Jessica von Bredow-Werndl Master Class

Here in Wellington, we are awash in educational opportunities.  This embarrassment of riches allows me to be whom I have always wanted to be, a perpetual student.  Like that kid who somehow turns forty with a host of degrees and no end to the university days in sight, here I am still taking notes. Recently, at The Global Dressage Festival, German rider and Olympic Gold medalist Jessica von Bredow-Werdl gave a master class and we were all allowed to be students again with our pens poised over our notebooks.

Jessica is young and charming and her English is so perfect that listening to her makes me blush with shame at the way I stumble over my ten or so words of German.  She has a unique style and a host of helpful exercises like all great riders and trainers, but what sets her apart is her positive attitude toward both horse and rider.  The takeaways from the evening can be summed up by the three Ps. Ah you say, Passage, Piaffe, and Pirouettes!  But no,  in this case, Permission, Position, and Praise.

The first demo horse of the evening was a young and very talented mare ridden by a young woman who had worked at Jessica’s stable in Germany for a time.  The mare was excited by the hectic atmosphere of grandstands and spectators, which is a lot for even well-schooled and experienced horses.  We all expected that Jessica would ask the rider to keep her mare focused by putting her right to work and perhaps by asking her to be a bit deep in the beginning. Therefore, we were in for a surprise when Jessica immediately said, “Give the reins, give her Permission to look around if she wants to, let her look, and just reassure her, but let her look.”  

We were all flummoxed and a bit blown away that after years and years of being told to shorten our reins here comes a gold medalist rider who wants us to lengthen the reins and give, give, give in the contact.  After my initial shock, it reminded me of when I did hunter-jumpers and the first thing a clinician would always do was to set up a grid and take away our reins.  It was not that he or she thought that we would later ride a four-foot course (that’s right I did jumpers before it was measured in meters) without our reins, but rather to teach us that we did not need to be reliant on our reins.  We discovered in effect how to use our bodies, our eyes, and our weight to get the results that before we thought were only possible with our reins.  Then, when we got our reins back we asked ourselves the question if it was necessary to use the reins before we went straight to the hand. 

Throughout this ride and all the others that followed Jessica told riders to give the reins, even to (gasp) lengthen the reins!  But Jessica wanted the riders to let the reins get longer, let the horses come up, let them look around a bit, give them permission to be expressive and even a little “cheeky”.  She said to “keep the veil open”  This might paint a clearer picture in German than in English, but I do understand.  She wants us to keep the front door open and permit the horses to use that front door.  As she said, “Give up the control”.  

The second takeaway point for me was Jessica’s perspective on Position.  Sit back, even lean back she said.  “If you feel like you are sitting back, you need to sit back more.”  Jessica likened this to the image of a plane taking off.  The horse would be allowed to be up (giving the reins) and the rider would sit back, weighting the hind leg, and the horse would fly with the forehand lifted- like a plane at takeoff.  Jessica was insistent about sitting back at all times but at no time more so than during the changes.  Most of the riders were asked to sit back farther than usual and give, allowing the horses to “lift-off” like a jet in front of them.  This did garner some very nice and expressive changes, though I am not sure that all of the riders were converts.  

Jessica’s final and probably most urgent message to all of the riders was to Praise the horse.  Not to praise the horse if he is perfect or at the very end, but to praise the horse constantly.  So much more effusive and frequent praise than our stoic dressage-selves could quite grasp.  No more under-your-breath good boys or tiny “golf clap” type pats.  No, now we have all been given permission to talk to our horses to pat them and praise them, to sing their praises loudly and frequently.  Jessica thought that by praising and celebrating our horse’s efforts whenever they tried to be on the right track, we would encourage them to try more and try harder.  She wanted the mistakes to be ignored and even a tiny glimmer of understanding to be appreciated.  Jessica was concerned that the riders were sometimes too “introverted” and were not getting their horses excited enough about the work.

Many people were surprised by how positive Jessica was with the horses, but she was also very positive with the riders.  She praised their efforts and largely ignored their mistakes.  Jessica gave breaks and pep talks to the riders just as she did to the horses.  She asked us all to walk away with the thought that we should enjoy our horses more.  What a great message!