Re-post: First Days of Bramall Dusche

This post is about my first few days EVER at Bramall-Dusche, unaware back then that it is the place I would go back to as many times a year as possible, and spend four months working there in 2012. It's interesting to read my first impressions, they weren't far off what the barn is really like but my understanding of the training system is so much greater now! Because I am now trying to instill a similar system (but MY system) in my students, I can see how hard it would have been for Leonie and Martin to teach it to me. Let me tell you, take takes quite a bit of yelling to really get the job done. Not because I endorse shouting when I teach, but because you need that extra push to actually get the right feel. The right feel is just over the yard line, but that yard line is all it takes for someone to give up... Like the quote:  "Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit at the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touchdown. -- Ross Perot This is what I have learnt over the past few years, and it is the most important lesson I've ever been taught. -----------------------------------------------------First Days of Bramall-Dusche I have finally conjoured up enough energy to write. From Tuesday, I started spending full days at 'Bramall-Dusche' and I am so tired! It seems I am often tired actually, but this time it is the real thing. On Tuesday night I got home and couldn't walk up the stairs, and then went I went to bed (at 7.30pm) I had to keep moving my legs and feet because the pain was targetted there when they were still. I'm not even working particularly hard, it's just that I'm so unfit! I was working twice as hard in England at Talland but that was back in June/July and since I left there I havn't done much 'horsey' stuff that is anything like spending all day at the stable and riding several horses. (To give you an idea, at Talland I was riding 7 horses a day, and here I am riding 3, both with stable work).
I think it's because here in Germany they really make you ride and stay on your case all the time... wether Leonie is just popping into the arena quickly or training piaffe, she will keep her eye on you and if she sees something she will help you. So will Martin (the berieter there) and Pia, a really good Canadian girl that has her three horses there. Everyone just helps! It's so great :)
Julius is going well and we are working on getting him flexible through the rib cage. Leonie is very big on that. He can move side to side like a snake but he doesn't actually bend through the spine and ribcage. Because Leonie is going to Vancouver to see her parents for next week, Martin has been giving me lessons so we are ready for when she isn't there. He is also really good and their teaching style is so similar. I havn't gotten far enough in training to really comment on improvements (3 days work?) but what I can say now is that it is all about forward, in front of the leg, focusing on what the horse is doing directly underneath your seat and their hind legs. It's what we have all known, but have never truly done it.
As well as riding Julius I ride a 3 year-old coloured mare who is realllly stiff and obviously green but it is good for me to ride her so I can learn to turn off my outside aids. Martin also teaches me on her and then gets on after me to make sure she feels okay, and today he said that he could see that I understood because today she felt softer and right in front of the leg and yesterday she wasn't so much. I also warm up a MASSIVE horse for Martin, though he is surprisingly sensitive.
I have so much more to say but I need to have dinner and Mum and Nan want to watch a DVD on the laptop. As for me? I'm going to bed! I will write a bit more tomorrow and fill you in bit by bit.