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Spruce Meadows Masters Anky Van Grunsven Clinic Battle of the Breeds Team Welsh Pony & Cob
---CLINIC PARTICIPANTS--- Here are the riders that were invited to participate: Wylda Kristel & The Virginian, ------------------------------- About Anky van Grunsven |
Features > Spruce Meadows 2006 > Anky van Grunsven Clinic, Tues. Sept 5, 2006
“Just Look Pretty, Smile, and Go!”Anky van Grunsven Clinic, Tues Sept 5, 2006 From the moment she picks up the mic and addresses her audience, the reigning queen of dressage states her underlying philosophy. “I want to keep it as simple as possible for the rider and the horse,” says Anky van Grunsven.
The audience that has gathered here today waits for pearls of wisdom from the woman currently ranked number one in the world with her gelding Keltec Salinero, and they are not to be disappointed. Spruce Meadows has once again invited Anky to Calgary, Alberta, to wow spectators with dressage demo rides on IPS Krack C during the Masters’ showjumping competition. This year, there was a very special treat as well – the opportunity for 175 auditors and six lucky riders to participate in a dressage clinic with Anky on the Tuesday before competitions start. It’s easy to see why Anky is so popular. She is just immediately likeable, with a genuine smile, and as she gets down to business with the first two riders, her brisk advice goes through the arena like a fresh breeze. Riders start with simple warm-up exercises – walk-trot and trot-halt transitions that test the horse’s responsiveness to basic aids. In the walk, rhythm variations from an almost-trot and almost-halt are used to keep the horses’ attention as they are warmed up. The first order of business is that the horse move promptly off the leg. “If you give the leg, go,” says Anky. But, riders are also asked to make sure their leg is soft and relaxed against the horse. “Go to trot – no leg, soft seat,” she asks. “Second and third leg [if the horse does not respond] are more definite.” “Leave your lower leg softly hanging,” she advises. “Does he slow down if you do nothing? Sit there and enjoy life. Now touch him softly with the lower leg. Now do nothing.” Anky also notes that riders should not add leg to push the horse into the bit during their downward transitions, as it pushes the horse too much into the hand and will make them strong, she explains.
Anky joked several times, “Boy, in Canada, you are really in a hurry when you walk, hm?” She asked many of the participants to slow their walk so it was more deliberate and not running on. But, trot and canter were often opened up to a stronger working pace. While riders warmed up, Anky explained her routine with her horses at home. “We always get our horses out (of the stable) 3 times a day, and always start work with at least 10 minutes at a walk. After working the horse, I finish with strong rising trot on a long rein, and also walking after, at least 10 minutes.” Anky says that, including the warm-up and cool-down, she rides an hour to an hour and a half on her trained horses, and about forty-five minutes a day for youngsters. However, she is careful to include a lot of variation in her day-to-day riding, a point that is repeated often. “Variation is so important,” she says. “Keep variation in rhythm, speed control and frame. Lots of variation – lower, shorter, longer. PLAY with it!” “You don’t want to get your horse bored. Because I think most of them are very clever,” she says. “Sometimes they try to be more clever than their rider. When you have a blonde rider, like me, that’s not a hard thing to do,” she teases.
Basic aids are kept simple and only applied when necessary. “How do I ride the corners?” Anky repeated when questioned by an audience member. “I go to the end of the ring and turn,” she said, not quite joking. “If he leans on my inside leg, I use my inside rein. Same for outside leg. If he does lean, then correct him, because he’s not supposed to lean. But if he doesn’t lean, then sit back and enjoy life.” Shannon Sluser picks up a canter on her horse Monaco, and Anky reinforces her point again. “Why is there more weight on the outside rein?” she asks. Shannon explained that she’s been taught to ride shoulder-fore when cantering, especially on a circle, to help the horse engage his inside hind leg more. Anky said that this obstructs the hind leg instead of helping it keep active, and asks, is it not harder to bend the horse if there is a weight on the outside rein? “Don’t give the aids that you don’t need,” she repeats. “It’s much easier for your horse (when riders) keep two legs and two reins equal. If you don’t need to fix, don’t touch.” One of the figures tackled in-depth were flying changes. Wylda Kristel’s The Virginian had the common problem of anticipating flying changes, and it opened a discussion about what the exact aids are for flying changes and the best way to train them. “The only aid you should be giving,” Anky said, “is with your new outside leg, back a little bit. On left canter, my left leg would go back to make the change.” “Kim, are you a jumper?” she asked. “Do nothing in your flying changes.” Kim Berenbaum, riding Adelmo, almost sheepishly admitted that she had been in the jumper ring before converting to dressage. “Leaning shoulders into flying changes unbalances the horse,” explained Anky. “Use only your lower leg.”
Anky also explained how important straightness is when introducing flying changes. “Don’t teach flying changes on a turn, because it teaches them to change in front first. Always teach on a straightaway,” she said. When the horse is changing properly off of a rider’s leg, the change from behind comes naturally. However, when a flying change is produced using a change of bend, the horse can end up working from rein cues rather than leg cues. While that can be great for the quick turns required for jumping, it is not so helpful in the dressage ring, as it’s almost impossible to ask for a right or left bend at the canter without getting a change. She noted that even though a horse may offer changes on its own, riders should never punish a horse’s mistakes. “Better mis-communication than no communication at all.” Anky also encouraged riders to use voice cues, one of her favourite aids when training difficult movements. “We should use whatever we can to make the horse’s job of understanding easier,” she said. But, she mischievously added, riders must only use their voice when the judges couldn’t hear them.
When asked, “What is the one thing you find yourself saying to riders over and over again?” she replies, “I keep asking questions of riders – WHY do things a certain way,” she says. “Always think about your horse. Riders are taught to do things a certain way – if he (the horse) doesn’t do it right, then what? The rider is always wrong when things go wrong. Never the horse.” “If the basics are good, you just look pretty, smile, and go.” Click here to see photos and video of Anky's rides on IPS Krack C. |
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