Philippe Karl

I got a Philippe Karl DVD for Christmas, yipee :)

I was introduced to Philippe Karl by a trainer named Peter Lindell, a man I respect and admire hugely. I only had the chance to train with him twice, in week-long intensive courses at his riding center, and yet he is undeniably the most influential and inspirational trainer I've ridden with. Peter is no longer riding or training after a severe stroke a year and a half ago, but I strive toward carrying his principles on in my own riding and training.

Peter drew a lot of inspiration from Philippe Karl, so through him I'm familiar with the techniques and principles presented in the DVD. Peter's horses were trained by these principles, and the were truely a dream to ride - I would love to achieve a similar feel in Barokko. Watching the DVD refreshed my understanding of the concepts, and I've decided to work toward a thorough understanding of the theory behind his training system in order to implement it in my training of Barokko.

After watching the DVD twice last night, the second time taking notes I couldn't wait to get started :) This morning I cleaned up my notes, ran through the theory again, and added illustrations. At the barn M and I ran through everything one more time before getting our horses. We let them run around a bit in the outdoor arena before bridling them, and playing with some basic work from the ground - bit acceptance and bend at the halt and walk. At first Barokko was easily distracted by passing cars etc, but after about 10 mins work he became super focussed and concentrated. At one point while we were walking on a circle a very noisy truck passed by, squealing its brakes just on the other side of the hedge, and Barokko passaged 3-4 steps without breaking contact and then settled right back down to work ;)

A few hours later I brought him into the indoor and hopped on without a saddle, repeating the exercises we had done from the ground. He responed really really well. I was really amazed to feel such a clear reation from him so soon.

So this is definitely worth trying out! Now if I could just find a Philippe Karl style trainer to work with :/