crowd enjoyed every moment of the whole evening. There was no question that Heike has a super eye and her ability to impart her knowledge in a frank and simple way made it easy for the rider, the horse and the spectators as well. This is a quality that is rare in many talented riders. Every person who attended will have taken ideas home with them to use, that is for sure. No real new ones, just the same basics said in clear and interesting ways. It’s a re-confirming and that’s what is so refreshing.