Fanti's Progress - Part IV: A Three-Day Training Stint with Anja Beran

-- Text and Photos © Silke Rottermann

In May 2023 Max Jaquerod, a Swiss amateur dressage rider, acquired the then 6-year-old Swiss bred warmblood gelding Fantastico (by Frascino) from the Swiss Army where the horse had spent the previous two years in their versatile training program.

An avid advocate of classical dressage principles, the 28-year-old medical doctor took his new equine partner back to the basics in order to build a solid foundation for the black gelding’s future dressage career. 

After one year in Max’ capable hands, "Fanti" has already developed into 'more horse' and started successfully up to elementary level, with medium as the season’s goal. Since the beginning of this new partnership Eurodressage accompanies the combination's journey, documenting problems and progress.

Silke's View: Matching Beran to Fanti

In February 2024 during the Burgtagung event I had the opportunity to watch German classical trainer Anja Beran work with German Grand Prix rider Uta Gräf on two of her advanced horses. What impressed me was Beran’s „x-ray vision“ and her well thought out exercises to work on weak spots she had detected - both extremely rare qualities in a dressage trainer. 

I shared my impressions with Fantastico’s rider, Max Jaquerod. Whereas Max has had his equestrian upbringing practically entirely by his grand-father, former Swiss cavalry school head and I-judge Pierre-Eric Jaquerod, he is well aware that some input from outside can only be beneficial "as long as the goal is the same in the end." So we emailed Anja Beran a request if Fanti could come for a few days training this year. 

The busy Beran actually had a few days available at the end of June and so for the first time in 15 months I did not need to cross the border to Switzerland, but instead headed to Germany’s south after the end of the work week to attend three of the training days.

In The Middle Of Nowhere…You Find Something Almost Extinct

After 5 hours on jam-packed motorways I crossed the tiny Bavarian village of Bidingen and right after the village exit a narrow street lead into the forest. On and on it went, passing by wood glades with cows grazing, deers now and then just a few metres away and no human being in sight. Luckily also no car because the street apparently was not constructed for another one.

After a few kilometers in nature’s beautiful solitude a kind of plateau opened and practically in the middle of nowhere Anja Beran’s Rosenhof facility came in sight, a building complex surrounded by multiple extensive fields. In this seclusion one of the world’s leading and most renowned classical trainers lives and works for over two decades now.

In the times we live it is certainly indispensable to add the term "classical" to clarify Anja Beran is strictly following the principles which once also dominated competition dressage. But dressage competition and classical dressage are not quite the same anymore. While we can complain a lot about the evolution of the former, in my opinion the latter is neither automatically a guarantee for good riding. Protagonists of „classicism“ can be led as astray for similar reasons than the often criticized protagonists of dressage competition, if exaggerated ambitions, business and ego get the upper hand.  These negative characteristics I did not find in Anja Beran and I found it very refreshing to experience.

Pot Pourri of Breeds, All Classically Trained

While I was at Rosenhof to follow Fantastico’s lessons and share them with you, I was also given the opportunity to watch Anja Beran and her small team train some of her truly very different horse types. There are Arabs from Marbach State Stud, warmbloods from Schwaiganger State Stud, two Franches Montagnes horses from the Swiss State Stud of Avenches, asnwell as Anja Beran’s two Akhal Teke stallions, her Iberian horses and „rescues“, like a former 160,000 euro auction horse who could not stand the training regime he was put under for his stallion test.

Horse types and characters could not be more different than what the 54-year-old Anja Beran was sitting on and probably the majority of them would not spark interest of dressage riders who entirely focus on dressage competition, as these horses lack the huge gaits or the „right“ breed dressage sport is looking for today. 

However, if you really want to see back movers who are balanced and therefore in true self-carriage, - characteristics of a horse trained classically, your admiration for Beran can only grow. That she is able to achieve truly developed impulsion and real collection with these less talented horses than we are used to in dressage competition is remarkable and entirely owed to honest and well thought out training.

Here, in the middle of nowhere, you can find something almost extinct today: A dressage trainer deeply rooted in classical principles who is able and willing to train each and every horse to a degree of true lightness, even in the most demanding High School movements.

For me it was highly educational to observe three lessons Fantastico took with Beran over that weekend in June in which the Bavarian’s x-ray-like, detective eyes not only assessed the 7-year-old weak spots in no time, but immediately had a whole bunch of horse-friendly exercises to work on them.

As a writer I think it is fascinating to follow a horse like Fanti over a longer period of time whose rider attempts the near impossible: Train and ride strictly classical and still face the modern dressage competition world with an average horse. It will be interesting to further follow the highs and lows along this way.

Continue reading: Fanti's Progress - Part IV - Training with Beran: Days and Exercises to Remember

Related Links
Fanti's Progress - What Good Dressage Training Can Do to a Horse
Fanti's Progress Part II: "The Rider Must Control Himself Before He Can Control His Horse"
Fanti's Progress - Part III: "Taking a Step Up While Refining the Basics"