Clinic Systematic Thinking and Riding with Johann Hinnemann At the New England Dressage Association’s Fall Symposium, the renowned German trainer shared his wealth of knowledge By Beth Baumert Photographs by Carole MacDonald Johann “Jo” Hinnemann is known for his kind training that consistently retains the basics throughout, from young horses to Grand Prix. As a rider, he rose to the top in 1986 with his horse Ideaal at the World Championships in Canada, winning team gold and individual bronze. However, he is best known as the trainer of such top international riders as Christine Traurig, Coby and Marlies van Baalen, Steffen Peters, and Kathleen Raine.
Horse people always want to learn, so I think you are horse people.” If you’re reading this, then you’re horse people, too. So let’s get started.
Elementary School: The Fourand Five-Year-Old Young Horse Rhythm, Activity, and Ground Cover Hinnemann asks the riders of young horses to keep the reins as long as possible while still retaining contact with the mouth. He says:
A MASTER AT WORK: Clinician Johann Hinnemann helps NEDA Fall Symposium demonstration pair Espumante and Roberta Carleton with piaffe
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t was a clear, chilly October morning at Jane Karol’s Bear Spot Farm in Acton, Massachusetts, and Jo Hinnemann opened the two-day New England Dressage Association (NEDA) Fall Symposium by saying appreciatively, “There are horse people, and there are people with horses.
• To maximize ground cover, keep the contact and push the nose slightly in front of the vertical with the mouth not lower than the shoulder. I know that it is difficult, but when you ask the horse to reach, you will immediately find that you’re using a driving leg and
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seat, which gets the horse supple, swinging, and reacting from back to front. Then you get a better contact and more ground cover. • When you ask the stride to be a little longer with the nose in front, take care that your horse’s rhythm stays the same and he doesn’t run. Rhythm is number one, activity is number two, and ground cover is number three. Hinnemann reminisces about when horses were bred for the army and the young-horse classes included technical tests for ground cover. There was a minimum amount of ground cover needed to achieve the required distance with soldiers and their equipment: at a walk, 350 meters in three minutes; in trot, 750 meters in three minutes; and in canter, 1,500 meters. Although the technical tests are no longer included, the horse’s ability to cover ground is as important as it ever was. Importance of the Canter Depart Trot-canter-trot transitions, Hinnemann believes, are the best exercises for developing suppleness. In the transition to canter, the withers must come up—which is the reason for wanting a round neck that is reaching as much as possible. When dressage trainers say “uphill,” it means that the horse’s withers and shoulders come up. The neck comes up, too, but only because the shoulders rise. Correct trot-canter-trot transitions—with the shoulders coming up—make the horse very ridable. If you think about the end result that you want at Grand Prix, the canter-depart aid is the most impor-
