Day 9: Schafhof, Matthias, and Totilas!!

(Left to right:  Nicole DelGiorno, Jaclyn Pepper, Matthias Rath, Jenna Detandt, Catherine Chamberlain)

Today was bittersweet. It was our last day of the Olympic Dream Program, but it sure was an amazing day! We pulled up to the gates of Schaffhof around 9:30 a.m. and it was like a dream. Then we were greeted by a very nice lady who said “This way, Matthias and Totilas are waiting for you.”  Those words made our trip without a doubt! It was incredible! The grounds, gardens, and barns were absolutely stunning! We could hardly believe we were actually there! She took us through the spectacular barn to the indoor arena where we met Matthias. He was very kind and asked us how our trip had been and who all we visited.

After all the introductions had been made, he told us a little bit about the horse that were being worked. Then we watched him ride a young mare. After watching him for a few minutes, there was no question about what a phenomenal rider he is. Everything that he did was very quiet and it was nearly impossible to see his aids. For the next horse, we went to the outside ring which was gorgeous. We sat at an old stone table by “C”. The horse’s name was “Bretton Woods”, a very well known stallion. To say that the gorgeous 7-year-old stallion was a little hot would be a bit of an understatement. It was very interesting to watch how Matthias rode through it. He was always very fair, and never over corrected Bretton Woods. Several times the stallion tried to spook and run away, but Matthias was right there with him and kept the stallion together. He never made a big deal out of it; he just gave the horse a firm kick and told him to get over it.

We had the opportunity to watch several other riders that morning, including Anne-Kathrin Linsenhoff who is an Olympic Gold Medalist. She is such a lovely rider, and you can see the partnership she has with her horses. In fact, all of the riders at Schafhof were exceptional. They were extremely quiet riders, and yet still very effective. The horses went through their workouts with ease. However, they were not at all robotic, they were still horses and it was fun to see each of their individual personalities.

Matthias spent a lot of time warming the horse up in a low frame. He would keep the horse slightly behind the vertical, for obvious submission reasons. However, the horse wasn’t restricted in the neck or cranked up. The back was always swinging and the neck was always forward. It was very apparent that the horse was being ridden over the back. Then, when the stallion began to stretch even more to the bit, he would bring him a little in front of the vertical. Matthias explained that the stallion had been shown in a lot of stallion shows before his family bought him. He said that how the stallions are trained for that is very different from how dressage horses should be train. In the stallion shows, the horses are expected to go around the ring with a very high frame, and that their gaits are pushed to the maximum. This creates a lot of stiffness in the back of the horse, and also teaches them to lean on the rider.

Then Matthias gave us a tour of Schafhof. It certainly was one of the most impressive places that I have ever been to. Somewhere around 50 horses are on the farm, with approximately 30 horses being under saddle. The other horses are broodmares, foals or retired horses. It was incredible to see all of the history his family has in dressage.

 After we had watched most of the horses work, Klaus Martin and Ann-Katrin were kind enough to ask if we had anything we wanted to know. I asked Klaus Martin if he had any advice to give to us as young riders about what our focus should be—what we should remember as we continue in our dressage training. He replied that he believed that there were many answers, but that he really believed it was important to learn how to tune into every horse that you have the opportunity to work with. He said that it was a very important characteristic that you must have as a rider.

Since the purpose behind this trip was to go and observe training in one of the best dressage countries, I thought it would be informative to get Ann-Kathrin’s summery of why Germany is so successful in dressage. She said that her belief is that the tradition is strong in Germany, but there is also a strong commitment to proper training and teaching. Another quality that she believes makes Germany so successful is the German mindset which hold a very high standard in everything that they do.

The best was saved for last, and we were finally able to meet Totilas! He is so gorgeous and so well behaved! It was a dream come true to stand next to him, none of us wanted to leave. After a couple of pictures, we said our goodbyes to one of the greatest dressage horses of all time! Matthias was kind enough to give us each a Totilas fan shirt. Mine says “Totilas My No. 1!”