Suzanne Galdun is great!
I put Laura Graves because her lessons (although they cost a fortune) really got through to me on how to get my horse correctly into the contact from her hind end and elevated our training 100% in two days. It was unreal.
Miguel Ralao is the same - and especially if you have an Iberian horse. Itās no surprise a veteran Olympian from Portugal would understand Lusitanos like no one else but man does he ever. And warmbloods too - he gave me such an incredible summary of the differences in these horsesā heritage and their strengths and weaknesses. The North American coaches Iāve had tend to have advice that suits my warmblood but no one else has gotten close to the level of insight Ralao has given me for my Lusitano (pushing more energy in a way that can be very effective with my Hanoverian has to be done SO differently with my Lusi to avoid the tension and slow him down - this is something only Miguel has taught me). I go out of way to beg to get clinics with him when heās around (really nice man too and will actually ride your horse if it helps, which doesnāt seem common with clinicians anymore?)
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I already mentioned Alex Gerding and how harmoniously he gets things. The more detailed questions you ask, the happier he is to share the reasons heās doing specific exercises and why they help. He also helped me when coming back from nerve damage on my left side, showing me in half pass left if I leg yielded back to the right it would help me regain use of my left seat and leg, since that was the damaged side. He similarly helped other riders learn tricks to help their own physical challenges.
Reasons for both Alex and Jeremy Steinberg:
Alexās techniques were what helped get my OTTB who used to have PTSD-like meltdowns permanently get past them. Jeremy helped me understand the way physical and mental tension feed each other, and how easing one eases the other. Alex saw that for my gelding the tension was specifically in the long muscles of his back, and haunches in and half pass would help lengthen and relax them. Combining knowledge from the two, it went from an hour and a half to calm him at first, to about 5 minutes his last complete meltdown, and none after that. While he was a bucker until he retired, he went around 8 years without that seeming mental breakdown kind of day he had had about 3 of every 2 months before then.
Edited to add (posted because this forum has a tendency to delete whst Iāve typed mid-post):
Iāve seen Alex listen to someone explain a major problem (changes one direction, for example) and have them do some lateral work walk and trot, then canter and have no problems. He sees the root of the problem - an imbalance, tightness, whatever, fixes that, and the āproblemā which was really a symptom of something in the basics goes away.
Debbie McDonald did a symposium here, and she really was masterful in giving riders exercises which made them let go of their horsesā faces and ride them in a more classically correct manner, with more active and engaged hind ends and increased overall suppleness. You could tell she was used to working with very experienced riders as she wasnāt sharing the why behind things, but when we asked questions she had the theory behind it all she would share, and since there was a Q&A period between every rider she got to explain what had worked with each rider, so we could all learn how it might apply for us and our horses.
Iāve only gotten to ride with Heather Blitz twice, but I believe in biomechanics, and despite being exact opposite body type from my short and stocky build, she knew exactly how to help me. At the time I had problems riding my then young mare away from home, and she gave me some thoughts and feelings which made my mare VERY pleased with me and basically eliminated our problems. I still use imagery from her, and hope to get to ride with her again; there is a waiting list when she comes out.
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- Claudio - He just is so good at what he does and thereās so few people who are.
- Suzanne - Same story. She finds a new biomechanics issue every time I see her and I become a better rider. Its different from my regular trainer, but complementary and always so insightful.
- Michael - Because he and Lauren are from the same training school of thought. I donāt have my training taken in a totally different direction, but he pushes me and uses slightly different words that can just make it all click.
Overall, Iām lucky. I have a great trainer with whom Iāve been able to successfully develop several horses. I donāt need or want to drastically change things, so when Iām looking at clinicians, Iām trying to make sure theyāre additive to whatās already working.
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For me a great clinician is one who has many different exercises to work thru something or help create something. So a great eye and a depth for different techniques are what stand out to me. No one should be reinventing the wheel so to speak.
Iām also not looking for the world to change in a lessonā¦ more one thing that really resonates with me and fits within my existing training method. Or a skill set that I didnāt know about etc.
Iāve being told something, by many a trainer, that I knew was important, but didnāt know exactly what they meant; only later for it to click into place and know exactly what was meant. Those are truly impressive to me because the trainer could import the importance of something even tho I didnāt have the scope to understand or apply the information and for it to resonate at a later time. (Good lord that was wordy, but I hope understandableā¦?)
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At this point my wish is for almost any clinician. The ones Iāve signed up for the past two years have been canceled, and then there are a few I never find out about until theyāre already filled, so I have to settle for auditing.
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It is hard to get āon the listā for a clinician. There are usually only 8 or 9 slots available after all.
Then if for some reason you canāt make it to a clinic and your spot gets taken by someone else, getting back āinā can be hard all over again!
I ran a few clinics with one of my favorite trainers and got myself an āinā that wayā¦ others who rode in my clinics reciprocated with invitations to theirs. But my circumstances have changed a bit and I havenāt had a suitable barn to run them out of for a couple of years and others have taken over the reins of bringing her in. I usually do get an invitation to participate, though and try very hard to do so.
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I have audited several of her youth clinics and was very disappointed. I didnāt care for her teaching style at all. For example body shaming a bigger girl, who is tall and broad shouldered, not too heavy for her frame and actually quite fit and has a horse suited to her size. Lendon tends to pick a few kids to encourage, and be quite dismissive and sarcastic with the others. She seems to like the token boys in the group and slim long legged girls on expensive horses. That is quite strange and not what I expected from someone who was never slim and long legged herself (and now quite chubby) and most famous for riding a pony.
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I took one with her in November - she is great!
Suzanne von Dietze-
She is excellent at improving dressagersā equitation and I donāt think thereās nearly enough of that focus out there.
Peggy Cummings is pretty good at that, too, though her style is different.
Same argument: Coming from H/J world where the riderās body gets as much attention as the horseās, Iām surprised that itās hard to find that so much in dressage land.
I would audit or ride with Charles De Kunffy in a heartbeat.
I ride light breed horses and I live a bit in fear of the way so much dressage asks horses to move into balance rather than balance first and move, second, while maintaining that, plus the expectation that a horse allow so much contact with their mouth all the time. (BTW, see above for the need for equitation help above.). I guess you could say that Iām more of the French persuasion than someone who rides as the German/Dutch riding philosophers would have recommend.
That said, I couple of Euro-dudes made me and my horse skip 4 grades in 3 days.
Thierry Durand was amazing. He choose great exercises and asked if you if you could feel/understand why they were working as they did. He has a great eye and lots of knowledge. It works best if you are an educated, thinking rider who is paying attention to the what he asked you to do when and why/how it would change your horse/what feel you all were working toward so that you can apply that at home later. The guy lives in France and comes to the US just periodically, so you need to be ready and able to pick up what heās puttinā down.
Francisco Garcia did a nice job, too, with exercises and even with our language barrier. My horse improved a lot under his direction.
But I would circle back to plugging Suzanne von Dietz for you all because she is around and attends to equitation.
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I picked Suzanne von Dietz because sheās a physical therapist in addition to being a biomechanics expert. Iāve listened to her clinic (DT on Demand) and think she would be immensely beneficial because of those things.
Iāve ridden with Jec Ballou (once! dammit!) sheās another with good grasp of both human and horse biomechanics.
Lauren Sprieser because she seems to have a great sense of humor to go along with her knowledge base. In watching her videos, just seems like she and I would get along great.
Laura Graves. Iāve watched her teach and the exercises she uses the way she explains things, all make sense to me. She seems āunderstandableā and even tho Iām nothing but a backyard ammy, I believe I would get a lot from her.
If I could go back in time, the first clinic I ever went to (auditor) was Erik Herbermann. Iād like to revisit that. Iād probably understand so much more now.
I spent a lot of time riding with Ernst Herrmann here in the PNW. I was young(er) and I wish I could go back and this time as a more mature adult, Iād certainly get more out of it.
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I echo Jeremy Steinberg as a clinician. Iāve ridden with him and watched him teach many times. He just teaches in a way thatās easy to understand. He is big on theory and I always get the feeling that he really wants to create thinking riders. He seems to have a good eye for both rider position and horse biomechanics. Heās energizing when he needs to be but also kind.
I also loved riding with Jessica Wisdom. Sheās tough (Iāve heard from others even a GP rider, that sheās too tough of a personality for some) but I thought she was tough but fair. She also had a way of breaking down things to easily understand while also holding everyone to a high standard.
As far as who I would love to get a chance to ride with, I have seen videos that intrigued me.
Christine Traurig is one that every time I see a video of her teaching just makes sense. She seems very fair while being tough as well. Which I think tends to make a great clinician.
Ali Brock also seems great. She comes off as just a really great horse woman and down to earth. She seems like she sure understands horses and amateurs as well.
Laura Graves and Debbie McDonald are two more that really stand out as great clinicians that I would love to ride with.
I would love to ride with Ingrid Klimke just because sheās ideal of mine. Although I donāt have the best hearing so Iām not sure how to accent would go as far as actually doing it LOL.
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Iāve noticed that too. A lot of the ones fill up are in barn. And then the more freelanced ones tend to get canceled because they donāt fill up enough. I think a lot of times people will not ride with a clinician unless their trainer tells them to. Not saying thatās a bad thing or not but it sure makes it a hard situation for us that arenāt in a big barn/program.
Also for me once I find a clinician that I like and think wow they come back multiple times a year this will be a perfect situation for me, then they stop coming to my area. Every. TIME. I was riding with Judge Debbie Riehl-Rodriguez for a while but then the trainer that was using her got out of training horses so she wasnāt coming to the area anyway that I knew of anyways.
Then I rode with Jeremy Steinberg. And then he stopped getting brought into the area as well. Then Jim Hicks. Then Jessica Wisdom. Same thing they usually were getting booked multiple times a year and then stopped getting booked at all. Part of that is the pandemicās Iām hoping that something can change there. It sure is frustrating.
I have good trainers. Itās just sometimes nice to have an outsider say something in a different way or even in a different tone!
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For those lamenting the opportunity to ride with clinicians of their dreams; I encourage you to organize your own clinic. Itās not that much work and most clinicians are happy for the work.
Unless you own suitable facilities (and wonāt lose other, regular income by holding the clinic), or find a sponsor, it can be hard to just break even especially if the clinician will require airfare and/or you need to pay for local transport and overnight accommodations. If you charge enough to cover costs the clinic may not fill.
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All true. That said, when I organized clinics, I did so at the facility where I boarded and paid as much as others riding. In short, I broke even because I didnāt expect to ride for free. YMMV.
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I so would if I could. It could be a possibility one day but Iām at a busy barn with 5 instructors. 1 Dressage, 1 Eventer, 1 Show Jumper and then two basic riding/kid instructors. Itās busy! I would say itās definitely a possibility but it would have to be the right fit.
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Yes I agree with this 100%. I watched one of those dressage for kids clinics held locally. It was very uncomfortable watching how horrible she treated most of these kids.
They all had good attitudes and were trying hard and no they didnāt have fancy horses, but they were on the bit and the kids rode very well. They were there to learn not be ridiculed.
It seems to go against the whole dressage for kids philosophy.
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Wow really? Thatās pretty disappointing. 
Yep, Iām in Idaho so itās a flight or two from pretty much anywhere. Where I board the arenas are not what people are expecting when they pay clinic prices. One instructor I ride with occasionally has been trying to bring her mentor in periodically over the last few years and it keeps falling through for various reasons, one of which I know was current airfare prices. And she has more connections than me and is more centrally located to most of the local dressage riders. It is just tough if youāre not training out of one of a small handful of barns.
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