Inspiring Through The Levels Symposium with Charlotte DuJardin

Michell Combs and Charlotte DuJardin

A fun group of dressage enthusiasts attended a Through The Dressage Levels symposium with Charlotte DuJardin October 3-4, 2015 at the lovely Devondwood Equestrian center near Portland, Oregon. There were about 1800 people in attendance.

I assume Charlotte needs no introduction, but if so, she has the current World’s Record scores in the dressage rankings for Grand Prix, Grand Prix Special and Grand Prix Freestyle. She is ranked number one in the FEI World Individual Dressage Ranking. She was the 2014 Individual World Champion at Grand Prix Special and Freestyle at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games and she is the 2012 Olympic Gold medal individual and team winner. Now she is preparing for the upcoming Olympics in Rio. Charlotte specializes in training dressage horses from the very beginning to grand prix.

Charlotte shared a lot of personal stories about her experiences leading up to her current “superstar” status. She didn’t come from a wealthy background but she was lucky to have access to horses from a young age.  She trained advanced dressage movements on her Thoroughbred when she was just 11 or 12 year’s old.  Charlotte had some instruction and eventually she landed a job as a groom for a British Olympian named Carl Hessler. A short time into her employment, Charlotte saw that Carl was trying to sell a difficult and hot horse. Charlotte, who was a self-described “nobody” back then begged Carl not to sell him and to let her ride the horse.  Eventually Carl agreed. The horse, Valegro, is the amazing talent that has taken Charlotte to an unbelievable riding career. Charlotte shared that there were many nay-sayers in her life. These people told her and Carl many negative things including that Charlotte was just an amateur rider and not worthy of such opportunities. However, her perfectionist attitude and courage persevered. Charlotte says the hardest part of being at the level that she is at today is dealing with media and fan expectations. She feels the pressure to always have the perfect ride but she also knows that every person and horse has good and bad days.

We had the privilege to learn about Charlotte’s training program as she applied her program to the symposium’s horse and rider combinations. She provided plenty of specific instruction and training exercises to improve each horse, who ranged from 4 year’s old to 20 year’s old and with all levels of training under saddle. The common theme was to always keep the horse in front of the rider’s leg and for the rider to not get stuck in one rhythm. Charlotte was very adamant that each rider be brave and be correct. If a rider rode a bad transition, she had them do it again.  If the rider didn’t ride a corner correctly, the rider had to do it again. If the rider was not clear in making the horse go forward from the leg she told them to KICK and go for the “yeehaw”! Charlotte said she wasn’t fond of using a whip except to train the flying change or the advanced dressage movements piaffe and passage.  She says the rider’s leg must be the aid to make the horse go forward. She also was direct about not punishing a horse for mistakes, but to keep riding forward. She told the riders, “don’t make a thing of it or the horse will be tense.” Charlotte says when she rides horses she bends, straightens, stretches and collects. She says her goal in riding is “to give my horse as much confidence as possible.” She literally does 100 transitions per ride. With her program, she supplements the arena work with long hacks twice a week and a day off.

There are many write-ups of the clinic that I’ve seen posted on our various Facebook pages.  They describe the training philosophy and methods quite well.  If you need access to any of them, let me know.

It was a wonderful experience to learn from Charlotte. She’s such a down to earth person. At the symposium, Charlotte was clear, understandable and exhibited a fun sense of humor. Now armed with pages and pages of notes with helpful exercises, training tips and explanations, I’m eager to get started on revising my project horse’s training plan. And I recently purchased a youngster whose uncle is Valegro, so my plan is to have an exciting future!