German junior and young riders team trainer Hans-Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen likes it the old-fashioned way: discipline, obedience and manners. There will be no success without effort and based on the successes of the German youth riders, he seems to be quite right. Gabriele Pochhammer, editor in chief of ST.GEORG, interview HHMZS on his views on training youth riders.
ST.GEORG: in your opinion in what way has youth sport changed the past few years ?
HHMZZ: Ten years ago we mainly had young riders on experienced schoolmasters. Today you see more riders who have trained their own horse up the levels. Of cours the quality of the horses has improved through breeding, especially the gaits, beauty and elasticity.
ST.GEORG: How do the riders older than 21 make the transition to the big sport?
HHMZS: The under 25 riders are scouted and Jurgen Koschel is appointed as trainer for them. Of course it's easier when the parents have good home trainers, but those who are just put on top of a ready-made horse, they usually don't make the long-term transition to the top.
ST.GEORG: Good horses, good trainers. That's expensive. Doesn't success depend on the wallet of the parents in the first place?
HHMZS: That's the problem area. It has to be possible in Germany to promote talented riders without a strong financial background. That area is still pretty dead here. Madeleine Winter-Schulze, Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff, they do a lot. I'm convinced there are more people out there who are willing to do the same.
ST.GEORG: When an owner gives a horse to a young rider for training and the horse becomes good, than it will also become very expensive and often sold. How do these young riders have to deal with that?
HHMZS: This is the reality. I understand the pain. The rider made the horse more valuable and a part of their personal life goes away. I experienced it personally, but one learns to deal with such things. Joy and extreme pain lie closely together.
ST.GEORG: In your job you also come across ambitious parents. How do you deal with that?
HHMZS: The children have to rely on their parents for transport. It's amazing how much money is invested in lorries. At the Preis der Besten one hardly gets to see a normal car with a two-horse trailer. I always tell people: "first buy a good horse." The young riders have to learn to train their horses themselves. Today these kids are no longer schooled in a versatile way. When I asked them to sit in two-point and canter a round full speed, they are killing themselves.
ST.GEORG: What can you do against it?
HHMZS: I try to give good advise. When, for instance, a junior rider's horse gets injured, the parents immediately want to buy a new horse with which the girl can ride at the top again straight away. I tell them to buy a good young horse instead because with an old horse they are happy for two years. With a young horse, which their daughter trained herself, there is more in it for the long-term.
ST.GEORG: Do people listen to your advise?
HHMZS: Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. You're much more occupied with parents who haven't a clue. I'm often amazed at what they are put up with and how they are tricked in the horse world. Often many of those parents are seasoned professionals in business life, but in the horse world they are helpless.
ST.GEORG: Do you get the parents involved in your training advise?
HHMZS: We invite the parents to give them a realistic view on where their child is at. There are a lot of figments of the imagination and it would be wrong to confirm those. We have to support the power of the parents by steering them in the right direction.
ST.GEORG: You sound so strict?
HHMZS: There is no other way. The young people I deal with are performance athletes and not recreational riders. I tell the parents: "I expect obedience and discipline from your daughter." That means that they have to be mentally strong and be able to cope with stress. You have to see early enough whether a child is willing to work on that and if s/he has the the mind-set for it.
ST.GEORG: Has much changed since the time you were a young rider?
HHMZS: Society has changed. The mind-set "I may reach something, but maybe not" doesn't work if you want to achieve something in sport. Only the horse show situation can show if a rider has got the guts to really make it. One rider will improve by the stressful conditions, the other won't. Of course as trainer I have to know which one I have to coach more and which one less. I had a rider once who always blamed the others or the weather conditions when something didn't work out. If the horse spooked in a corner in the warm up ring, she would only focus on that corner. I raised my voice then and told her to focus on herself instead. It worked and the test went reall well. This shapes people.
We are also responsible for these young kids and guide them in their education. Unfortunately many don't seem to have been learnt manners. I have to make clear that I don't won't to be on a first-name basis with them and that I won't allow constant chit chatting on cell phones and that it's not forbidden to say "good morning". Boots have to clean, the girls have to tie their long hair together and hands don't belong in the pockets of their pants. We are not in the military but I am a bit stubborn in desiring some basic discipline.
ST.GEORG: Have you ever sent anyone home?
HHMZS: Almost. One girl with a good horse was working it the rollkur-way, nose on chest, even though it was said that we don't want to see that in our training sessions. No reaction. I tell the girl to go in walk and continue her work. Again the same. I think I've never yelled so hard in my life. I felt sorry for it afterwards. I told her to dismount and leave the arena. I told her to go home. Then the mother came and she tried to negotiate. I allowed the girl to ride one more time the next day and behold, everything was ok.
ST.GEORG: Apparently as pony team trainer you once didn't allow a pony rider to go to the German championships because she was too fat. Is this right?
HHMZS: Yes that is right. The child was so fat, it just didn't look good and neither the parents, nor the child wanted to realise that. I told them I'm not taking these tons on the road. We had a huge fall-out and they filed a complaint, but at the end the directors of the federation judged in my favour. The sport requires a good condition, a basic fitness which many children nowadays no longer have. I also notice that from the people who come on holiday training sessions in Hoya (HHMZS' home stable). In the old days the kids were up to no good, nowadays they sit around playing with their cell phones for hours. Now we offer them a rider's sport medal on those holidays. The riders on the team have understood that top performance requires a proper fitness level.
-- Interview by Gabriele Pochhammer, translation Eurodressage
Photos © Barbara Schnell - Astrid Appels
Related Links
Meyer zu Strohen and Rassolini Win 2010 Nurnberger Burgpokal Finals in Frankfurt
FEI Endorsed Young Horse Seminar and Judges Course to be Held at 2011 Bundeschampionate
Poetin and Fürst Heinrich, 2003 World Young Dressage Horse Champions
