Belgian born German trainer Jan Bemelmans was the keynote speaker at the 2009 KBIS British Dressage Convention. Held at Addington Manor Equestrian Centre in Buckinghamshire 31 October and 1 November 2009 the convention was a fantastic opportunity to learn from one of the world’s greatest trainers.
Universally respected Bemelmans has lead Spain to team and individual Olympic medals and is regularly asked to demonstrate his training methods at events around the world. He put the British top riders through their paces, encouraging them to draw out the best of their horses over two fascinating days.
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Jean works with Carl Hester on Uthopia, 8 yr. old, DWB, Level: I1/S/Advanced-This is a fabulous demonstration of an advanced international medal winning rider and an extremely talented, top quality horse. Forward and back with the canter half pass, to gain ultimate control and hind leg engagement, moving on to the canter half pass zig zag. A good visual of what super 1 tempi's with relaxation, jump and throughness look like. They move on to preparation for the canter pirouettes, first getting the horse to really sit, engage, use the hind end through various exercises that you will see.
Jean works with Maria Eilberg on Torino 9 yr. old DWB, at PSG/S/Advanced- the focus is on getting the horse to be obedient to the aids. After which Jean works with Maria on forward and back elasticity, getting her to really ask for more collection, allowing her to go a bit farther than the comfort zone, which sometimes is necessary to understand where we can go with continued controlled learning, so we can work towards advancement. Another key learning within this combination that one can take away, is when we ask for forward and get canter, we go to shoulder in to get them to come back to the gait you were working in, thus canter is difficult to sustain in shoulder in which is why this can work.
Jean works with Emile Faurie who has represented the Great Britain at World, European and Olympic levels. Emile rides Samba Hit III, 6 yr. old Hanoverian, at 3rd/M/Medium-getting the horse to use his body differently, playing with different frames, to get him to really use his back and engage the hind leg. Jean also discusses the importance of getting this young stallion to accept, getting this acceptance by continuing to apply the leg time and again, even when the horse is pushing back, until we gain the control, to say, you must be obedient and then we have an easy life. In this video they use a shoulder in feeling to quicken up the hind leg and this is very easy to see the outcome and how they are accomplishing this.
Jean works with Amy Stovold on MacBrian, 12 yr. old SWB x Briar, Level: I2, S, Advanced-Jean works with Amy quite a bit in the beginning demonstrating the reasons why long and low is so beneficial. You can see the movement through the back, the relaxation, the ability to supple. Work is done in piaffe and passage with more development of the piaffe, which is a bit slow behind. To fix this Jean has her piaffe in shoulder in, which quickens up the hind leg and betters the movement. Regarding the transition to passage, Jean helps them make this smoother by simply thinking about letting him out a little in front and not thinking "transition".
Jean works with Lara Griffith on Dawning Hopes, 12 yr. old DWB x Blue Hors Silvermoon, Level: I1, S, Advanced- Jean works with Lara on the shoulder in and half pass keeping the proper forward and bend within the movements. Additionally, he helps her think "uphill" from the withers, keeping the horse in front of her. With Lara, you can very much see the importance of using the core, to collect, to half halt, to RIDE!
They then move on to tempi change work and Jean explains why 3's can actually be more difficult than 1's.
Jean rides Lanciero, 12 yr. old, GP/S/Advanced Level-Watch as Jean works with this very energetic horse on getting relaxation, time and again. Learn how Jean thinks about himself as the rider and how he tries to understand the horse so they may work together to achieve their goals. He works alot with the tempi changes, which can be tight and tense, see how he tries to bring relaxation into the movement for a more correct picture. Jean also works in piaffe and passage with a focus on the transition between. Excellent video for the FEI level rider or anybody wanting to better capture and understand what a top master feels in his own ride and how that too can apply to you and your ride.
The world famous Jan Bemelmans was born in Belgium, at 17 moved to Germany, became a Reitmeister, an accolade given to riders who have successfully trained 50 or more horses up to International Grand Prix level. Jean is National Trainer for the Spanish Team, coaching to team silver at the 2002 World Championships, the 2003 European Championships and the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Although educated in the classical German way Bemelmans trains with an open mind, always taking into consideration the needs and character of the horse to develop him as a happy athlete.
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