Franziskus has so much quality, everything is easy for him, so much power, and from his build he is so much sitting on his hindquarters, so uphill, everything is easy for him. Wilfried Gehrmann, an expert in in hand work assists.

Interview by Christopher Hector and photos by Roslyn Neave

The day we visited Ingrid at her stables near Münster, she was showing the visitors to one of her monthly ‘at home’ training days, how she works her dressage horses. She was working a recent ride, the Hanoverian, Franziskus (Fidertanz / Alabaster / Rubinstein), a licensing winner at Münster-Handorf and with the exciting young Trakehner stallion, Königsee (Interconti / Tambour).

Ingrid’s day is a super busy one, but she did find time to prepare us lunch (with a little help from her mother, Ruth) and then more time for an interview before she rushed off to the physio.

The stallion Franziskus looks a little complicated…

Right from the start, it’s forward to the hand

“He is quite tall and he is really full of himself. I got him at the end of his five-year-old year, he was already determined to have his way, it took quite a while and some really big discussions, and he has realized that it is not only his choice, which way to go, which gait, what we do.

I had three months when I was not really sure if he is not a man’s horse – he is quite tall and strong and has such a presence – or will he realize that it is nicer to be in a team with me, a team player.

But he had so much quality, everything is easy for him, so much power, and from his build he is so much sitting on his hindquarters, so uphill, everything is easy for him. I asked for a change, wonderful change, I asked, did anyone teach him changes? No. He can do one change, four, three, two times changes, now I teach him the ones, because I didn’t know what else to do.”

Will he piaffe?

“I think so. Passage is very easy because he has such a nice front. In the piaffe steps he was a little bit quick, but now he starts to learn. He is seven and while he is breeding so much, I haven’t competed him too much.

He has placed in Prix St Georges and at seven, that is enough for me. Now the breeding season is pretty much finished, and I can work him September, October, November. It is really enough for him to work him four or five times a week.

He is good in cavalletti, he goes on the racetrack, he was out in the field with us last week, really bucking, it was quite fun. He is a real personality horse.”

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“Königsee, at the end of his six-year-old year we will decide what he will do, eventing or dressage…”

“Konigsee is cute. He has been with me since he was three. He is cavalletti expert. He is now five, and he has done dressage L, jumping L and cross country L, and he has had super placings in all disciplines. When he is six, he has to do the same, dressage, jumping and cross country. At the end of his six-year-old year, then I can decide. I don’t know how much scope he has, I don’t know if he will learn to piaffe, I know he is a nice mover, and he has a good character, he does what you want, teach me something, okay I will do it, fine. He is full of fun, he really enjoys it, but he would be bored if you didn’t teach him new things, he learns so quickly and easily, it is easy to show him the right path.”

Geraldine starting work on passage with Herr Gehrmann and gaining confidence in her changes…

Next Ingrid rode Geraldine, (Fürst Grandios/Tolstoi) a seven-year-old chestnut Rheinlander mare:

With the mare, when you started doing the sequence changes with her, she was doing something with her off hind leg…

“She always wants to do the twos at the beginning.”

Swinging her leg out from under her body, but as you rode her, she became straighter and went more under…

“That’s why I took my stirrups away because every time she slowed down a bit and wanted to do another change, I thought I must sit more and really ride more positively from my seat, so that she is more open and doesn’t try to slow down. That’s why she started swinging with the leg instead of coming forward.

She is very sensitive and you have to really help her. She needs to get a little self-confidence from Franziskus, who has more than enough. The two seven-year-olds are very different in their way of learning, I always have to support her, guide her, telling her, you are wonderful, you are great, and ride her positive with my seat.”

In the middle of all that, Ingrid’s groom, Carmen Thiemann, rode four-star eventer, Escada, with no saddle, no bridle, just a rope collar!

That was pretty amazing seeing Escada being ridden in just a rope collar…

“It started with Braxxi. One winter we thought, what more can we teach him? He likes to play with our kids, so we started riding bareback, and then Linda Tellington-Jones was with me for a few days before Hong Kong, she took the neck ring and said it is really fun, try it for bareback. Now Escada has learnt too.”

Braxxi does more than play with the kids – here he is still competing, and still winning with Ingrid’s daughter Greta Busacker.

Braxxi competing with Ingrid’s daughter, Greta / Photo: Robert Hogrebe

In her demonstration, Ingrid was assisted by a ‘professor’ of long rein work…

The man who was helping you today?

“This is Wilfried Gehrmann, he is now retired. He was a Grand Prix judge, he was at the Riding and Driving School, in Rheinland for many years. He is the total expert in double lunge and in hand work and long reins. He has made books and dvds, and for at least ten years he has been coming to me, training with the double lunge. He works them from the ground, then I ride them. The horse easily learns, he doesn’t pressure them, he just takes what they offer. One offers more piaffe, one more passage, it doesn’t matter, as long as they try something. Often he does just a few half steps forward, transition and back. It is just play.”

That can sometimes be tricky, I can remember your brother Michael saying that when you bought The Entertainer from PSI, he had great piaffe there, but left it there when he came to your home…

“That’s true. I start them very early. Mr Gehrmann does the first steps and then I sit on them. But what you say is true, I said to him, when I do the first Grand Prix with Franziskus, you must join me…”

Franziskus won the Inter 1 in Münster the weekend after our visit / Photo: LL-Foto

You are a very famous rider and trainer, but you still like to have someone help you…

“I really enjoy it. It always brings fresh ideas. Kurt Gravemeier (former jumping coach to the German Team) he comes and trains me in jumping, and it gives me so much. He sees it from the ground, he helps at the practice jumps – he knows me, he knows the horses and he has seen their development from trying them the first time. Like with Escada I went to him and said, what do you think? Should we buy her? He right away said, she is a super jumper, we can compete her as a showjumper. Even if I only see him once a month, or at the show, it always gives me so much.”

How much can someone coach you in cross country?

“So much. We walk the course, I exactly know which tempo, which line. At Aachen when I was ready in the warm up, Chris said, don’t forget you really have to slow down before 16, really collect her, collect her more than you would do normally. Sometimes I think I collect but it is still too fast, because she is so fast. He knows me, and he knows the horses. Also Hans Meltzer, I do a lot of the training of the young horses with Hans, in Warendorf or Luhmühlen – he says come whenever you want, load the youngsters, we will do school some showjumping or cross country. It is much more inspiring to work with someone like that, instead of working on your own. For sure I know, if I have to, I can do it alone, but if I have the choice, and with such a supportive team, I would be really stupid not to. It’s fun and inspiring.”

“Then you think back. For example with Escada in the walk pirouette, she was a little thinking, canter comes, and she is so sensitive if you just think something she does it, and Chris said, always keep your leg on in walk, if you think something, she will canter, she is so soft and gentle but she can anticipate. Every lesson, or every show when we are together, I take something back, and keep it in my mind.”

“It is the same with Chris Bartle, I really like to ride with Chris so much. We did some dressage training, and all of a sudden, Escada was doing changes in the counter canter. I said Chris what did I do wrong? He said, you forgot to keep your leg on, always keep your leg on, always remind her, stay in the canter. So I did it, it worked, thanks Chris.”

You also get help from the Dressage team coaches, Monica Theodorescu and Jonny Hilberath?

“Totally, whenever I have a chance I train with them, and really try to see what they think, get their ideas. Or when I see them at the show in the warmup, they will say, you have to be rounder or whatever, make the changes more uphill. I try. Next time I see them, they say, a little more forward / backwards, always little details. It is not that I don’t feel secure because I have no basics, or I would lose my self confidence, I pretty much know exactly why I do what I do, and know my horses. But I also know my weaknesses, if you don’t take advantage of that help, then you stay where you are. What I am always doing, is I come out and ask, what can I do better? How can I support my horse better next time, so that he can better understand me. There are always little things, that can take you from an 8 to a 9. Mr Hess said about Bobby in the halt, you can do better, so I try for a 9 in the halt, why not? You always have to aim for something.”

Want to breed an F line horse? Go to www.ihb.com.au and see the star stallions that are available, like  Foundation, Fidertanz or Floriscount

Foundation

Fidertanz

Floriscount

Want more with Ingrid? It’s right here waiting for you:

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