American Grand Prix dressage rider Lisette Milner is returning to her home base Morningside Farm in Wellington , Florida , after having trained with Ernst Hoyos in Germany for 18 months.
When Milner packed herself and her three horses in the late spring of 2003, it was just supposed to be for the summer months. However, she was having the experience of a life time and could not pass up the opportunity to train longer with Hoyos, who is based at Gerd Knoop’s Gestüt Höftehof in Meppen , Germany .
Milner was fortunate enough to be accepted by Ernst Hoyos as his student. The former Spanish Riding School trainer is very strict in taking on new students and is currently only working with the world’s best, such as Olympic team bronze medallist Lisa Wilcox and many other top European riders. He has also coached Ulla Salzgeber and Rusty to Olympic gold and individual silver.
“I have learned so many things, but what has been really stressed is that the rider’s position is everything,” Milner said. “If the position of the rider is good, the horse will go well. I learned to understand and listen to my horse. You have to feel the back and the hind legs and listen to what the horse’s mind and body is telling you. This Ernst Hoyos stressed more than any other trainer.”
Milner’s European journey is coming to end mid October 2004, when she’s flying herself and her horses Eminence, Lorenzo’s Fire and Solaris home. She will return to her beautiful new Morningside Farm in Wellington , Florida , to start another chapter in her life as a new and improved dressage rider and teacher.
Milner is glad to be going home, but realises what she will leave behind. “I will surely miss my trainer Ernst and Gerd Knoop, who has been my manager at horse shows. Without him I would have been lost in translation. I also loved the European life style. In Europe , every weekend there is something going on with horses, whether it’s a show, or an auction. But I’m happy to go home again to my husband, who has supported me the entire time I was in Europe . I miss my husband and my American life. I miss my ‘home’.”
Lisette Milner will be back in Florida mid October 2004 and has planned to compete her horses Eminence (KWPN, by Burggraaf x Santa Luigi xx) and Lorenzo’s Fire (KWPN, by Zuidhoorn x Bismarck ) in the Grand Prix during the 2005 Dressage in Florida show circuit.
Milner has a limited amount of stalls available at her Morningside Farm in Wellington for riders who wish to train with her and prepare themselves for the upcoming Florida show season. Her students will be able to share in the knowledge Lisette has gathered from riding and competing with Ernst Hoyos in Europe .
Images copyrighted: Mary Phelps/Phelpsphotos
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