The Charlotte Dujardin Clinic

Gaining Perspective from the Masters

The Charlotte Dujardin Clinic by Joanne Morse

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

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

Charlotte Osborne

. 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.

The crowd was fully engaged and cheered for the rider when she achieved the movement that Charlotte was looking for. Charlotte again directed her attention to the crowd and explained to us that turnout is important to their program and that even the Grand Prix horses get to go outside and night to ensure they get as much turnout as possible. They also take the horses out in the field as just go for gallops under saddle and let the horses have some fun on a regular basis.

Justine Wilson

The next rider was on a lovely gelding that had some fancy moves. Charlotte began by using this pair to show us how the athletic trot had been created. The rider began by showing us all the horse’s regular trot and then collected him back up and added the suspension back in to completely transform the gait and wow the audience. Charlotte then asked the rider to show us the difference in several movements between the correct and incorrect way to ride them. Hey finished with working on the flying change. This horse already had a beautiful flying change but as we all know, they can always be better. Charlotte got quite picky with the rider, demanding perfection in her position and riding.

Karen Lipp

In a later interview the rider expressed how much she loved this and that as an FEI Grand Prix trainer is was excellent to have a pair of eyes on the ground to clean up her lazy habits that she develops when riding on her own. Our next rider was a young rider who had just finished a very successful season on her handsome horse at Nationals. Again we saw that while this pair was very accomplished that things can always be better. Charlotte emphasized the importance of riding the corners. A well ridden corner will make the movement happen. Preparation is a definite ingredient in all aspects of riding. He rider performed Travers down the long side while Charlotte explained that if you can ride a good Travers down the rail then you can half pass. The half pass performed by this pair was already wonderful but got even better under Charlotte’s eye. With the rider gaining more confidence, Charlotte was able to push her during her flying changes and before our eyes had the rider perform a flawless set of ones down the long side that had the crowd cheering with excitement as if she had just won a class at the Olympics!

Hannah Hewitt

Our final ride of the day was a breath taking 12 year old Stallion that was working towards performing Grand Prix. He was handsome and he knew it! Taking advantage of breaks during the session, he would pose for the audience with his ears pricked forward and stand as tall as he could to show us his manly stature. The main focus of the ride was working on the canter zip zags which we all could agree is a quite challenging movement. The rider appeared to have a better grasp on the movement with Charlotte’s aid and help with counting. Charlotte explained to the spectators that it is important to have a plan before riding. All the movements cannot be schooled in a single session so it is important to know what the focus of the ride each day will be. The session ended with some piaffe and passage and then moving in to the extended trot which was so big by the end it almost looked like the horse’s feet weren’t touching the ground. The session ended on a high note and you could hear the chatter amongst the audience from riders that had been inspired to go home and ride. Whether you rode at the lowest levels of dressage or the highest there was something to be learned by everyone. It was made clear from start to finish that a solid foundation is key to being successful in the show ring. The rest is just “tricks” that will always be better if the horse is solid in the basic work. Overall it was worth the early morning rise and sitting in the freezing temperatures to get to experience the teachings of one of the greatest riders in the world.

Fie Andersen