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

This article is a continuation of: Fanti's Progress - Part IV: A Three-Day Training Stint with Anja Beran

Max' View: Days…and Exercises…to Remember

While the idiom "too many cooks spoil the broth"‘ has certainly its entitlement in the horse world, I like to get new ideas from other trainers than my grand-father as long as they follow a common goal. So I was looking forward getting some new input from Germany’s renowned dressage trainer Anja Beran in June 2024.

Trailering a horse from non EU-member Switzerland to Germany meant some organization before our trip to Bavaria which took us 6 hours from Berne where Fanti is stabled. Luck would have it and the grey rainy summer continued and enabled my horse a relatively stress-free journey via Austria into Bavaria without sweltering in the heat which is otherwise usual for this time of the year. He settled in well into his box in Anja Beran’s guest-stable which he shared with two retired horses from Circus Krone.

Feeling at Home in the Exercises

Right from the start riding with Anja Beran meant "feeling at home" for me. Firstly because it cannot go unnoticed how much Anja loves dressage as a part of art and culture and not as a sport. This is what I also hold near and dear. Secondly, even though many of the exercises she asked us to do were not known to me in the combination she puts them, we were able to execute them without disgracing ourselves.

Different lateral movements, which constantly require a change of flexion and bent, are something we do at home every week and so Fanti did not get in trouble. But the intensity with which one followed the other and the comparatively short periods in which one flexion (or counter-flexion) and bend followed another one kept us completely on the toes in the first two of our four lessons, until we both got used to it.

Here Fanti amazed me once again. He is simply such an awesomely cooperative horse who always listens and tries his very best. His ears played constantly and he seemed to be asking all the time „What’s next?“. This is one aspect of Anja’s approach: The horses should not anticipate what is coming next, they should feel entertained and kept attentive all through the working phase by sequences of different exercises.

Down to Business

Lessons with Anja Beran are not a bit playing here and there, it is serious work from minute one to the last, though interrupted by a few short breaks to take a breather and reset the strained focus.

Beran’s teaching style completely reflects her approach to horsemanship: Academic, intellectual and always for the benefit of the horse whom she treats as a complete individual.

Of course this requires an enormous bunch of experience and knowledge, but also eagle-sharp eyes. Without ever having sat on my horse, it took Anja just a few minutes to detect all the weak spots we are working on in our daily training and she was not short of long-term solutions in form of suitable exercises to improve what is still difficult for us.

Having worked with my grand-father all my life and taking regular online lessons with the Cadre Noir’s former chief rider Colonel Christian Carde, Anja Beran has an approach was not completely new to me and within the line of these two great men. What was different and took some getting used to was the sequences of exercises and movements which were extremely thought out and methodic. It all followed the goal to straighten my horse and improve his mobility, therefore improve the balance and throughness. I had to focus from the first to the last minute and so had my horse. Despite this challenging work, Fanti never got tense, never got grumpy or resistant, in contrary: He was calm, focused and tried his hardest in all the lessons. It is the proof in the pudding for me that the work was just and well within his abilities.

On the Right Road

During our short stay I got so many new exercises for our training at home and I am convinced Fanti will profit from them a lot. Whereas this is one positive outcome from our stay at Anja Beran, the other is that it somehow also confirmed the way I have taken with Fantastico since May 2023. Because to make full profit from this fantastic training, horse and rider need to have reached a certain level: The horse needs to know the lateral movements, be able to be flexed and bent on both leads and have achieved a proper degree of balance through his training.

If you were to ask Fanti about his days in the middle of nowhere, he would certainly not complain about his lessons. For him the best part of our trip to Bavaria came after the work-outs each day: Having a huge lush field all for himself in which he spent running, rolling and grazing for some hours. Not doubt this was Fanti’s daily highlight in Bavaria.

To Come:  find out exactly which exercises Beran made Fanti do

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