Brett Parbery Masterclass at Devon 2024: On Mental Relaxation and the Modern Dressage Frame

Training

Training Your Horse

-- Dressage at Devon press release, edited by Eurodressage

Australian Grand Prix rider Brett Parbery made his long-awaited debut at Dressage at Devon for a Masterclass on Thursday evening 26 September 2024.

Parbery was joined by five demo riders and their respective mounts. Having grown up in Australia on a ranch learning horsemanship from his father, Parbery has a teaching style and philosophy which both the riders, exhibitors, and other classically trained dressage enthusiasts had never experienced before. But equally one that was unanimously agreed upon as refreshing and most importantly – effective.

"Dressage is like Politics"

“Dressage is like politics,” Parbery said. “There’s a left, and there is a right.” Parbery learned the rules before he could break them training with the likes of Ulla Salzgeber, Edward Gal and other top European dressage trainers in his early career. Having been raised in horsemanship and in Western disciplines and ultimately converting to dressage, Parbery’s philosophy differs from most European and North American dressage training philosophies, but it was one that took many of the riders by surprise with its efficacy.

Each rider commented on the “low-pressure” environment that Parbery was able to make even while riding in the “electric” Dixon Oval stadium. Parbery encouraged the riders to let their horses make mistakes rather than save them when they had a bobble or needed guidance.

Relaxation Tricks

This inviting method of teaching proved helpful to the first demo rider in the ring, Kamden Perno. Perno brought Montenegro, a 7-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, the youngest horse in the field.

“He is even more relaxed now going back. He just feels confident,” Perno said of his young mount. “For a young horse, I think to be in that type of a pressure setting, it was so helpful to be able to take that pressure off and really focus on the horse you have and build their confidence to get to that point, and go back to the basics.”

“I think Brett really set him up for success,” he continued. “To be able to go into the ring, into that high pressure scenario – it’s really those basics in that environment that set you up.”

Eliane Cordia-Van Reesema and Jewel’s Codiak were one of the more accomplished pairs in the field successfully competing at the Grand Prix level. The goal of their session was to get both horse and rider to relax.

“He taught me some new tricks to get him to relax that are very different from what I’ve been doing,” she stated. “And sometimes you have those mind blowing moments. And he definitely had a couple where that was the case, and I directly felt it in my horse which is the biggest reward. I loved it.”

Western Dressage

In addition to traditional Dressage riders, Parbery had the opportunity to work with Western Dressage rider, Lorna Nagel, who brought Quarter Horse gelding, Night Deposit Nic, to demonstrated the discipline of Western Dressage.

“And I’m such a firm believer in dressage and what it does for the horse, that I was excited that we could offer something to the Western riders that wasn’t putting their horse’s noses on the ground and crippling them,” stated Nagel.”You know, we have an opportunity now for them to do something that’s correct, and good fundamentally for the horse.”

Pony at Grand Prix Level

Lauren Chumley also brought a unique ride with her for the demonstration, Nikolas, a German Riding Pony Gelding. Though he was the smallest mount in the field, Nikolas schools Grand Prix level and demonstrated some of the most advanced skills. But, Parbery brought it back to the basics, recognizing that Lauren’s main focus needed to be the execution of simple tasks.

“I ride a lot of young horses, so I’m like, good enough,” she stated. “So it was actually really helpful to fine tune things, because that’s where I struggle as a rider.”

The Modern Dressage Frame

Anna Keenan McPhee and Mr. Mister were the 5th demonstration pair, and the one that Parbery took his controversial stance talking about the modern dressage frame.

“I mean, I understand where people come from when they are not very flexible about the pole being the highest point,” he stated. “I understand that because it is a visual thing, but sometimes the horses have to be a little rounder. And that’s why I made a point. It’s not a rider pulling the horse rounder. It’s a rider inviting the horse to relax rounder over their back and in that process the beautiful neck shape that can become the whole highest point when the horse relaxes over the back the nose will sometimes come behind the vertical.”

“I want to educate, I think to be honest, not just me, but all of the top riders in the world and the less knowledgeable public to understand that yes, we can all see behind the vertical, but there’s bad behind the vertical and there’s good behind the vertical. And providing the neck shape is fine and it’s not forcing the horse down, it’s actually good because you’re getting the back to relax.”

Parbery, who is known for his Parberyisms handed off wise words of wisdom for our five demonstration riders, who are heading home to continue working on his teachings and takeaways.