Keep your wrists and joints soft and breathe into the circles as you work. Breathing in rhythm with the circles will help you maintain a softness in your fingers, hand, arm and shoulder. As with all TTouches, keep the contact complete by keeping both hands on your horse. If you are doing circles with your right hand, for example, lightly rest your left hand on the horse to complete the connection.
The Clouded Leopard TTouch can be done over the horse's entire body, including the tail, hindquarters, legs and hooves. Stay away from the most sensitive spots.
While Klimke's sessions with the lower-level horses at the LAEC was truly remarkable, it is but a small sample of his knowledge and talent. Riding for Germany, Klimke won six gold and two bronze medals in dressage at the Summer Olympics--a record for equestrian events.
This article first appeared in the May 1999 issue of Dressage Today. Klimke died in 1999. For copies of articles, email Dressage.Today@EquiNetwork.com.
