Having the opportunity to take a dressage lesson on a former three-star horse is not something everyone gets to say they’ve done.
Boleybawn Prince is an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding who—with Dirk Schrade riding—has successfully completed around tracks such as the Boekelo CCI*** (the Netherlands) (27th), Strzegom CCI** (Poland) (1st), Maarsbergen CCI** (the Netherlands) (12th).
This year Dirk decided that due to his shivers it wouldn’t be fair to ask him to compete any higher so has he has become quite the teacher around here. Dirk has been quite busy lately with riding sales and competition so his head groom of 10 years and three-star competitor Sabrina Mertens, or Sabe, took time out of her busy schedule to teach me.
Dirk and Boleybawn Prince in his three-star days.
Due to his shivers, “Prince” is quite tight throughout his body. He starts off walking for quite a long time and trotting and cantering on the buckle for 15 to 20 minutes. To be honest, seeing him around he looks more like a cow pony then a three-star horse! After his loose and forward warm-up, he gets a walk break.
After a few rounds at the walk I picked up my reins and he instantly tightened against me and put his head straight up in the air. Sabe explained you have to do lots of bending, showing him the frame you want and then letting go. He feels quite stiff and doesn’t move forward at the beginning but it gets better, she told me. “Gosh I hope so!” I thought to myself. Not only does he look like a cow pony he feels like it too!
“Circle right and now left, canter and back to trot. Do lots of transitions to loosen his body. Much better now! He is now starting to take you, correct?” explained Sabe.
Ahhh yes! Now he feels something closer to a three-star horse! “That gets better and better; Do some transitions between medium and working trot,” she tells me.
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Prince became looser and looser and began to dance beneath me. “On to counter-canter loops out of the corner like in the test.”
First try—canter, canter, flying change. Stop. “More left leg back and right bend.” The next times went smooth—two times left and two times right. Good, now a break. Now I was beginning to feel us working as a team. The awkwardness of a new horse had left and we were tangoing together.
“OK now back to your true canter.” We proceeded with a medium canter down the long side to counter-canter loop, then trot and true canter again. Nailed it!
Next we did the same kind of counter-canter loop out of the corner and a flying change going back to the wall. The first one was not the best on my part. “Focus,” I thought to myself.
Sabe said, “Ride a better line next time. He knows what he’s doing, you just have to ride the line and then tell him to change.” I got it—the next few times were awesome! It’s so cool to have a horse who knows what he’s doing! A couple more times and each direction and we finished with some stretchy trot.
It’s not every day you get to hop on a thre- star horse and let him teach you his tricks. I’m so incredibly thankful for this opportunity, and to Prince and his knowledge for an awesome ride!
Charlotte Stillfried is a teenaged event rider from the Richmond, Va., area who is spending some time in Germany working for German Olympic rider Dirk Schrade. She’ll be checking in to share her experiences. Make sure to catch up with all her blog entries.
