Aspiring young dressage riders ready for Robert Dover

Robert’s advice will likely include the tip that if you really want to explore the craft you might want to pay a visit to the library.

Robert was discovered, age 15, at a pony club rally in Florida by Colonel Bengt Ljungquist and he was advised by his mentor to read the classics such as ‘The complete training of a horse and rider’ by Alois Podhajsky. Robert, who remembers he was ‘so inquisitive’ also relied on two ‘bibles’ Ljungquist’s own book ‘Practical Dressage Manual’ and the lesser celebrated ‘Pony Club Manual’. “It should be read by every kid because it encompasses all of horsemanship,” Robert said.

“I was a really good student,” he said. “If my trainer said: “I want you to stand on your head and cut down the centerline” you’d see me trying to figure out how to get there but also it wasn’t enough for me to hear ‘Robert this is what you do…’ I needed to understand why it is the way it is and he gave me this list of books.”

Repetition is something Robert learned from Colonel Ljungquist whose lessons were methodical and consistent – and leveling. Robert recalls being 16 years old when he arrived in Maryland “thinking I’m all that and I’m excited to show off everything.” An hour and a half into the lesson, Robert was no further than the walk. “He said; ‘Robert, What kind of walk is that?’ “And I said ‘a good  walk’ and he said: ‘No. There’s a collected walk, a medium walk and an extended walk. That was the beginning and then he proceeded to walk next to me for one and a half hours.”

After the lesson the Colonel summed up: “This is the beginning of your understanding of the art of dressage”, he told Robert. “And it’s going to lead you to great things in the sport.”

Finishing up a session at last year’s clinic also held at ‘Global’  – in which Robert uncharacteristically chose to teach from horseback –  he left the future grand prix hopefuls with a final thought. “These books are frameworks for you to read and understand,” he said, “that these basics that we talked about go all the way back to the time of Socrates – over 2000 years ago.”