Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Todd Flettrich and Otto at Devon

Mr. Flettrich has done a few clinics in our area, and I'm told that riders improve dramatically under his guidance. I know of one rider slightly who swears the clinic changed her whole approach to dressage. I don't know her riding well enough to judge, but "the buzz" is that she and her horse have achieved far greater engagement and relaxation, and their scores are markedly better.

At any rate, here is the video. It was one of the more consistent performances that night (no spooking).



He has quite a German riding style doesn't he? It's a "man's style" and not to my particular taste, but he certainly brings out a super piaffe/passage, as well as the best walk sequence of the evening. So many mincing walks, this really stood out.


13 comments:

  1. UnknownSeptember 30, 2009 at 6:36 PM

    Stacey, you apparently have the video set to private. Any way you can make it public? Or somehow add me as a friend? I'd love to see it!

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  2. Stacey Kimmel-SmithSeptember 30, 2009 at 8:55 PM

    Eek! Sorry, loaded it Monday and wanted to "unveil" it but forgot to unprivatize. It should be public now.

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  3. JeanSeptember 30, 2009 at 10:47 PM

    Finally saw the video...the nice thing I see here is that this horse never really goes behind the vertical. His nose is almost always just out in front a tiny bit. That leads me to suspect...no rolkur here. I get the feeling Otto is going up into the bridle nicely.

    The walk is really nice, you are right. It's always amazing to see a soft, relaxed forward walk and then a few strides later all kinds of energetic collected work.

    Little bit of riding behind the vertical at the end there, but nice rider position overall. Hey how tall is Todd, or his horse? Either he is tall or Otto is not. Then again, a lot of upper level male riders seem to be pretty tall.

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  4. StaceyOctober 1, 2009 at 1:18 AM

    HI, I pop into your blog once in a while...It is very nice. I saw the video you posted of Todd Flettrich(and at Devon) I thought his ride was very nice! a well deserved 68%! I have cliniced with Todd a few times in the past, and alway enjoy his teaching...he makes it fun. Todd is a slight 6'5 or so.....big build too, but he's really gentle w/ the horses. From what I've seen. Now training in Germany w/ Hubertus Schmidt.

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  5. lythaOctober 1, 2009 at 2:20 AM

    It is so rare to see a horse go slightly above the vertical, I love it! Most horses go around on and behind the vertical. I was always taught this was the cardinal sin of dressage, and was penalized for it in the ring.

    Refreshing to see this kind of riding!

    °lytha

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  6. Stacey Kimmel-SmithOctober 1, 2009 at 8:07 AM

    Re: his horse's head position -- I heard (3rd of 4th hand) that he told his clinic participants that you don't need a short rein to make your horse round and he challenged them to work on a longer rein (or maybe varying length) and to achieve roundness/collection. I thought that was a great insight and I used it with harv. I admit I like to see the horse stretching into the bit and that isn't something you tend to see in competition often.

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  7. A Bay HorseOctober 1, 2009 at 9:11 AM

    The walk was nicely forward. I thought there are some really nice moments in there actually. Never heard of this dude. But I don't really follow famous names well. thanks for sharing.

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  8. StaceyOctober 1, 2009 at 10:02 AM

    He (Todd Flettrich) will be at Graystone E.C. in Quakertown, PA www.graystoneequestriancenter.com on October 11 &12 for a clinic.

    if anything, you'll sure get a laugh .... he's quite a character. :)
    -Stacey

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  9. ACOctober 1, 2009 at 8:40 PM

    I was at Devon at well, and found that Todd was one of the best riders to watch in the warm up and show ring. He was soft and kind to his horses, challenged them, but helped them when they needed it, and didn't push farther than needed, you didn't see him drilling his horses over and over again, he asked, it was there and the horse was rewarded. I was very impressed watching his technique! Tina Konyat (Sp?) was especially nice to watch as well.

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  10. MeridethOctober 3, 2009 at 11:32 PM

    did Otto come from denmark??
    does anyone know??

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  11. Stacey Kimmel-SmithOctober 4, 2009 at 6:47 AM

    he is danish and was formerly ridden by heather blitz who trained in denmark -- she's a u.s. rider...

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  12. MeridethOctober 4, 2009 at 10:52 AM

    thanks
    he was sold out from under heather, just when they had beaten isabel werth. So i really have no respect for his owners right now, and just to say heather did better with him than todd.

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  13. MeridethOctober 4, 2009 at 11:24 AM

    http://web.mac.com/heatherblitz/Heather_Blitz/Videos.html

    heres the link to some of heather's videos Otto is second
    he is more under himself and expressive

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