Posted January 26, 2007

Spotlight on Young Horse Training With Katrin Burger Part 1
By text and photos by Charlene Strickland

Murrieta, California, January 14-15, 2007. To bring a young horse to FEI level requires basic training focused on classical principles. California trainers absorbed an intensive short course in correct dressage training at the Young Horse Development Program, instructed by Katrin Burger of the Verband der Züchter des Oldenburger Pferdes.

Burger is the Deputy Director of the Verband, based in Vechta, Germany. She holds the German gold riding badge, and in 2004 showed FBW French Kiss to the World Championship as a 6-year-old.

Red Hawk Ranch hosted the program, attended by over 100 West Coast riders, trainers, and judges. Owners Bob and Lynn DeGour, breeders since 1990, have 43 horses at their ranch that represent top German bloodlines. Twelve demonstration riders worked with Burger over the two days.

In this installment, join us to learn German approaches to training young horses that are only a year under saddle. Burger focused on basic elements of the training scale: rhythm, suppleness, and swing. For these young horses, she said, “Think about making the gaits correct. For me, the gaits are the most important thing. In the first year, you can think only about making the gaits perfect.”

She emphasized rhythm in walk, trot, and canter, and how the rider can help the horse move in tempo. With every young horse, Burger repeated variations of “forward and active behind.” Volando demonstrated a ground-covering canter. “Ride him with the leg to the hand, and over the back,” Burger told rider Niki Hall. “He has to learn to hold the rhythm.”