The next generation of U.S. dressage athletes finished the week out strong at the 2024 Robert Dover Horsemastership Clinic, though this year there were no scores to show for it. 

Unlike in previous years, the final day of the clinic, held Jan. 3-7 at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival grounds in Wellington, Florida, offered participants an additional lesson rather than a mock competition where they would ride a test of their choosing in the big arena on the livestream. The last-minute change was made due to participant feedback and the number of riders on borrowed or new horses, said Kristen Brett, U.S. Equestrian Federation director of dressage programs. 

Dropping the test riding opportunity from the schedule created time for an additional lesson from clinicians Sarah Tubman, Olivia Lagoy-Weltz, Ali Brock and Katie Duerrhammer. For many riders, the week ended where their riding journeys began: with the very basics. 

Ali Brock: Develop A Common Language 

Though Jenaya Olsen’s London Fog MDF is an ex-jumper, the audience couldn’t tell. The German Warmblood left nothing to be desired in the way of expression–almost to a fault. Brock had Olsen focus on making “Lloyd’s” tempo and frame her own throughout the lesson. 

“He’s the type of horse when I look at him I think, ‘Oh, that would be so fun to sit on,’ ” Brock said. “But the thing about these horses that move that big is that we have to be able to make them small and quick and adjustable.” 

In their two-month partnership, Lloyd and Olsen, Naples, Florida, have been working toward the U25 Grand Prix.  

Brock began by having the pair work on their turns-on-the-forehand. Initially, the 9-year-old gelding did not understand what Olsen was asking of him, backing up rather than stepping under with his left hind leg. Nevertheless, Brock encouraged Olsen to quietly continue the exercise. 

“Your horse is going to back up. They’re going to come against your leg. They’re going to come against your rein. They’re going to stick their heads in the air. They’re going to do all sorts of things [when they don’t understand],” Brock said. “But we have to sit here and explain calmly.” 

The warm-up walk work took the better part of 10 minutes, for which Brock was only ever-so-slightly apologetic. 

“Don’t worry guys; eventually I’m going to let her trot,” Brock said, in jest, directly to the spectators. “But to me this sort of language, if we don’t clarify this, I don’t care how trained the horse is. We’re going to have communication issues.” 

For Brock, Olsen’s position was also a pivotal factor in giving her an effective line of communication with the grey gelding. 

“With big-moving horses like him, you have to have your upper body back. Channel your inner auction rider!” said Brock. “Try to fall off the back of him–lean away from your hands.” 

At the end of the lesson, Lloyd clearly had a better understanding of what Olsen wanted, for which Brock was quick to praise them both. 

“I’m really pleased with him today. And you,” Brock said, emphasizing that was significant praise because, “The horses—I’m always happy with the horses. The people? Meh.” 

Katie Duerrhammer: Build Trust 

Katie Duerrhammer’s lessons were livestreamed during the third day of the clinic, meaning that Mary Claire Piller and 8-year-old Hanoverian Qualitas had a new distraction in store: the camera. The gelding was wary of its horse-eating potential in the beginning, but Duerrhammer encouraged Piller to take his spookiness in stride. 

“When they are this young, and they’re having these new experiences with this camera or whatever it is, it’s really important to remember that how you teach them to work through this is going to follow him for the rest of his life. So you want him to learn to trust you,” Duerrhammer said.  

Duerrhammer had Piller, Oakdale, Tennessee, work in and out of haunches-in at the canter, as “Koala” tended to lose his balance. It was important for Piller to “keep all options of adjustability available” Duerrhammer said, because the questions of the upper levels demand it. 

As Piller and Koala worked on counter-canter and then flying changes, the chestnut gelding got progressively more relaxed. By the end of the lesson, the gelding was trotting around the camera-adjacent short side with no problem. 

LaGoy-Weltz: Consistency Is Key

LaGoy-Weltz concentrated on correctly managing extravagant movement with Autumn Vavrick, Oxford, Michigan. Vavrick was riding a borrowed horse, 7-year-old Gjenganger, whom owner Alice Tarjan shared with the clinic for the second year in a row.

LaGoy-Weltz had the pair begin their lesson with shoulders-leading leg yields. 

“She’s a little spider-leggy,” LaGoy-Weltz said of the mare’s movement. “But we want to get her piston-like in the rhythm. With a horse that can really go with the front legs like her, you have to pay extra attention to what you feel in the back and the hind leg how that connection comes through to it.”

Much of the lesson was devoted to working on ensuring that “Gangster’s” rhythm stayed consistent. LaGoy-Weltz had the pair practice shoulder-in to haunches-in at the trot, particularly on the right, to correct the mare’s natural asymmetry. 

“A horse like this has an incredible range of motion; you have to find just the right amount of energy and power to fill up that range of motion to get consistency,” she told Vavrick. “If she was like a balloon, and she’s only putting in like 30% air in her little horsey balloon skin, she’s going to feel like she drops right, she drops left—you won’t get anything consistent. Think about trying to get that balloon at least 75% puffed up with energy, like across-the-ground push from back to front. See just how similar you can make her every step.” 

Sarah Tubman: Simon Says Stay Adjustable

On the last day of the week-long clinic, horses and riders had one final chance to learn all they could from their clinicians’ instruction. Some chose to school through entire tests, while others chose to continue though individual movements, like Bennett McWhorter, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Either way, all pairs had their stamina tested on the final day, as Tubman pointed out to McWhorter. 

“On day four, we don’t expect brilliance, but we can expect good reactions,” she said of McWhorter and his 9-year-old Hanoverian mare Dalia. “They might not last as long as they did previously, so be prepared and be thoughtful in your riding and ready to help her a little more often.”  

Clinicians also ask new things of their students, which adds to the intensity, according to Tubman. 

“When the horses have worked hard the last three days, and they’ve done exercises that are a little bit different than what they’re used to, they’re going to be sore in places we don’t expect,” Tubman said. “Even when you change something really small, for instance if you go to the gym and you’re used to doing 10 squats with 20-pound weights and then you go to a personal trainer who asks you to do 50 squats with 10-pound weights, you’d be sore in new places. So we should be sympathetic.” 

Tubman had McWhorter and Dalia school transitions within the trot—in and out of “almost walk”—to make the FEI Junior level movements more achievable as they hope to contest the level this upcoming season. Keeping the mare adjustable without asking too much of her on the clinic’s fourth day was Tubman’s focus. 

“In your best trot, you want to feel like you could have the extended trot and a halt at the drop of a hat,” Tubman said. “It’s like Simon Says: You know your horse is really good, through and with you when, no matter what your crazy clinician says, you can do it right away.” 

Video of all sessions from the 2024 Robert Dover Horsemastership Clinic Week is available to premium members on USEF Network powered by ClipMyHorse.TV.