Bootcamp for Rebecca at Dressage Unravelled

Adventurous pilates and dressage coach, Rebecca Ashton heads north to Dressage Unravelled… and she took the photos.

The Southern Highlands ‘Book Club’ has become quite well known by now. However, there are other people around the country who also have initiatives with the same goal; to bring the dressage world together, share information and garner a sense of community. Dressage Unravelled is one of those fabulous endeavours. 

The event is the brainchild of Queenslanders Sharon Harvey, Jo Wray, Linda Schmerglatt and Lea Bierman. The idea of Dressage Unravelled was born one day after a pilates class (as a pilates instructor, I can completely understand how such epiphanies may occur!) The annual bootcamp run by this passionate little group in Caboolture is in its second year now and the committee believe in their event so much that not only have they booked the QSEC for ten years in anticipation, but have plans to take their registered business nationwide, potentially international.

Sharon Harvey explains, “We really just had a concept that we wanted to run an event that would include everyone in dressage. Everyone has a right to top coaching and everyone has a right to participate and we wanted to create an event that was lots of fun as well as encompassing lots of learning. So we did! We wanted it to be a camp so everyone would come together, meet other people and it would be affordable for them.” 

Coaches and organises (l-r): Hans Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen from Germany, Sharyn Ross, Paula Price, Lea Bierman, Gary Lung, Linda Schmerglatt, Jo Wray, Andrew McLean, Sharon Harvey

We’re having this conversation on Saturday night of the camp. Everyone is sitting around, BBQ dinner on laps and wine in hand as a local singer creates a relaxed atmosphere. There’s lots of laughing and mingling.

But it’s a big step to say you’re going to do something and actually doing it. Sharon continues:

“We just all totally believed in what we were trying to do. We all believed in it in different ways. Lea and Linda are coaches and Grand Prix dressage riders, I’m a novice rider with a background in business marketing and administration. I just said, ‘How come I pay the same EA membership as everyone else but I never get to go to clinics? Where do normal people go and have access to top coaches?’ I know that before I met Linda I would have been terrified to ask her for a lesson. The four of us are really different people. We have lots of squabbles but we all totally respect what each other brings so our squabbles are not personal.”

Sharyn Ross teaching

The event was run over the Easter long weekend and included local trainers such as Linda and Lea, Paula Price, Sally Evans, Gary Lung, Sharyn Ross and big draw cards Andrew McLean and legendary German dressage coach Hans Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen. Fourteen topics were selected for riders to focus on, and they had the opportunity of two group lessons per day covering their chosen subjects with a couple of lectures and master classes from Andrew and Hans Heinrich. Subjects included improving contact, improving impulsion, starting flying changes and improving test riding. Coaches made written comments for each rider at the end of their lesson and these were all popped in a folder for participants to take away for future reference.

Coaches debrief

Each day wound up with a coaches’ debrief. Lesson formats were discussed and new ideas bandied about so the event can continue to be tweaked and improved upon. One idea that stemmed from such a meeting was a “Lesson Translation” session where one of the coaches sat in the stand with spectators to help breakdown and explain what Hans Heinrich was communicating to his students. 

Linda Schmerglatt explains one of the event’s prime goals: “It’s being able to include regional Australia and make it accessible. Regional people never get training. Last year we had someone come from the Northern Territory. I get emotional about this. It’s about including the people who live out on those big stations. They’re lucky if they even have internet access. They don’t have any social interaction with dressage people. To be able to come to something like this and to meet Hans Heinrich and to have a lesson with him, is a dream come true for them.”

A masterclass with Hans Heinrich

Linda’s dream was exemplified by Team Roma. Taking over six hours to get to Calboolture, they were here to learn, exchange ideas and have fun.

Team Roma:

Denise Alcock is from Surat and usually trains with Linda. She had a horse that everyone was trying to talk her out of keeping as a youngster as he was quite a handful, but she believed in the gelding and stuck with him. “He’s 12 and I’ve had him six years. I had only owned him six months before I got breast cancer, so he’s had more starts than Phar Lap. It’s been a big journey with him. We just plod along. I’m not a Grand Prix rider, I just love him. I came to try and get more confidence.

“I actually texted Linda to see if there were going to be any other old ones here. There’s a lot! When you get older, you get left out of all these things, but Linda really encouraged me. I had a good lesson today. I was panicking before I went in though!”

Chris McNamara is a master farrier from Roma. “I’m from a rodeo background which is very different, very community minded. The dressage competitions feel different to that so this camp is really great. I had six lessons and it’s been great to have access to all the coaches and their different techniques.”

Chris came with his partner Sussan Evans who is a coach and rider. “Dressage is a bit funny. At a competition its a bit ‘all about me’. There’s not so much camaraderie. So, it’s good to change that and help each other, which we do in Roma anyway, because we have to. It’s nice that people are sharing their information so everyone can get better and improve the sport as a whole.”

Ang Lorenz rounded off the foursome. She also came to learn new skills from a variety of coaches. “It’s wonderful to have so many quality coaches all at the one place. It gives me something to take home and work on. And it’s been so much fun.”

At the top sport level, there is always talk on how to make dressage more spectator friendly and more understandable to the general public. One way is to make it less scary and debunk the idea that it only belongs to the rich and famous. Dressage Unravelled proves it’s a sport for everyone to enjoy, and enjoy it they did. Making dressage more accessible and understandable at grassroots level helps excite interest in the elite level of this wonderful sport.