Marie Kahrle Driving Clinic at Yanco - Report

by Anne Robertson (Canberra Club)
Rob and I arrived on Thursday so that Remus could settle into the fine stable complex after four hot hours traveling. As usual, the arrangements were all complete and we were able to move into our room. In the rush to get away, I had forgotten to load the horse feed, necessitating a short trip to Leeton where we were able to finds a supply of hay to keep Remus happy.

We met Marie on Friday, and had an interesting time chatting to her during the evening barbeque, held under the trees in the grounds of the College. Following the meal several fascinating videos were shown of Marie driving a single horse at events in Sweden and Italy.

The school started on Saturday morning with Dressage. Participants were grouped in pairs, my partner being Ben Rosetta. Marie emphatically stressed certain basic points: the driver’s hands had to remain still yet sympathetic, and contact with the bit had to be maintained at all times. The horse had to be driven forward but the tempo had to be SLOW ! Most drivers were going too fast, and Marie was insistent on slowing the paces. The weather was quite hot and forty five minutes trotting around a full size dressage arena seemed to be enough for most people, not least of all the horses.

The venue shifted in the afternoon to a cone course designed by Trevor Brand. We all drove the course three times, with Marie again stressing a slow steady pace with contact maintained. Advice for turns into a cone or on a circle of cones was to keep closer to the outside cone to minimize the risk of hitting the inside cone. Needless to say, several cones suffered their usual fate.

Sunday dawned quite cold, and I was thankful that I had thrown a couple of jackets in the bag. Dressage once again, with practice on circles and a deviation. Again the emphasis was on maintaining a slow pace, with straightness whilst trotting down the sides and the centre line, and correct flexion in the corners, circles, and in the deviation. The basic concept of soft and gentle hands yet maintaining contact with the bit was stressed.
Remus seemed to get rather disinterested trotting around the arena, and Marie advised that it was better to keep his interest by not doing too many repetitive dressage movements.

The afternoon was a different matter. Remus found the obstacles much more to his liking. Two obstacles had been prepared – the first with large straw bales, the second with a series of poles. Both were quite challenging with a choice of routes. Again Marie emphasized the basics – slow, maintain contact, correct flexion, smooth and soft hands guiding rather than jerking, and the advisability of taking a longer route to allow the horse to respond and flex correctly into turns. Marie called attention to the need for the horse to wait for instruction from the driver, and not to be allowed to decide when to turn – usually ending in the vehicle contacting the obstacle.

Overall, it was an interesting weekend, held at an excellent venue. Thanks must go to the members of the Murrumbidgee Carriage Driving Club in association with the ACDS for their most capable organisation.