All Star Riders Under Klaus Balkenhol

The morning started with Steffen Peters on Lombardi and Charlotte Bredahl-Baker on Komo. Each horse and rider worked through the movements of the Grand Prix with help from Mr. Balkenhol. He wanted to see good preparation from the riders as they entered the more collected movements such as pirouettes, piaffe and passage. He also reminded the riders always to ride forward between the collected exercises to refresh the horse and keep the gaits pure and of the highest quality. Throughout the day Mr. Balkenhol made sure that the horses were given plenty of walk or stretch breaks. In the stretching he really wanted to see the riders lengthen the reins and have the horse take the neck both down and out. “Longer, longer! Give more!” he said over and over.

Next up, Leslie Morse rode Kingston and Christine Traurig rode Magic. These were two more examples of solid Grand Prix horses that were being fine tuned rather than being taught anything new. Mr. Balkenhol had them start with walk on a longer rein, keeping the neck long and low until the horses were relaxed in their new environment. Only then did he allow them to go on in the trot. Minor seat corrections such as lowering hands slightly and looking straight ahead instead of down and to the side made significant changes in the half passes. Mr. Balkenhol also wanted the riders to give more with the rein, especially the inside rein, after they entered the movement. “Let him go, Let him go!” he would say.

As the work moved toward the higher collection, the theme of taking your time returned. As Leslie entered the pirouettes with Kingston, Mr. Balkenhol would say, “You have time, take time.” By allowing the horse a little more time, the pirouettes became smaller and smaller and more and more seated. The same held true for Kingston’s piaffe, which was beautiful.