Bent Branderup clinic in Austria

What an amazing weekend!

Me, Philipp and Fifi spent an inspiring weekend in Graz to take part to the Dannish academic riding master, Bent Branderup's clinic. We did not take horses with us, but got a lot by listening the theory and watching the lessons.

I, as a woman enjoyed not only the beautifull and light riding, but also the gorgeous curbs, barock saddles and saddle cloths....someone is going to do some shopping....

It was all about relaxation, streching the neck and topline, flexion, slow work in all the spaces in shoulder-in, travers, renvers and piruet. Some piaffer, plie (continuous slight shoulder-in), all of this written with reins in one hand only. Harmonous, easy and light, light, light.

We could see horses on different levels, breed and age, all worked with same principles. The beginners with cavesson and curb, reins in two hands; more advanced only with the curb, reins in the left hand. Right hand holding a wooden whip carried upside-down in front of your upper body.

My favorite horse was a criollo, worked classically over five months during wich time he has practically started to fly.

We also saw some in-hand work in walk to teach a horse to strech down with walking in plie and flexing his neck inside around the two first vertebraes. Academic riding uses a lot of working the horse from the ground. Branderup works with young horses like that over one year period before sitting on them. He makes them soft and relaxed, teaches them the aids and prepaires them like this for the future work.

Nothing is forced. There is no painfull, stiff muscles. It all works according to the old masters as an art. As I said, beeeaaauuuutiiifuuullll....



I hope to put some videos up later.



I just wish that someone would have warned me that Austria is not always about skiing and I would have left my moonboots home. They looked quite ridiculous in +15 c. But who cares? It is always worth to sweat if you can see Bent Branderup.