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- Isabell Werth rides Warum Nicht (Hannes) in competition. The pair won the 2007 World Cup.
- Photo by Barbara Schnell
The riding arena at WestWorld buzzes with curiosity early Saturday morning. From every corner of the United States, 650 auditors have converged in Scottsdale, Ariz., to learn the secrets of German Olympian Isabell Werth's countless victories. The mystery behind her successes and the controversy surrounding her low-and-deep training methods are soon to be unveiled at the U.S. Dressage Federation (USDF) National Symposium, March 30-April 1, 2001.
Little do attendees know how, at first, they will struggle to understand Werth's system. Nor do they know how the horses will evolve over two days as a result of her methods and techniques.
As the symposium gets underway, Werth's passion for each horse's improvement imprisons her, and nothing else matters. She directs her attention totally to the riders instead of to the audience. Schedule? "I need five more minutes," she tells the announcer when he calls for lunch. "Isabell, it's time to take a break," he says five minutes later. "Break? I don't need a break," she says, and her attention quickly returns to the rider: "Outside rein, outside rein," she says. Then she bellows: "I SAID OUTside rein!"
The morning ends with the audience feeling a tad neglected, the relationship between Werth and the announcer getting a little testy and the riders on lower-level horses feeling a bit confused about what Werth wants. But she presses on. She knows what she wants, and before long, the rest of the USDF contingency catches on. Patience. Patience.
Riding Deep and Chewing
"In the books, there's no advice on how you get to Grand Prix ... just on how it should look," Werth says before beginning the first riding session. She then asks Lenore Abbate of Scottsdale, Ariz., to take Tylord Farms 4-year-old Trakehner gelding, Icarus, rounder. It's a request she will repeat often to many of the riders over the two days. "Not every horse or rider needs to work deep," explains Werth. "But if the horse is in front of the vertical all the time, he may get blocked in the back with the hind legs behind, so it helps to make the horse rounder. The neck muscles become round because of the rider's low outside rein, but it is important that the head is not too close to the chest, which would lock him in the back," she warns. Werth has Abbate use her legs and back to engage Icarus so he can then swing over the back, through the neck and reach deliberately for the bit.
Specifically, Icarus and may of the other horses, are set up for success by riding walk-halt transitions on a 20-meter circle with the following conditions:
- Bend to the inside in a shoulder-fore position--drive with the inside leg and seat and push into the outside rein.
- Keep the horse straight with the outside rein.
- Maintain a consistent, soft contact . never dropping it.
- Allow hands that follow or "breathe" with the horse's mouth, keeping equal weight in each rein so the right hand always knows what the left hand is doing.
The purpose of this slow, deep riding, Werth explains, is not only to get the horse supple and loose, working trough the back and neck, but also to ask him to reach for the bit and chew. "Wait until he chews," is a frequent request of Werth's. Chewing the bit is the signal: it sets the stage for a good transition. "Chew and bend before each transition," she says to Ceinwen Rhys-Evans of Cave Creek, Ariz., riding Dale and Charyl Nieman's 5-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Merlin. "When he chews [meaning he comfortably is chewing on the bit, not playing with it nervously], you can be sure he comes from behind, swings and says 'yes' to his rider." (More on saying "yes" shortly).
Improve the Walk
"Mechanically, Isabell changed the way Julius walks," says Sue Halasz of Parker, Colo., on Janice Jaspers' 10-year-old Dutch gelding. "She wanted Julius to reach more, take more contact, walk with a longer stride and come over his back better. I was fascinated with the very specific process in the walk work. Julius can be sensitive in the double bridle, and I was happy she addressed the contact issue." Julius' tendency is the opposite form that of most horses at the symposium who are not coming through. Julius can be too deep so Werth wants him to push more against the bit. She advises Halasz to drive forward but use many rising "half stops"--or half halts that direct him upward--and she is very pleased with the results. "I think he is free and light, and the rider is not coming back with the hands in the half halts. It's very nice to see." Halasz is pleased, too. "The connection in the walk work carried through to the piaffe and passage work. Julius kept the connection and was able to maintain the energy in the piaffe and passage very easily because he was so accepting in the hand.
