About five months after my husband had surprised me with riding lessons on a Lipizzaner, I headed out on a Saturday morning to the Myakka City ranch I had visited the previous spring - home of Herrmann's Original Royal Lipizzan Stallions of Austria. I have to confess I was a little nervous. After all, I hadn't been on a horse in 26 years, and as much as I absolutely loved riding in my youth, I was worried about how quickly my equestrian instincts would return. I quite simply didn't want to make a fool of myself.Sharon White and Heather Meyer greeted me warmly in the stable as a multitude of Lipizzans turned in their stalls to get a gander at the new girl - some with the snowy white faces of veterans; others, "babies" in various stages of dark gray going gradually lighter. (As a child, I was particularly fascinated by the fact that these horses are born black and turn white as they age.)Heather already had Storm pretty much ready to go. All we needed to do was make sure I had a helmet - just to be on the safe side. In the meantime, Sharon was telling me that Storm is the "school horse" because he is a "Cadillac." At 17 - middle age for a Lipizzan - he is as professional as they come. And gorgeous, I have to add.Helmet on, I followed Heather and Storm out of the barn. Heather told me to go ahead and mount and explained that she would keep Storm on a lunge line this first time, so I could get a good feel for riding him. We would take things slowly, which was just fine with me. Then we proceeded into the arena.The rest of that lesson went by so fast I scarcely recall it, even though it was less than three months ago. The sensation that most remains with me is one of pure delight. By the time of my third lesson, Heather confessed she had wondered that first day how long it would take me to learn to relax and move with the horse - to be a quiet rider. For by that third lesson, I was starting to feel I was making genuine progress.Heather, I must add, is an excellent teacher because she offers corrections in a gentle manner and is quick to tell you when you've done something well. More than anything, her love of horses comes through clearly. It takes only a little time chatting with her to know she is a true horsewoman. One of the biggest differences in riding dressage - the style of riding you use with the Lipizzans - compared to the saddleseat equitation I learned growing up is that in dressage you have to sit the trot. I have some minor balance problems, probably from ear infections as a child. Posting - the moving up and down in the saddle that you do in traditional English riding - was not all that easy for me when I took my first riding lessons years ago. And I had heard during many summers at a riding camp in the North Carolina mountains that sitting a trot properly is even harder.I am happy to report that sitting a trot on Storm is WAY easier than I had ever expected. He has amazingly smooth gaits. No wonder they call him the Cadillac!As Heather explained during one lesson, dressage is the most difficult form of riding, because the rider has to learn to be absolutely connected to the horse. The cues a dressage rider gives her mount to ask him to do what she wants are very subtle. The average person watching cannot tell what the rider has done to make the horse move into a trot, for example, or change leads - or even stop. Though I used a traditional English saddle in that first lesson, Gabriella Herrmann, the late Col. Ottomar Herrmann's daughter who runs the ranch, suggested that from that day forward, I use the Viennese saddle. It has no stirrups, which means a novice like me is not as inclined to think about what my feet are doing. Instead, I could concentrate on my seat, on learning to let myself move fluidly with the horse.For all you riders who've never gone without stirrups, it is an experience I highly recommend.
Next time I'll answer the oft-repeated question from friends: How DO you get on the horse without stirrups?
April 1 marked my eighth lesson at the Herrmann ranch in Myakka City. I'm so much more comfortable on Storm, but I realize all the more how complex dressage is. This knowledge creates even greater admiration for riders who do it well. Ever since my second lesson, I have been using a mounting block to climb aboard Storm, as the Viennese saddle I use has no stirrups. Heather is always patient with me, but we have joked a bit about my lack of upper body strength. My friends who see me work out at the YMCA might wonder at that, but my husband - who has suffered through many a furniture-moving episode with me - can attest to it. He loves the scene in "An Officer and a Gentleman" when Sgt. Foley chides one of the female officer candidates as she struggles mightily to get to the top of wall on the fitness trail, "No upper body strength, See-gar!")My only defense for my difficulty in getting on Storm from the mounting block is that Lipizzan stallions may not be excessively tall, but they are broad. I can pull myself up without a problem; getting my right leg across his back is the main issue. Need to pump more iron at the Y!By this eighth lesson, Heather has taught me how to coax Storm into a more enthusiastic walking stride by alternating the use of my legs in bumping his sides. She readily reminds me - as my earlier riding teachers did - that a rider can "dull" a horse's side by kicking too much. The more subtle the movement that works, the better. You start out with small inducements and proceed to the bigger ones.This morning, in fact, Heather told me to pull my legs away from his side before giving him any kick if he was sluggish. He's a smart fellow: He quickly catches on that a kick is next when my legs move out, if he doesn't perk up.And in Storm's defense today, Heather told me that he went through two very busy lessons the previous day. Given the high humidity on top of that, I can't blame him for wanting a more leisurely pace this morning.)By now, Heather allows me to walk Storm on my own around the ring, though she remains ever alert and is quick to correct my mistakes - but in her ever-gentle, very positive manner. It's practically impossible for me to feel bad about doing something incorrectly - unless I'm inflicting unnecessary discomfort on the horse. This eighth lesson marked the first time I had been able to guide Storm through a circle in such fine fashion that Heather gave me an enthusiastic commendation on it. We've been doing circles around her ever since the early lessons. Some days they leave a LOT to be desired, but practice is making them much better.Today also was the first time we'd worked on the shoulder-in movement. According to ClassicalDressage.net, "The principle of the shoulder-in is that the horse's footfalls are on three tracks. 1st track - the outside hind. 2nd track - the inside hind and outside fore and the 3rd track the inside fore. The horse is encouraged to bend his body round in front of the inside hind leg so that this hind leg does more than its usual amount of work and is the prime driving limb for propelling the horse along. You are loading the inside hind leg. "Think of the shoulder-in as the basis of all lateral work and the cornerstone of all equine gymnastic exercises. If you can ride a good and correct shoulder-in, your horse should find all the other lateral movements fairly easy."That website says almost exactly what Heather told me as we practiced the maneuver. And I actually managed to get Storm to do it for a stride or two, once in a while. At least I know what we're trying to achieve, so perhaps it will come more easily the next time we attempt it. Still, it's something new, and that thrills me.Because of all the shoulder-in work, I didn't get to trot much today. However, every time I work on sitting the trot, I feel more relaxed. With this eighth lesson, I have become accustomed to the exercises Heather has me do to help master this art, and sometimes - when I am concentrating so hard on the exercises and not thinking about sitting the trot - I do it very well. That result, of course, is the purpose of the exercises.I have four more lessons to go before the Lipizzans head out on their summer show circuit in cooler climates. Just thinking about this morning has enabled me to stay in a mellow mood at work all day. When my riding ends for the summer, I'll have to practice my own calming exercises - imagining myself on Storm's back with Heather's smiling encouragement. Few more tranquil spells have I ever been blessed to know.
Since early December, I have had 11 lessons at the Herrmanns' Royal Lipizzan Stallions ranch in Myakka City. If anyone had told me when I was a child - when I was utterly and absolutely fascinated with Lipizzans - that I would have this opportunity one day, I would have scoffed.This is my own fairy tale with real people and real places.Even someone who is ambivalent about horses has to appreciate the fact that the Herrmann family maintains this herd of rare horses right on the outskirts of Sarasota. Drive out on a spring morning, when the sky is what I call "Carolina Blue," and watch the trappings of municipality give way to an idyll. Rustic barns blend with multimillion-dollar homes, and cattle and horses of all shapes and hues adorn the pastures like ornaments hung on a Christmas tree.To drive through the gates at the Herrmanns' ranch is to enter a world of calm and beauty. The stallions in their varying stages of gray and white peer out at me each time I walk into the barn and greet them. By now I have become a reasonably familiar face, though only Storm and his next-door-neighbor, Duke, seem to register clearly who I am.(Duke, by the way, is "the jumper," the Lipizzan in the barn who performs the most demanding of the Airs Above the Ground which were prized so highly by European royalty in ancient days.) Heather Meyer always greets me warmly. I've never known anyone with a more optimistic outlook. She acknowledges higher points of some weeks over others, but she never seems to have a bad day. By now I have learned rudimentaries of haute école. During my second lesson with the shoulder-in technique, I finally figured out what Storm and I were supposed to be doing. Then there have been the circles - some admittedly rounder than others - and the straight lines. Laugh if you will, but it's not as easy as you might think for a novice to get a 17-year-old stallion to walk a straight line from one side of the ring to the other.We also have worked on halts. Heather has been teaching me the past few weeks how to ask Storm to stop without being hard on his mouth or making really obvious movements - another big improvement in my world of dressage. (Actually, Storm is a fast learner. It only takes him a couple of halts before he understands what Heather wants me to have him do.)During my most recent lesson, I also began to get a feel for shifting my weight to direct Storm over to the rail after I had him walking (finally!) in a straight line away from the rail. Ah, these creatures are so well trained.And sitting the trot has become easier. Storm and I both have our "bad" side, the direction in which the trot is not as comfortable for either of us. Even on that side, though, I was able last week to take both hands off the saddle for brief periods to hold the reins in a reasonably proper manner.My last two trips to the ranch, I have remembered to take an apple for Storm. And both times he has given me an inquiring look as he has chomped down on the fruit after we've removed his tack. I wonder whether he wonders if one day I finally will master the challenges of dressage. No one could ask for a better "school horse" than Storm, this keenly intelligent fellow who is so gentle, so unperturbed by the things I do wrong.During all these months of lessons, I realize I have yet to see how riders do things the right way in the training shows. Because the tour schedule doesn't begin until June this year, I still have time. The stallions will put on their free shows every Saturday in May - except the 16th - at 10 a.m.With one more lesson and a show to savor over the summer, I can dream of making more progress - and earning more of Storm's respect - come fall. Interested in seeing the Lipizzans perform or taking lessons? For more information and directions, call 941-322-1501 or visit www.hlipizzans.com
