News

June 9th 2003

Pzazz and I have settled in now. He is enjoying his big stable and the view over the main yard. He likes the horses near him and today he was most intrigued to find a Shetland pony being saddled up, that must have reminded him of his best mate Blake.  I have found that the effort I have put into learning German has been handy but not really useful and I am reluctant to speak it as I cant follow the answers I get back.
We now have a clear plan of how to bring my riding up to scratch. Miracles cannot be worked, but it is amazing what you can achieve if you have a clear goal (that is what I have found before). Susanne is a great teacher and I think even she is surprised how much we have improved so far. I am pretty clear now what I need to do:- improve my hands (more forwards, stiller, lower, closed fists with the thumb like a hipped roof on the top), my upper body straighter, my stomach more forwards, longer in the torso, and longer in the legs, with stiller legs that stretch down to give the aids. Susanne makes an important point when she says that when you show a horse you should not do anything which distracts the eye of the judge from the excellent paces of the horse. So I must sit still, but elastic to allow the suppleness in the horses back.
  Now that doesn't sound too hard, does it? Well actually when it does seem too overwhelming, or I am too homesick for my family and my busy life, I make an effort to remember all the things I have achieved before that seemed impossible at the time. There are many things we all have in our past  ( remember how hard it was to learn to drive a car?). For me I remember med school, post-graduate exams, learning to show jump as an adult, competing world cup. This helps me greatly to stay focused and positive.
As for Pzazz he has work to do too. He is learning the German work ethic. I am riding him twice a day, once with a lesson with Susanne and once to stretch him out at walk and practice my riding with some easy transitions. I have had the opportunity to ride other horse here and I have learned a lot about how much it helps to sit still when he horse knows how forwards he must always travel, so that you don't have to pester him, just keep adjusting the balance and keep the suppleness. Now all this is stuff that I knew about and could talk coherently about, but now I have a deeper understanding.
Yesterday I accompanied Susanne on a day of driving errands. We saw a horse for sale at a picturesque stable where the huge farmhouse had been built in the 1700's. Then we went to see Bernd Eylers, a famous and excellent photographer who hosts a portal. He has a website with some fantastic, historic video footage of the famous horses and riders of the past, such as Ahlerich and Klimke, filed in movements e.g. passage, piaffe. Amazing. Try www.horse-gate.com .
Susanne has even found a charming young man to give me computer lessons, as I am completely hopeless with anything mechanical and rely on my ever-supportive husband to do this.
The weather has been unseasonably warm, 25-32 degrees. The locals find it a little too warm, but I find it really pleasant. There are few flies, and
Susanne has peonies flowering in her garden. Positively splendid.
Tschuss (as they say here) Kerry.

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