USEF Dressage Judge’s Clinic with Lilo Fore

I attended the USEF Dressage Judge’s Clinic at the LA Equestrian Center in Burbank, CA, February 27-28 . The instructor, Lilo Fore, from Santa Rosa, California is a USEF “S” Judge, FEI “I” Judge and Sporthorse Breed Judge.

Over the weekend we learned from Lilo as we group and individual judged dressage tests though Grand Prix.  Though many of us were not “credentialed” to judge FEI levels, it was a treat to be able to evaluate so many wonderful FEI classes.

Lilo’s theme in our training: always be able to say something positive.  In fact, she had us judge whole tests only observing and verbalizing the positive. One horse in particular was a challenge because he was very tense and naughty throughout the test. However, we noticed the tactful rider and that the horse stayed in the ring and mostly made it from one letter to another. Lilo said we still need to see the positive within what we want to see improved, i.e. “some degree of bend, but tight in topline” or “some cadence, but hind legs should match front”.

Lilo’s talent is undeniable. She’d mention a training issue and what the likely mistake would results from it, and she was right-on all the time. But she made sure we were not looking just at the mistake, and if we saw a mistake, she said we need to be careful not to judge ONLY the mistake. She said, “In tempi changes, a miscount is less of a mistake than a late change”. She said to score mistakes with basics more severe. Score mistakes in timing less severe. She asked us to not punish a mistake severely unless it was the result of bad training. Lilo was quite clear about her methodology of rider’s who take risks. She said, “Don’t punish too severely if a horse and rider takes risks. If the effort was there, (+), if the horse and rider doesn’t try (–)”. She said judges have to be willing to go as much up in a score as we are willing to go down.

Lilo said that the judge has to know what we want to see. She says, “You have to have your standard. Set your standard so you’ll be fair to all riders”. She also believes that judging is based on the horse’s training. She says every rider is a trainer. “Think ‘can the horse go on and get better’?” She told us, “Make sure the rider feels good about what they did well and what need to be improved. Was the criteria met? If not, what happened? Was the quality there? If not, what happened”?

Lilo explained her methodology and what causes her to go up or down in a score. She asked us to mention corners and geometry as training tools starting at first level. She said that she regularly writes on tests “allow geometry to help your training”. And she also helped many of us with visual indicators to assist us with our assessments. For example:

• Check if the power is going out the front door or the back door
• If self-carriage is not established, contact will suffer
• What is in front of the saddle should match what is behind the saddle
• If the shoulder in has too much angel, the horse can’t sit

It was a wonderful and educational weekend. Lilo was fantastic at making us feel as comfortable as possible learning and growing as judges. All of us had opinions, many of us asked questions, and those that did the individual judging did a good job and learned some little things we needed to improve!

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!

I’ve had my core Dressage instruction with one trainer, who took me up through the levels and gave me the golden opportunity to be a grand prix dressage rider. Her name is Cyndi Jackson, of To The Max dressage in Scottsdale, AZ.

In the beginning, I was just a student who did what I was told.  As I developed the technical and feeling skills from horse to horse, she gave me the freedom to train horses on my own.  Sometimes it worked well and sometimes she had to save me. Ironically, this is still true many years later.

What I respect most about Cyndi is that it doesn’t matter if I’m a full-time client or if she’s an on-call instructor. She has so much knowledge and is willing to help me in any way needed.

We both understand that it takes more than a lifetime to learn dressage and that each horse presents unique training challenges. I’m grateful to have someone like her in my life!

I hope every dressage rider finds their happy instruction home with someone who can be a guide, a teacher and a savior as we all work to develop and evolve our own training programs.

Welcome to Dressage with Michell!

I was born with a love and respect for horses. Luckily my parents were tolerant of this extreme obsession and supported my journey as I transformed from such a shy little girl into a confident woman.

For a long time I didn’t care what horse or discipline I was riding, it was just perfect to be on a horse.  Then as circumstances dictated, I was encouraged to give Dressage a try. It’s a standing joke that when my horse and I first started taking Dressage lessons, we were “pre-intro” level.  I didn’t know what a 20-meter circle was and I didn’t know the Dressage “seat”. But over the years, with excellent instruction, insightful clinics and willing horses, I was able to progress through the levels, earning my USDF Gold Rider Medal in 2013.

Giving back to the Dressage community is very important and one way I do this is through judging. I’ve graduated from the USDF L Program with distinction and I further my judge training at local, USDF and USEF clinics. Recently, I was accepted into the USEF “r” Dressage judge training program and plan to continue my training.

My journey has been interesting, full of surprises and full of amazing and generous people.  Please check back as I share some of my insights and inspiration, which will hopefully help you in your journey.  And I look forward to seeing you in the show ring soon!