Thanks to the generosity of one of my owners, I recently attended a clinic with Ulla Salzgeber. She is a formidable lady, nearly 6ft tall and a wonderful rider and trainer. Winner of 4 Olympic medals, 2 World Championships , and 3 World Cup competitions, I knew we were in the presence of someone very special. I had watched her at the BD convention a few years ago and been impressed with her ability to train the rider to get the best from the horse. Particularly, I liked her classical approach which says that it is the rider's responsibility to learn to sit correctly, mistakes are never the horse's fault.
I was nervous, but I didn't need to be. I took Jugador (Hugo) and was a little worried she may not gel with us as he is not what she normally rides. All my fears dissolved after a couple of minutes - she liked him!
On the first day we worked on submission, very steep leg yielding in walk with flexion away from the direction of travel. Hugo was resistant but we persisted and eventually he was softer and then we went forward to trot and I could not believe the lightness and carriage.
We touched on the canter, this too was light and then it was all over. Ulla asked me to work him for 20 mins in the afternoon, just on the steep leg yielding, which I did and he was not at all resistant.
Day 2 and she wanted to see our leg yielding. It was good, she was pleased he had learnt so much but now wanted the flexion to change. Hugo was not so happy with this and we had some argument, but again the trot work was light and uphill. The canter too was improved, she asked me to ride canter-walk transitions. She was very specific about my position and timing, but I need to be prepared to make a mistake.
Day 3 and we worked harder on the leg yielding, the canter-walk-canter and the lightness and carriage. I was aware that I need to work more on my seat, particularly in the trot work, to engage the hindlegs more.
I feel enormously privileged to have had the opportunity to train with such a superb trainer. She is a perfectionist but was encouraging and positive. I feel inspired because in every session she gave the rider her complete and absolute attention. It was three days of hard work but I wished it could go on forever, the improvement in Hugo was dramatic, if the chance came to do it again, I would jump at it.
