Richard Weis is a name anyone who wishes to excel in any equestrian discipline should learn, remember and look for - this Australian has taken the European world of dressage by storm as he helps riders make changes they never thought possible from a perspective they had never thought of before!

My first contact with Richard Weis was back some 15 years ago when my daughter began having riding lessons with an English woman, Jacqui Baker, in Lysterfield, Victoria, Australia - Jacqui was fascinated by my daughter's posture which was better than most 10 year olds and also the fact that this child understood the "games" Jacqui would play with her students to get them "to sit tall with a balloon attached to their heads to keep them nice and straight" - the answer was simple - both were students of the Alexander Technique! My daughter, a musician, was taught the Alexander Technique to assist her violin playing and Jacqui was being taught by one Richard Weis for the purpose of improving her dressage - at the time many, in the horseworld, thought both Jacqui and Richard were "crackpots" as to a large extent the Alexander Technique was a well kept secret, largely among the performing arts community.

But being thought of as a "crackpot" did not bother Richard one bit as he was convinced that this was going to make a huge difference to riders and their horses - he has been proven so right and is now the toast of Europe where he is in huge demand on the lecture tour circuit, with his lectures filling almost as soon as ticket boxes are opened!

And again Richard is proving to be an innovator in the sport - he has organised a world wide lecture via the world wide web, in real time and invites all those interested in improving their riding from the pleasure rider through to the International riders in ALL disciplines to join him in this incredible adventure.

For the full story on how to join this world event click here.

For those who have never had the pleasure and honour of listening to one of Richard's lectures then read on - he writes with the same passion and sparkle as he speaks and there is no "high brow pomposity" about what he says - his message is as easily understood by the 10 year old child having difficulty with their pony as by the Olympic medal winning Dressage rider - and his dream and desire is to get the showjumpers on board as well as the eventers as he wants to make the world of competition better for both horse and rider so read on......................

Richard writes of his September 2004 tour.......


We'll start with a quiz. Holland has two queens, both like to ride, one is about to celebrate 25 years reign, the other one is expecting an heir whose first dressage gold medal was ridden inutero. Sorry, no prizes for guessing queen number two. Anky, her most highness, was the main attraction at the Horse Event at Deurna last weekend.

The other main attraction was the first national finals of the brand new Sit Competition, a grass roots initiative of the KNPS (Royal Dutch Association of Riding Schools). Held over two days, valiant spirits launched themselves onto strange horses with strange saddles and presented themselves to the judges whose job it was to assess the best sitting riders.

I was asked to judge. Please don¹t tell anyone I've never really judged anything important in my life before. I did, however accept the role of technical adviser to the judges' which afforded me first right to duck in case of lobbed hostilities from instructors, relatives and friends of low ranking place getters.

I must take some responsibility here. I did write guidelines on how to appraise the riders for this competition. Three coaches, Tineke Bartels, Wim Bonhof , Inga Janssen-Bouwmeester toured the riding schools presenting these guidelines to kick start the competitors.

For my sins I was sent forth after each class as "diplomatic commentator" on behalf of the jury to make non specific appraisals of what I may have felt about what I could have seen. Careful not to pre- empt the judges decisions. Nice!

What a job the judging was. I had no idea it would be so difficult. After taking into account balance, movement and stability issues there was the horses. Big ones, little ones, almost lame ones, fresh ones, and lots just lazy! And then the saddles, all purpose saddles, but what purpose. No good at all for sitting trot.

The riders rode, 4 at a time, the judges judged and I advised, so did Tineka Bartels in the finals. Tineka and I didn't have to write a mark between 5 & 8 for hands, the lower leg, seat etc, we just looked to see if we could find the rider we¹d most like to take home to ride our own horses. As technical adviser I had my own way, when there was a question about a placing, the judges took my advice. The hospitality is impeccable here in Germany's clever, troublesome little neighbour.

First they snaffled the breeding and made more rigorous testing procedures, now they¹ve snaffled the Rider Test but have applied it to the grass roots level. They¹ve adopted a revised Dutch edition of the German Principles of Riding as the primary manifesto. They have Anky fulltime snaffling Gold medals when you least expect it and Jo Hinnemann part time training the troops. As well, they host the only legitimate pioneering event, guiding the future of our sport The Global Dressage Forum. (The Australian Equestrian press will see fit tell you all about that one day, when the time is right!) All that from a population you'd fit comfortably on Ayres Rock without complaints of overcrowding.

This is just a fleeting visit for me. Seven lecture demonstrations at the Horse Event. They went well. There was little time to savour the moment. Yesterday I did two lectures, 12 lessons, and a photo shoot in the drizzling rain with Imke Shellekens-Bartels riding Lancet pictured below. Two photographers directed the proceeding one for Dressage Today USA (look out for a feature article early in '05) and one for a proposed book for the Academy. By late last night 500 odd photos had been sifted through, 12 chosen and I was geschnickered which is a "disoriented state of jelly like immobility" I'm quickly getting used too.

Today was a delight, an official day off. A morning of lessons with the top riders at the Academy including Imke. What a joy it is to work with such intelligent, committed individuals. Very refreshing!

This afternoon I spent a good deal of time inspecting hedges. The Dutch are masterful hedge growers and trimmers. Often they form a veritable maze in a tiny front garden, overseen by non other than the Virgin Mary herself in replica. No pissing concrete water features. Water is not a novelty here, is my conclusion after a day off!

To our surprise and delight 400, mostly instructors, turned up to the headquarters of the KNHS (Royal Dutch Equestrian Federation) at Wanroy last Saturday. The day was planned to start with a two hour lecture and so it did. Unfortunately the lecture hall only takes 200 so I was faced with the daunting task of addressing the multitudes from the wide open spaces of the riding hall and what a crowd it turned out to be. I told them dressage training is like dancing the Tango and they really liked that. The story of how the man leads and the woman follows seamlessly, improvised steps stirred by rousing music and the mysteriously interactive alchemy of mood and energy.

young girl standing by was his daughter but when he left she was still there.

Floods of tears and a heart wrenching story of striving, courage and determination blurted forth. About 11 years old, own pony but the blighter just won¹t stop. What do you do when your pony won¹t stop and you are scared stiff. "Have you got a good instructor?" "Yes I think so" "What does he say to do?" "Turn the whip upside down and hit him". "And what does your pony do?" "He goes faster and I get really scared". By now I could cry! OK sit down lets see if we can find some things you might try. Now just who was it said the basics aren¹t important.

The KNHS was happy, they made money. I was happy I got an invite back. The crowd was happy they asked heaps of great questions, good ones too like "why do so many riders tuck their seats under so far". Good question? It came up again at another KNHS gig this time the Bundes trainers. The top 50 professional trainers in the country. I had a half day in a bigger program largely targeting a talent project supported by the Rabobank and administered by heavy weight talent scouts like Marlies and Coby van Baalen, the Bartels dynasty, Anky and her major protege Edward Gal etc.. In fact it was Edward who sparked the question, a brilliantly talented and successful rider with a style of his own, very tucked under but also very soft, feeling, and balanced. You wouldn¹t want to copy the first bit, the rest was beautiful to watch even on XXL a giant of a horse and a tough one to motivate.

I felt the session went really well. Two of the demonstration riders were very complicated physically, crooked! Not easy to work with for any instructor. Of course Dressage is the art of taking one crooked body and putting it on top of another crooked body and making them both straight. I gave them my definition and launched in boots and all. The crowd went very quiet and very tame and finished on that note. According to Imke the professionals needed a week to digest what they'd seen and then the questions would start and go on for a week. Through the applause I think I heard the sound of one hand clapping.

What a trip it's been. Today I¹m in an apartment in Amsterdam overlooking the harbour and the central railway station. Sally (ed note: Richards's wife) and I stayed here last year. I¹ll remember that as I head off through the red light district looking for a nice bit of Chinese later.

The apartment belongs to George and Caroline Schoots the proud parents of Lotje. Last year Lotje got me into a bit of a pickle on account of her talent.. I worked with her at the Horse Event and was so impressed I asked her to be my demonstration rider at the Global Dressage Forum. Arthur Kottas was my example of the ideal and Lotje was there to show my methodology. 300 of the best riders, trainers and journalist in the Dressage world saw she hadn¹t slipped back a bit and I was faced with a bright young student with a near perfect seat to improve. Woops! Lotje's had a good year on her Fhillipo. She is European Junior champion, Dutch Junior champion and according to her dad won every national and international competition.

I met and de-briefed with Claartje van Andel, friend, translator and celebrated writer and journalist. She handed me a signed copy of The Simplicity of Dressage with Jo Hinnemann and Coby van Baalen.(I highly recommended you read it.)

Claartje told me quite a story. We were talking about how horses get such a hold on the hearts of some of us. She said a tribe of journalist in Athens went to the practise arenas where Anky and Ulla were riding at the same time between the Special and the Kur. Ulla was really riding, like a trainer, Rusty was getting more than just a tune up, he revved til his boiler was busting. Anky on the other hand was having a day off. Bit of a trot, bending this way and that smiling - horse and rider smiling according to Claartje. No one knew she was pregnant then. No one had any doubt about who'd be taking home the gold either.

So there you go, my adventures in the Netherlands 2004.I am not presenting at Global Dressage Forum this year. That was a once in a life time experience. Now, all warm and fuzzy, my work is becoming beautifully integrated and I'm heading back to Oz for a good sit and a pant. Got to get ready for next year. Joep Bartels tells me it will be a big trip!

Richard, pictured left, in "full flight" during a teaching demonstration for 50 of the top trainers in the Netherlands at the Wanroy for the KNHS Royal Dutch Equestrian Federation Sept'04.

In the above piece Richard makes comment about the Australian Equestrian Press - sadly it is true that most of the best Australia has to offer are sadly not appreciated, nor publicised in their country of origin but through Richard's extensive lecture tours in Europe many are becoming better and better thanks to