I was very kindly invited to watch a Dressage Queensland-coordinated four day clinic with Jöern (Jörn) Kubelke, a leading rider for the Hanoverian Auction (Verden), which was held at the wonderful indoor arena at Pine Lodge Equestrian Park in Thornlands. Members of the Queensland State Squad, as well as the Queensland Young Rider Squad participated, and fence-sitters were encouraged to come and watch all the action.

Pine Lodge Equestrian Park was established some 29 years ago by the Wigan family (Lorette, Chantal, Velisia and Chris) and has held such prestigious events as World Cup show jumping, dressage CDIs as well as clinics with prominent instructors such as Mark Phillips, Rudolph Zeilinger, Dr Wolfgang Holtzel and Heath and Rozzie Ryan, to name but a few. The 51-acre property is run as a riding school as well as a function centre and Chantal tells me they are on the look out for a full-time instructor (a great opportunity for a dedicated trainer).

The indoor at Pine Lodge Equestrian Park.

I had the opportunity to speak to Jöern and he told me he began riding when he was eight years old starting with ponies and vaulting and progressed onto greater things such as training with the German team trainer, Holger Schmezer. Love of horses and riding runs in his family as his brother, Holger is also a professional rider.

Jöern, who looks years younger than his actual age of 38, has an impressive resume. Not only does he ride at the Hanoverian Auction, but he previously managed Arthur Kottas-Heldenberg’s private yard and is a Pferdewirtschaftsmeister (trainer of bereiters). He now runs his own private yard at Mulsumer Berg in Germany (www.joern-kubelke.de) where, with a staff of four including his wife Ulricha, he rides 10-12 horses a day.

When I asked if there were many differences in the German training system and the training system used at Kottas-Heldenberg’s barn (Kottas was the first training-instructor at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna) he said, “It was pretty much the same. All the horses were warmbloods except for two lipizzaners. Of course lipizzaners have a more natural talent for piaffe and are perhaps more naturally light, but the way we trained was very similar.”

Jöern’s first visit to Australia was in September last year and he was impressed with the high standard of horses we have here, “On my first trip I was very surprised to see the quality of horses here in Australia. You have some very good thoroughbreds and using warmblood stallions over these quality thoroughbred mares, is a positive thing for your breeding programs.”

Jöern himself doesn’t have a favourite ‘line’ of horses but mentioned Weltmeyer and Donnerhall offspring having very good movement and Rubinstein stock having very good temperaments and trainability. He also rates thoroughbred sires such as Prince Thatch, Laurie’s Crusader and Cardinal and acknowledges their significant contribution to German breeding programs.

He is an exceptionally polite and courteous gentleman as well as being a calm, softly-spoken instructor. He was extremely encouraging and focussed on the horses’ impulsion, suppleness and expression of the movements. There were no ‘quick fixes’ and he made sure the basics were truly established before progressing onto more demanding work.

“I first look for roundness, rhythm and activity from behind, which are part of the six building blocks of the ‘Training Scale’ (rhythm, suppleness, contact, impulsion, straightness and collection).”

In order to get roundness and ‘throughness’, some of the exercises he concentrated on included changes of tempo within a pace (medium-collection-medium-collection), travers on a circle and transitions, transitions, transitions! We spectators could definitely see improvement in the expression and engagement of the horses, and from the positive feed-back I received, the riders were delighted with the development and improvement in their horses’ way of going.

Jöern concluded by saying, “I hope I can give your riders good tips; bits and pieces to work with. We have a saying in Germany: ‘It is up to you to cook your own soup’ – I hope to give the riders here the correct ingredients to help them along.”

Many of the riders I had a chance to speak to were absolutely rapt with their lessons and are looking forward to Jöern’s next visit to our shores. I believe many thanks should go to Queensland dressage trainer and rider, Linda Schmerglatt for bringing Jöern to Australia and introducing us to this awe-inspiring instructor.

Joern Clinic – Day 1

Joern Clinic – Day 4

© Cyberhorse 2006 Tracy Mayhew