PrintLast weekend I had the opportunity to audit a clinic with Eddo Hoekstra at Sonesta Farms in Cypress, Texas. Sonesta Farms is owned and run by Rebecca Pennington.
I first met Eddo a couple of years ago at another barn when a friend said, “You have to come audit this clinician and make sure you bring a notebook.”
So I did just that. I sat alone and just wrote all day long. It was amazing when I look back at those notes and see the notes I took this weekend. While the riders have changed, his teaching has grown, and there are so many things that have remained consistent.
He remains classical in his training and his belief that dressage is good for every horse and every rider. He is steady in his teaching. He does not yell, belittle or berate anyone, and yet somehow he pushes every rider to do what they are not sure they can do.
He sees things in horses and riders that others could easily miss. He finds them because he looks for them. He believes that through correct work every horse and rider can and will improve; they just need to add some tools to the toolbox. He knows if you take the time to learn the basics and the foundation you will also learn to feel. Nothing to him is out of the realm of possibilities—you just need the basics, not tricks.
I watched him work with all types of horses and riders over the four days, and each rider left feeling successful. The riders came in all types. Some riders were in double bridles and some in western saddles with carrot sticks. He treated each horse and rider with the same respect, and while he works within each horse and rider’s abilities, you can certainly see a change in both from the beginning to the end of the lesson.
This time I was not able to ride in the clinic myself as my horse has adopted an orphan foal. So I decided to take advantage of auditing and focusing on my best friend/student Mechelle Sieg and her horse Rena.
Rena is a finished reiner and has competed in working cow horse. She is on her third career and is now doing dressage.
Mechelle loves dressage. She feels it is a journey you make with your horse. With Eddo’s help and classical training you learn to have a relationship with your horse that continues on and off the horse. If you stay on the path long enough you may also find it changes things in your life that are not horse related as dressage with Eddo is a philosophy.
Eddo has lots of saying and seems to know how to talk to you in a way that makes sense to you. One thing he said this weekend was “whatever part of the horse you hold on to is a part that the horse cannot use.”
Eddo also has so many different exercises that he constantly builds on whether this is your first clinic or your 100th. Eddo can help you no matter what level you ride or what your background is. He makes sure you can do the exercises so that your riding improves with just a couple of tweaks. Every time we think we know where he is going, and we can say we have done that one, he changes it so it is a whole new exercise. His exercises help us know where our horse’s feet are, how they are feeling, where they are mentally today and where we are on any given day. He also comes with exercises that I have never seen before so I always make sure I have a notepad close.
