Clinic Conversations on Training Her trademark consistency, encouraging attitude, and attention to detail are on full display when Olympian Allison Brock teaches. We play railbird for a morning of lessons. Story and Photographs by Beth Baumert
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ong before Allison “Ali” Brock was an Olympian, she began her equestrian journey as a Pony Clubber in her home state of Hawaii, where she was introduced to dressage at the age of nine. But she remained a well-rounded rider: She jumped, rode Western, exercised polo ponies, and did a lot of trail riding. The depth of her passion for horses meant that she needed to move to the mainland in order to grow, so at 17 she made the move and began her equestrian career as a working student.
imparted discipline. You don’t skip steps with Sue, and the best-trained horses I’ve ever sat on were trained by her.” When Blinks moved to California in 2004, Brock took over her position working for Fritz Kundrun, and in that capacity she got the opportunity to study with some top European trainers. She spent a year in Sweden with Olympian Jan Brink and more than a year in England with Finnish Olympian Kyra Kyrklund and Kyrklund’s future husband, the British international
team alternate Michael Barisone, who “gave me confidence. He took my technical knowledge and helped me feel like I belonged in the ring.” And belong she did. In Rio, aboard Kundrun’s Hanoverian stallion, Rosevelt (Rotspon x Lauries Crusador XX), Brock helped capture the bronze medal for Team USA, finishing fifteenth individually. “It was an incredible time in my life,” says Brock. “I’m so grateful to Fritz and Claudine Kundrun and the rest of my ‘village’ of supporters. No horse and rider can go through the process of qualification, selection, and competition at a Games by themselves, and there is tremendous sacrifice by the people who help a combination get to and through a major event.” “Also,” she adds, “people don’t realize how long it takes to reach the pinnacle of this sport. I didn’t ride my first Grand Prix until I was 30. Then it was another four years before I was doing Grand Prix on an international level. It was nine years before I started earning my keep at an international level!”
I HEART HORSE: Fritz Kundrun, owner of Allison Brock’s 2016 Olympic mount, Rosevelt, has high hopes for his eight-year-old stallion, Igby, ridden by Kya Endreson
In January 2001, while in Wellington, Florida, Brock met 2000 US Olympic dressage team bronze medalist Sue Blinks, who at the time was working for Fritz and Claudine Kundrun. Brock ended up riding with Blinks for three years. “For me,” says Brock, “Sue
trainer Richard White. Brock credits the pair with forming her as a Grand Prix rider, saying that “I still rely heavily on them for technical and biomechanical training.” In the years leading up to the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Brock rode with 2008 US Olympic dressage
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spent a wonderful morning this past spring watching Ali Brock teach in Florida and found myself very, very enriched. Brock’s message wasn’t anything new—with the greats, it never is, because the principles are always the same. In Brock’s case, it was the degree of execution that intrigued me. It was the consistency and the quiet, kind persistence. It was the encouraging attitude. What’s more, Ali Brock is so clever! She is way smarter than her horses. (That sounds rather obvious, but not all trainers act much smarter
