On November 5th and 6th I had the opportunity to ride in a clinic taught by Christine Traurig. I had ridden under Christine before and had really enjoyed her lessons, so I was excited to be able to participate in the clinic. The last time I had seen Christine was early in the beginning of 2009, so I was anxious to see what she thought of my horse Verdicci and I. In July of this year we were able to represent Region 5 in the North American Junior Young Rider Championships in Kentucky, where we placed 9th individually. We plan to attempt to qualify once more this year for the 2010 NAJYRC, so I was looking forward to any tips she could give us to make us more competitive for another great year.

On the first day, Christine said that she immediately noticed that Verdicci’s neck was more developed and in a more correct position. I was happy to hear that we were on the right track with my trainer Teri Patton-Rich. The Junior tests consist of the same movements as 3rd level, such as half-pass in trot and canter, extensions, and flying changes. Verdicci is only seven so I really wanted to work on developing better bend and also perfecting the flying changes. We started by working on straightness since Verdicci tends to be stiff on the right and hollow on the left. She explained to me that it was not the right rein that needed more work, but we needed to convince Verdicci to except the left rein to work correctly into the bridle. We have mirrors in our arena so Christine had me ride straight to the mirrors to see that he wanted to bulge out to the left to evade correct contact. She really made me think about keeping my left rein steady and even doing a little counter-flexion. It was something I needed to think about constantly because I am right handed and tend to want to take more right rein, contributing to the bending problem. We also worked a lot on developing a more collected trot and canter. Verdicci has a nice swinging trot but Christine told me to think about containing that power and asking the hindquarters to step more under his center of balance. We worked through a lot of ten meter circles, which also helped with the bend. I learned to half-halt from my seat and core to get a more collected and uphill trot. I loved the feeling that she helped me create and the canter also felt like it had more power to achieve the more collected movements.

The second day we started with a lot of the same things but we were able to incorporate more of the movements, such as shoulder-in and half-pass. After thinking about proper connection once more, I saw the heightened degree of collection and bend as we rode towards the mirror in our movements. She also pointed out to me that I tend to ride with my inside leg behind the girth with my heel up when I am trying to create more bend. Christine told me that the only reason the leg should be behind the girth is to contain the hindquarters or ask for a lateral movement sideways, which meant that the outside leg is the only leg behind the girth. When I put my inside leg back, I am forcing out the haunches and hindering the bend, so that is my new equitation project to work on from now on. We also got to work on our flying changes. When I had Verdicci straight and through over his back, he did beautiful changes with much suspension and power. Developing the canter was important to me because I plan to start training the pirouettes and tempi changes in the future.

This was such a great experience and I am so happy I was able to ride under Christine! I was twelve years old when I bought Verdicci as a five year old, and he has been such a great partner to learn how to train a young horse on. I am fourteen now and since we are starting to move up to the FEI levels, I am always open to any educational opportunities to help both of us progress. I think Christine Traurig is an amazing trainer and I am so grateful I was given the chance to have lessons with her. I really feel my riding has improved from participating in this clinic and I will work hard to continue on the right track. I plan to continue showing and training with Teri and hopefully in the future I will be able to attend more clinics taught by Christine and other wonderful trainers.