Philippe Karl Australian Teachers Clinics ~ September 2009.
Philippe Karl will be in Australia for the first time this September to hold a unique 'open' clinic for eight riders in Perth, Western Australia and Mt Rankin, New South Wales respectively. These riders wish to continue on and become teachers in Philippe Karl's School of Lightness (Ecole de Légèreté).
This is very exciting news for Australian Dressage and for those who have wished for years that Philippe Karl would come to Australia to share with us his logical and systematic training, as only a true master can. We are very lucky that Philippe Karl will travel half way around the world to promote his respect to the horse theme in non-forced Classical Dressage with harmony and lightness, as it is meant to be to maintain Dressage as an art and a thing of beauty ~ not a sport just for professional success.
Philippe Karl Teachers Course is a three year commitment with a strict examination processes designed to give his instructors a broad, diverse understanding of horse behaviour and anatomy. Based on natural crookedness and varying postures of each individual horse such as ewe necks, short necks, hollow and stiff horses. We learn how to correct different body types to have all horses straight, flexible, light off the forehand and working correctly over the back.
Pupils learn Philippe Karl's in-hand work, correct lunging, correct double bridle training and jumping, which is so important for any horse. Philippe Karl trains the high school movements of piaffe, passage, clean flying changes, half pass and the Spanish walk. It is noted with intrigue that the Spanish walk is trained before passage which loosens up the shoulders and forehand immensely so the horse learns to be very free in front while building his strength and carrying capacity behind.
In Philippe Karl's Classical Dressage DVD series, he demonstrates the training processes to enable 'even ordinary horses' the skills to reach the Grand Prix movements, which not only makes Dressage very exciting for the amateur rider, it opens up riders understanding for bringing true and tried classical methods back into fashion. Dressage movements become clear to the rider and the horse based on working quietly at walk, using correct weight aids in the lateral movements and progressing in a natural manner with no need for draw reins, excessively tight nosebands, stronger bits and bigger spurs!
Philippe Karl's Philosophy of Ease epitomises what Dressage really means in the whole truth of the word.
Philippe Karl is conducting his first Australian Classical Dressage Clinics in September, 2009!
Perth Clinic: Tuesday 15th to Friday 18th September, 2009.
Location: Brookleigh Equestrian Estate, Upper Swan, Western Australia, 6069.
Contact: Pip Easton or phone 0407 08 77 99.
Mt Rankin Clinic: Tuesday 22nd to Friday 25th September, 2009.
Location: Kellosheil Park, Mt Rankin, New South Wales, 2795.
Contact: email Cath McDowell or phone 0428 387 000.
All are encouraged to join in the discussions with Philippe Karl at the Philippe Karl Teachers Clinics by completing the attendance form.
Spectators MUST be registered in order to attend. Spectator fees are $100 per day with payment plans available. If possible, spectators should participate in all four days of clinics in order to be able to consistently follow and judge the progress of horses and riders.
Where is Brookleigh Equestrian Estate? Brookleigh Equestrian Estate is twenty five minutes drive from Perth Domestic Airport. View larger map.
About Philippe Karl's Teachers Clinics. The clinic begins at 8.30am each day with a two hour lunch break. Ridden components conclude at 6.30pm followed by a two hour theory lesson commencing at 7pm, concluding at 9pm for three out of the four evenings of the clinic.
The final evening is spent summarising with conclusion conversations with the riders. Each theory lesson is vitally important in the understanding of what, why, how and when in the fundamental basics of Classical Dressage. The intelligence with which Philippe Karl imparts his knowledge leaves you with a very clear and precise idea of the deep basics required to bring any horse to lightness. The evenings are fully interactive ~ YOU can ask Philippe Karl for explanations, detailed examples and really discuss the nitty gritty and the wonders of Dressage.
Explaining his true to the centuries old classical techniques, Philippe Karl will demonstrate by riding and teaching the following horse and rider combinations:
- Becky Sellick with Alkirbe Dream,
- Caren Robinson with Wyndyarra Rembrandt,
- Gail George with Chevalier Park Impressionist,
- Jackie Wilson and Yetar Springs Julius,
- Janet Davidson with Hauntingly Familiar,
- Jayne Lavender with Bachelor Boy,
- Pip Easton with Overflow Don Bradman and Noblewood Park Just in Time, and
- Steve Brady with Elektra.
in an open floor discussion where you can ask your questions with intelligent, logical and sensible answers. Philippe Karl will clearly explain details of his work for each individual horse and rider, with audience participation encouraged. Philippe Karl will answer important questions and show examples of the logistics of his techniques for all to understand.
Learn more about Philippe Karl or Philippe Karl's Australian Open Forum and Introductory Evening.
Further information and requirements for candidates of the School of Légèreté Teachers Course are on Philippe Karl's website.
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Part One ~ Philippe Karl Open Forum and Introductory Evening (OFIE). 14 September, 2009 at the State Equestrian Centre, Brigadoon, Western Australia, 6069.
Australians were very privileged to have Philippe Karl in their great southern land in September, 2009 and his first visit made huge waves across the world of dressage. For those who know and love his work, it was a real honour to finally meet the gentle Frenchman in person and the Perth Open Forum and Introductory Evening drew a crowd of five hundred people.
Perth dressage enthusiasts were spoilt on Monday the 14th of September with an International Master's overview of dressage, jumping and the way to school a horse. Philippe Karl from France is world renowned in the classical principals of training any horse and travels across Europe giving clinics to people who are keen to learn the basic biomechanics of "what is a horse and how to teach a language." Balance, self carriage and lightness are his strongest messages and although he's very direct in his delivery, often accusing the system, the points he made were valid and very well received by the audience with his common sense and logical approach.
Easton Entertainment, the organiser for Philippe Karl clinics in Australia and Equestrian Western Australia put on a lavish evening at the State Equestrian Centre with VIPs and shopping upstairs supplied by major sponsor Saddles Plus. The evening began with the very nice Warmblood Northern Riley, owned by Alison Lee who demonstrated his talents while Philippe Karl observed his outline. With a white board and pen Philippe set about drawing the head and neck of a horse and asking the audience of five hundred, "How does a horse tighten the reins?" In a way which really encouraged thinking, the evening became an eye opener, resonating deep into the real truth for many. Throughout the night basic anatomy and conformational functions of the horse became apparent. "By opening his poll," was the answer to Philippe's first question and probably the most important topic he stands for is to not close the poll until much later in training. "The young horse needs his head and neck to balance and should be worked in 'neck extension' in forward, balanced movement for a good start to training." Philippe expressed that flexions from the beginning are crucial for suppleness, balance, straightness and lightness to the aids.
He then went on to show diagrams of 'jaw yielding' and how the horse softly mouths on the bit showing relaxation and submissiveness. Philippe's thoughts on the crank nosebands of today were clear, in that "They should be forbidden." The horse is a sensitive animal who uses his mouth to communicate and by shutting his jaw tight and using hard hands, is not good for the horse. "What you need is a brain and a good teacher," and to learn about how a horse moves to be in balance with him.
The second horse in, Liz Tollarzo's young chestnut Wandiera Rembrandt was a good candidate for showing lightness to the legs and in Philippe's description of the 'leg lesson', he added much humour with the comment, "The horse would have a tendency to be quiet in the morning and not too excited in the afternoon." By starting on the ground with the whip toward the hind quarter, Remi was simply asked to move in a small circle away from the light tapping. This was shown then under saddle with Philippe touching him once with the spur or whip and then leaving the horse to do. He said, "All too often we see and hear instructors saying 'more leg, more leg' and every stride the legs are pushing the horse to keep going, so, he says, "If you're using your legs to go, it's not such a good idea to also use the legs when asking the horse to stop."
Two show jumping horses came into the arena next with similar shapes of travelling. Philippe noticed that they were usually above the bit and very much needed 'neck extension' for correct balance and stretching of the back muscles to enable a longer reach over the fences and a longer stride on the flat.
From the ground Philippe taught action reaction with the reins over the horses poll, behind the ears and showed how to encourage the horse to lower his head with gentle pressure of both reins approaching each other in the corners of the lips which is not painful, merely uncomfortable, until the horse responds with the correct answer in lowering his head, opening his poll (i.e. putting his nose in front of the vertical). This exercise once mastered on the ground and in the bend left and right, is taught from the saddle with hand aids gently lifting the bit in the corners of the mouth until the horse takes his nose down and out in front. "I agree with the aim of a quiet low hand, but as a means, no" he said. "We need to have a hand which is orientated toward the mouth, which never acts backwards or pulls."
The spectators could clearly see the improvements in each horse and Philippe's point of "Making the horse as long as possible from the tail to the nose" showed how important the 'neck extension' he trains is to gymnasticise the horse in all gaits. He had a secret to share saying, "Every time you school a horse, imagine he is already 100% fully trained and light to the aids, then gently increase the pressure until you progressively get the responsiveness to the aids and the language in which you're training can then progress toward invisible aids."
The final horse was Anita Budgeon's black stallion Churizo from the United Kingdom who was very excited and not really concentrating on his rider. From standing in front of the horse on the ground, Philippe took the snaffle bit and asked him to lift his head from upward movements towards the ears and noticed that, "Even though he is constantly above the bit, when you ask him to lift his head he is objecting like a crazy." With a few flexions left and right to create an understanding Philippe then rode the stallion with a noticeably flexed neck left or right in walk to communicate the aids with him until he stretched his neck down in relaxation to come over the back and use himself correctly.
By asking for 'neck extension' in the bend on trot circles including counter bend, Churizo was quick to respond and relax, lengthening his outline and improving his gaits. Another common observation was that, "Horses who don't want to lengthen their stride in trot often offer canter, but by extending his neck we can stretch the muscles which have been contracted for so long. And he may be sore from using the muscles he's not used to using correctly, but by gently and systematically training the flexions and opening his poll to stretch, he will build over the back the right way."
By teaching a language to the horse with the riders hand and leg aids, Philippe Karl breaks down the real aids in schooling a horse and puts reasoning into an easy to understand manner. A DVD of the evening is available through Dressage World and Easton Entertainment. We would like to thank Marcia Deveney at Equestrian Western Australia for supporting such a horseman to show us how important it is to train the correct principals whether you ride dressage, show jumping, eventing or hacking.
Pip Easton would also like to say a huge thank you to Saddles Plus, Hoofbeats Magazine, Upper Reach Winery, Brookleigh Equestrian Estate, Renewable Logic and John Hughes for sponsoring such a great evening and thank you all for your great door prizes.
Above images © Chris Maroni Photography. Pictures not to be reproduced unless with express permission by Dressage World or Chris Maroni Photography.
Part Two ~ Philippe Karl Open Clinic, Perth, Western Australia. 15 ~ 18 September, 2009 at Brookleigh Equestrian Estate,
Upper Swan, Western Australia, 6069.
Information coming soon!
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