This is going to be a difficult position to fill. Can you think of a US rider who would be good at this? I think Christine Traurig is a terrific teacher, but I don’t know whether she wants it. The coach spends an enormous amount of time away from home. We have had a few “coaches” that were not much help to the riders… What do you think?
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No thoughts on replacement, but it is for sure a loss for USET.
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Yes indeed. The recent showing at Aachen notwithstanding, the U.S. has had a lot of success during her tenure as Team Coach. She has a very good eye and an extensive toolbox, and even though riders at that level all have their own individual coaches, from having watched her at several clinics, it seems (to this outsider anyway) that her teaching style builds on what a rider already knows and her tools and exercises quietly refine and improve the quality of movements and skills. I admit that I have not watched her coach top riders other than Laura (and Laura was an “up-and-coming” rider at the time), but I have watched clinics with other very big name trainers, and her style is a quiet but very effective contrast with some of those other BNTs. Really top riders who have been working with a particular coach for many years may find her less “abrasive” and easier to work with than someone else in that team coach position. All in all, I think those are going to be very big shoes to fill.
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Adrienne Lyle could do it!!!
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Just last week I bid on & won a virtual lesson with her as part of a silent auction fundraiser. I’m really looking forward to it. Although, the last time I won a virtual lesson in a fundraiser (with Sabine SK), we never found anyone to video me, then my horse went unsound, then Sabine went to Tokyo-- so it didn’t ever happen.
Debbie coaches my trainer a few times a year on the top FEI horse my trainer campaigns. From what I see everything comes from a place of relaxation, and encouraging the horses to offer the most they can while relaxed, with the goal being for the strength to sustain their best gaits to build up over time. It’s counter to what many top people do IMO which is push the horse to the best gaits it can offer through pure strength, then incrementally build up the sustainability of that brilliance while seeking relaxation too. She will be difficult to replace, from that perspective.
I like her methods a lot. Gotta make this lesson happen, somehow!
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I agree, and thought of her. BUT she is young enough to continue to have good horses and international competition opportunities. Debbie did not get into this until after she gave up riding…
I wasn’t aware that she teaches/coaches. But there’s a lot I’m not aware of in the big time circles.
"Her contract with the U.S. Equestrian Federation was initially supposed to extend through the 2024 Paris Olympic Games…
“I never was going to stay through Paris anyway,” said McDonald. "
Oh. Okay.
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She does–I have had lessons with her. She is a wonderful teacher.
Currently, she is the coach of some top young riders, like Christian Simonsen, Quinn Iverson and Natalie Pai. She also has coached Katie (Johnson) Duerhammer for years.
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She is having a baby and may want a break. Who knows. But she would be fantastic because she is ALREADY a proven coach in international competition with the riders I mentioned (and probably many others).
Relaxation is the key to getting proper flexion and looseness. It is hard to achieve in competition unless it is the core of your training program. It would be unbelievably helpful to work with her!
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It sounds like she might be a good choice.
Aside from my wondering why Adrienne would give up her riding career in its prime, and my other wondering why she would want all the on-the-road time after just having a baby:
I also have to wonder WHY the USET would ask one of its TOP TWO riders to do something else.
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I agree, and I doubt that she would do it or that she would be asked to. My comment was only from the point of view of whether she would be a good coach.
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I dont have anyone in mind, but seems they could look towards the judging world. There is certainly a knowledge base and I’d guess most of them do teach.
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In the past, we have had coaches from outside the US. What do you all think of that? And, who would your dream foreign coach be? I think it’s not a great solution, unless they agree to live here during their tenure. Hinneman, Bemelmens, Zeilinger? Just throwing some names out there (I think some of them might actually be coaching foreign teams right now).
The hard part here is that no one is giving up their private coach, and no one is going to see the team coach regularly enough to make any sort of wholesale changes in program. So you need someone who can adapt to all different training methodologies, keep the private coaches happy, and find ways to make tweaks that up the scores. I’m not quite sure who makes sense with the current top group.
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I think that it probably also needs to be someone with “stature.” IOW, a name that people respect, and not just riders but also their coaches and other international federations and even equestrian focused media. Maybe someone like Lilo Fore, although I don’t know if she would have any interest in taking on that kind of responsibility at this stage of her career.
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Think you are right re someone with Stature.
I found this searching around online. Interesting background to the process and some history on the job.
Interesting that the search committee for dressage team coach consisted of three dressage people, and five individuals from other equestrian disciplines. I wonder if USEF still does it that way, or if they give heavier weight to folks from the dressage community. I imagine though that dressagers most likely would bring in some personal bias for or against particular applicants. Not to say that others may not have personal biases, but the dressage folks may have more…
[Edited to add last sentence.]
