Halfstep
Well-Known Member
Just back from a rather chilly Hartpury. It was a great day. I stupidly forgot my phone! So sorry, I couldn't text anyone But caught up with some friends I haven't seen for ages.
I took copious notes so thought I'd do a report in case anyone is interested.
Firstly, Klaus Balkenhol is obviously a legend. His English isn't great but he did manage to make himself understood most of the time, with help from Dr. B, who did some simultaneous translation. But at times it was difficult to get exactly what he meant and sometimes it became a bit impressionistic as we tried to get the meaning from his rather idiosyncratic use of English.
The theme of the day was the training scale. All horses, from the baby 4 yr old to Alf himself (yes, how lucky were we! Laura brought him. He was very naughty), all first had to walk, trot and canter in a correct rhythm, showing relaxation and stretching into the rein with their noses in front of the vertical.
Nothing fancy, no tricks, no lightening moments - just basic training according to the Classical German tradition.
I'll do a horse by horse commentary in the following posts if anyone is interested.
I took copious notes so thought I'd do a report in case anyone is interested.
Firstly, Klaus Balkenhol is obviously a legend. His English isn't great but he did manage to make himself understood most of the time, with help from Dr. B, who did some simultaneous translation. But at times it was difficult to get exactly what he meant and sometimes it became a bit impressionistic as we tried to get the meaning from his rather idiosyncratic use of English.
The theme of the day was the training scale. All horses, from the baby 4 yr old to Alf himself (yes, how lucky were we! Laura brought him. He was very naughty), all first had to walk, trot and canter in a correct rhythm, showing relaxation and stretching into the rein with their noses in front of the vertical.
Nothing fancy, no tricks, no lightening moments - just basic training according to the Classical German tradition.
I'll do a horse by horse commentary in the following posts if anyone is interested.