Making the Horse Happy

Charlotte Dujardin and Renaissance Tyme

New York, NY – September 27, 2015 – Charlotte Dujardin’s unprecedented success in the dressage world follows years of planning and strategizing, steady training and mentorship, a dash of luck, and above all, countless hours of hard work and practice. But at the heart of it all lies a very simple method. In a demonstration at the Rolex Central Park Horse Show, Dujardin put the focus on the horse each step of the way, explaining how she designs her daily work to bring out the best in them.

She took spectators through her typical riding routine from beginning to end, riding Evi Strasser’s Grand Prix mount Renaissance Tyme. U.S. dressage chef d’equipe and technical advisor Robert Dover added commentary as Dujardin rode.

Dujardin explained that each horse’s ride at her base with Carl Hester follows a consistent pattern. The workout begins with a 10­15 minute walk on the roads, followed by stretching for at least 20 minutes to encourage suppleness. Dujardin calls stretching the foundation of the rest of the work, comparing it to building strong foundations in order to have a good house.

“Dressage is a bit like gymnastics with the horse,” Dujardin said. “You wouldn’t expect a gymnastics person to just go and start their workout. It’s important with dressage horses to work on making them more supple and loose. If they’re not loose at beginning, they won’t be loose in their proper work.”

Then, once the meat of the training begins, she incorporates plenty of walk breaks to both reward the horses and give them time to rest their muscles so they don’t get tired and use their muscles incorrectly.

Robert Dover provides commentary as Charlotte Dujardin rides Renaissance Tyme

With Renaissance Tyme, she opted to start her work in the canter, noting that many horses do better this way and will be more comfortable in the trot work by the time they reach that point of the ride. Early on, she asked for a flying change and missed it, but rather than react strongly, she simply prepared Renaissance Tyme and asked again, nailing it the second time. Dover took the opportunity to point out Dujardin’s ingrained habit of clearly and quickly correcting mistakes.

“There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes,” Dover said. “What’s wrong is if you have a mistake and it goes uncorrected. It’s about practicing with a work ethic that says you practice perfectly at home every day. If a thing goes wrong, you repeat it and make sure you get it right.”

Dujardin noted that some riders will let bad transitions happen at home and then blame the horse for bad transitions in competition.

“Dressage is repetition and correction and being strong with yourself to not let bad habits happen,” she said.

Moving forward in the canter work, Dujardin pointed out Renaissance Tyme’s tendency to swing his hindquarters in the tempi changes rather than pushing forward. She said she often schools changes along the wall rather than on the diagonal, which is particularly helpful for dealing with this issue. By keeping the wall on the side Renaissance Tyme tends to swing toward the most, she let the wall do the work of helping to keep him straight.

Dujardin started the one­tempis by doing two ones and then a stride, then another two ones and another stride, before upping it gradually to four ones in a row and then six. She was unfazed by missed changes or minor bobbles, simply riding forward and trying again. She explained that it is important not to make the horse stressed about the exercise by stopping each time he makes a mistake.

“He made an error there because of the wall keeping from swinging,” she said at one point. “Don’t stop; just keep going. If you stop, you make it a big deal.”

Dover pointed out that the contact was key to the horse’s success in the changes.

“The contact got stronger as he started to do it better with fewer mistakes,” Dover said. “If the contact is weaker, it’s hard to do because you’ve got nothing there to half halt. So you’re making sure to keep the connection between seat, leg and reins.”

Charlotte Dujardin and Renaissance Tyme

Moving on to trot work, Dujardin talked about how to school passage and piaffe to make it easy for the horse. She stressed adjustability within the passage and piaffe so that the transitions – which are scored separately from the movements – come naturally.

“For the transitions in and out of piaffe, it should look so smooth; it should look effortless,” she said. “I train the piaffe forward, not like in the Grand Prix. If you train the piaffe on the spot and the same all the time, the horse would become behind the leg and take over. I make it easier by allowing him to travel forward. If you trained on the spot every day, the horse would never last.”

Whether in the passage, the tempi changes, or even in the walk, Dujardin focused on controlling the horse’s movements right down to each step.

“It’s not just about the movements, it’s about always staying in control,” she said.

“And true to the basics,” Dover added.
Once she had made positive progress with Renaissance Tyme, Dujardin opted to end the session on a good note before tiring him too much.

“For me, he’s done enough collection work,” she said. “As a rider, it’s important to stop and listen to him and not keep pushing him. It is so important to have these horses happy and have them enjoy every day.”

Charlotte Dujardin pats Renaissance Tyme
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