We arrive in the Frankfurt, Germany, airport four hours late because our flight from Philadelphia, Pa., was sidelined for repairs. From the airport in Frankfurt our rental car takes us in jet-lagged fashion to the town of Paderborn and the stable of Hubertus Schmidt (Fleyenhof) two hours north. We are, of course, late so we don't get to see Herr Schmidt ride. Some of the other riders are good but not better than many Americans so we're disappointed in day one.
We are also there to pick up my student, Katie Alms, who has been with Herr Schmidt for a long stay with her horse, Roodepoort II. She will join us on this horse shopping tour. My other students who are horse shopping are good amateur riders. Molly is very tall and looking for a schoolmaster. Denise is looking for a younger horse than her 13-year-old Remy Martin.
From Paderborn, we drive to the stable of Klaus and Judith Balkenhol. They have a beautiful stable. The dressage arena is set amongst the flowers with the elegant indoor arena attached. It is periodically pouring rain so the indoor is where we settle.
We may or may not buy a horse here, but we know we will see the best riding here. We also trust them, which is an important factor. It is one of many factors to consider when shopping.
First, there are all the left-brain factors. Is the horse the right size? Is he sound? Does he have three good gaits? (They needn't be flashy, but the rhythm of all three gaits must be good.) Is he safe? Does the rider feel confident? Sometimes the confidence factor isn't totally related to safety. Maybe the horse acts fresh and it bothers the rider or maybe it does not bother the rider. Most young horses act fresh at times when they might not have a go button which is the worst problem. The good horses have a great go button but they often need to learn about half halts and whoa. If the rider needs to constantly use the aids to make the horse go, she can't use them to make transitions and exercises. Then the rider always needs to push instead of being carried.
There is another factor that is totally chemical. Sometimes you just love a horse. Sometimes a horse meets all the left-brain requirements but for some reason he is not fun and you don't feel confident. even though he is beautiful and young and safe and sound--and within the price range, which is another left brain consideration of course.
The Balkenhols show us beautiful horses and invite us to ride even the horses we can't afford. The best experience was watching their daughter Anabel riding her Grand Prix horse. This is, for sure, the best experience we will have on our trip!
Denise rides a 7-year-old very well, and Molly tries an older schoolmaster that was Guenter Seidel's horse in his hay day. The horse is wonderful, but Molly doesn't feel confident on him.
We have a noon appointment with Helen Langehangenberg who was, for years, Ingrid Klimke's assistant trainer. We have been struggling with our GPS system which refuses to speak anything but German no matter how many times we program it to speak English. We have managed so far, but Helen's farm is remote ,and we give up and turn to Katie's iPhone. We blindly trust this little machine as it takes us here and there, and finally to an extremely remote road that can better be described as a bike path through a dark forest. Trees are hitting the roof of our Passat when we decide we should turn around. Then as we are turning around, we see large buildings looming through the forest. The fact of the matter is that this phone has taken us the closest route to Helen's farm, which is a small back entrance from which we can see the grand front entrance. They are amazed to see us arrive through this little gate.
There are 150 horses at this stable, a small percentage of them are with Helen and her new husband, Sebastian Heinz. He tells us that he has taken his new wife's last name, so he is Sebastian Langehanenberg. Helen is tiny but rides so correctly that she is wonderfully influential with the horse's balance. She rode Ingrid's Damon Hill in the Young Horse Championships as a 6-year-old when Ingrid was injured. They won. Sebastian is a good rider too, although today he walks with a limp, and other good riders ride for him.
