October 20 – 22, 2023
NCEFT, Woodside
The San Francisco Peninsula Chapter of CDS was proud to host a clinic with Susanne von Dietze on October 20-22 at the NCEFT facility in Woodside. The clinic was well attended by both riders and auditors, with a full schedule each day. In addition, Susanne was kind enough to give a mounted demonstration on Saturday, with commentary during the ride. The SFP Chapter sponsored the clinic as a community educational event. Members audited for free and clinic rides were offered at a reasonable rate.
The video of Susanne’s demo ride is free to view.
Watching the clinic, I was able to see a marked improvement in each of the rides, with often simple body and breathing adjustments from Susanne. I appreciated her understanding of the horse’s point of view, and how the rider influences (or hampers) the horse’s movement and balance. She was able to quickly pinpoint problem areas and provide simple remedies, many of which I took away to practice on my own horse.
Karen Bertrand, clinic organizer, recounts her excitement at discovering Susanne and taking part in the clinic as a rider:
“One of the silver linings of Covid was access to teachers and classes through technology. A barn friend pointed me to the online classes Susanne was offering and I was totally hooked. Her approach is both as a physiotherapist and classically trained dressage rider with a family tradition of riding. Her father was in the cavalry during WW II and trained directly with the classical masters of the era. Her teaching often includes stories of learning to ride with her father which are both humorous and serious. For example, you don’t want to be the person who deviates from the perfect 20M circle line after the arena has been dragged.
In 2021 SFP offered an online series with Susanne focused on the breath: Breathing and Riding which was well received and oversubscribed. The next year we were able to host Susanne in person where she gave an evening lecture with an outdoor dinner hosted by SFP at NCEFT. Also well attended by the equestrian community: we had eventers, show jumpers and juniors. Susanne explained her Balance in Movement approach based upon the fundamentals of Balance, Suppleness, and Rhythm. These three qualities are the basis for all riding and training.
In spite of world events Susanne was able to teach our clinic hosted at NCEFT this year. We had three full days of lessons with a highlight of Susanne’s demonstration ride on Saturday clearly illustrating correct posture, rider form and body mechanics, alignment and how it affects the horse to go forward, move well and cooperate.
The viewing stand was full and again brought people from the broader equestrian community and few special guests we were happy to see. Auditors were treated to tea, snacks and home baked goods a barn mate brought each day (apple pie bars, apricot ginger bars and more).
I’m looking forward to riding with Susanne again in the near future, in the meantime, I’m working on keeping my seat bones still and my hips flexible.”
Beatriz Infante, riding with Susanne for the first time, shares her takeaways from the clinic:
“The clinic was awesome! Suzanne really identified where my rider position could improve, and gave me wonderful visualizations to help me make the changes in position subconscious vs having to verbally keep reminding myself of the change needed.”
The SFP Chapter looks forward to bringing this popular clinician back to California in the near future. Until then, Susanne’s 2 books and DVDs are an excellent resource: Balance in Movement: the Seat of the Rider, and Back to Back: Establishing a Mobile, Stable Core in the Saddle.
- Kari Browne