Gaining Perspective from the Masters The Charlotte Dujardin Clinic A chilly Saturday morning at the Georgia International Horse Park in Conyers, GA set the stage for what was to be an exciting learning experience for all in attendance. The cold temperatures in the covered arena were bone chilling but that did not stop spectators from showing up with blankets and extra coats ready to stay warm and take in as much information as was offered. Tables lined one side of the arena with groups from barns and friends that gathered to experience the day’s activities together. On the other side in the bleachers was an equally excited and enthusiastic group of spectators huddled up and ready for the action to begin. The first session of the morning was a pair of 4 year olds. Even before Charlotte entered the ring there was much to learn as we watched the two riders warm up their very different mount. One had obviously had more experience out in this type of environment and was settling right in stretching out his muscles and going right to work. The other horse, while not quite as settled in the atmosphere, was listening to every aid given by his rider and as the warm up progressed he began to settle more and more. Finally the moment had arrived and Charlotte stood up from a table and entered the arena to begin. Charlotte started her morning by engaging the spectators and sharing with us her philosophy on starting the young ones in a way to maximize their potential
by Joanne Morse
Charlotte Osborne
Charlotte Dujardin While she does not compete her young horses she does believe that it is educational for them to attend shows and experience the warm up area atmosphere but then loads back up and returns them home to keep the experience as low stress and positive as possible. Even at home her workouts with the young ones only average around 20 minutes as their muscles are still quite juvenile and soreness can create tension. Charlotte also emphasized that when looking at young ones she looks for a good walk and canter; the trot can be made better with work
Heather Beacham
. A solid foundation is most important and was we saw our riders performing lots of transitions between the walk and trot with Charlotte encouraging perfection from the riders. Little tweaks with forward thinking and a strategic use of shoulder fore saw an improvement in the both horses’ gaits and left the riders with their homework to get better. Our next rider was on a beautiful 6 year old stallion in a double bridle. Charlotte explained that when instructing the double bridle to a horse they will spend several days just hacking them around so that they have a chance to get accustom to having two bits in their mouth before asking them to do any real work. It was obvious to everyone that forward was going to be the theme of this rider from the very beginning. By encouraging the rider to think gallop in the canter and bigger steps in the trot, and with Charlotte yelling, “Go”, “Gallop”, “Come on give me more”, over and over the horse was transformed into a big moving beast that was ready to dominate the dressage ring.
