Day 3!!

It would be difficult to pick out one day of this trip that was the best, because they are all incredible! This morning we had the opportunity to go back to tour the DOKR, which is the German Olympic Equestrian Training Center. Our guide, Lena Rinderman, was very nice and told us all about the center. The DOKR is where all the professional riders train and take their rider exams. The center is open for all Olympic Team members, and qualified young riders and pony riders. They are able use the facility, train together, and participate in clinics and symposiums. In addition to the state of the art indoor, there were many fabulous outdoor arenas, jumping rings, a cross country course, stabling, offices, and dormitories.  The center was truly magnificent and definitely a highlight of our trip. 

Our next stop was “Langestüt”, the Westphailan State Stud Farm which was founded in 1826.  On our second visit, we got to see even more of the farm. The buildings and barns were magnificent. The grounds were beautiful and the atmosphere was very quiet. Somewhere around 150 stallions are stabled at this stud. They are all owned by the state which purpose is to make the state’s highest quality breeding available at a reasonable cost. Today, we had the opportunity to actually walk through the barns and watch some of the stallions being worked. It was very interesting and a lot of fun!

From there, we drove to Monica Theodorescu’s stable. We were greeted by a friendly groom who took us back to Monica’s dressage ring. Monica was riding an 8 year old black gelding named “Tattoo”. She rode up to greet us, introduced the horse and his background, and told us to make ourselves at home! That was very easy to do because her farm was gorgeous and the weather was beautiful. We were lucky to get to watch her teach a very talented Australian Young Rider named Jess Blackmore. While Jess and Monica were riding, Jess’s mom Thekla, talked to us about Monica’s training schedules and methods. We asked her what Monica’s training was like and why they decided to put their horses in their barn. 

Thekla, who is a rider herself, said that they wanted to work with the best trainer they possibly could, but since Jess is smaller, they wanted to train with someone that was similar in size. Besides that, they were very impressed with Monica’s ability to achieve incredible things without force. Thekla also emphasized Monica’s strict adherence to The Training Scale. She said that Monica is very consistent in her work; there are no shortcuts. There is a system that she has in place, and it works very well for all of the horses. 

We were just a little bit star struck….we got to see Monica’s Olympic horse, Whisper! Then we got to see the Russian super star “Balagur”! Even at age 22 Balagur can still piaffe for a “10”! It was a lot of fun listening to Monica talk about these horses when they were younger. Whisper came to her as a four year old, and she said that he was a very fast learner and had a great attitude. Monica talked about the special bond Balagur had with her father. Apparently, before they had Balagur, he had been a trotter and then sent to the circus where he learned how to piaffe a little! He must have remembered his old performing days, because Balagur seemed to show off for us!

Jess and Balagur

Afterwords, Monica talked to us about the horses she had ridden and how she trained them. She rode them all very forward. When asked about pirouette’s she said the most important thing was to keep the activity and be sure that you can always ride out of the pirouette at any stride. 

From there we left the farm around 2:00pm to get some lunch and head to our next destination in Denmark! We arrived in Silkburg at 10:30p.m after a long 7hour drive excited about the next part of our trip!!