Dr Volker Moritz clinic
Photo: Movie Star from clinic

Dr. Volker Moritz – Olympic “O” Judge April 10-13, 2006- Fieldstone Farm, Santa Rosa, Ca

Dr. Volker Moritz has successfully trained many horses through Grand Prix, including Ideaal, later ridden by Jo Hinnermann, and then Sven Rosthenberger at the World Championships and World Cup Finals. He has been awarded the Golden Riders Badge of the German Federation. Since the end of 2005 Dr Moritz has been assigned by the German Olympic Committee to manage the promising Grand Prix riders who hope to represent Germany at the upcoming Olympics.

Riders:
Louise Labrucheie , Anne Air, Heidi Gaiin, Tracey Hill
( Photo Prints may be ordered here)

Susan Mangan
The most helpful from the clinic:The absolute need for consistency with thetraining in order for the horse to learn and progress.  Dr. Moritz gave me a wonderful compliment. .  He liked my horse very much!

Sharon Marshall - Riding with an Olympic judge and getting his opinion is highly valued to me, it provided a wonderful opportunity to evaluate my training and riding. My very good mare Aniara has been a wonderful teacher over the past 4 years taking me to the brink of Grand Prix.    As expected, he liked my mare very much, and said, “We were good together”. 
When I asked if there were “secrets” to riding from Paiffe to Passage, he laughed and said,  “Sadly not”.   So what I got from the clinic was validation that things were going well, and we were able to practice all the movements and transitions of the Grand Prix, and  just worked on the basic of dressage.   One thing that I know about upper level dressage, is that it is all about the basics.   It is not the tricks, it is the action between the tricks.   If your horse is not going uphill, with collection and lots of jump between the movements they will not happen correctly.  Dr. Moritz really worked on the “In between times”,  encouraging me to keep the jump and activity before I even thought of Pirouette or the Passage, and then they would just happen on their own.    The best advice for all levels.

Anne Air - I found my sessions with Volker Moritz very helpful, because as my horse and I have recently moved up to FEI, I had been focusing on doing the advanced movements, and kind of letting the basics slide. We were NOT going to get away with that under the watchful eye of Dr. Moritz! It was made crystal clear that there can be no collected movements until the horse is truly forward and through. That concept, although heard very often in my dressage journey, really hit home from the work Dr. Moritz stressed. I am now spending much more time in warming up my horse so that he is truly to the bit, over the back, and forward. Amazingly, the resistances that were starting to pop up in our training are gone, and I feel that we are making great strides. It was a true honor to work with a person of his stature!

Louise Labrucherie - The most helpful thing I found about the teaching ofDr. Moritz is how to push your horse to go beyond whatyou normally ask of him, without asking too much. Itwas a hard work out for horse and rider, but a fairone, and one that the horse excelled in. It seemedthe perfect combination to create an athlete living upto his/her potential. I suppose that is why theGerman’s win so much in dressge. We too often do not ask enough of our horses, or we go to the otherextreme and ask too much and sour them and break themdown. Dr. Moritz definitely had the right approach.Louise
Other Riders not available for interview: Deanne Narduzi, Lilo Fore, Heidi Gaian, Tracey Hill
Ruth Lake-Video & Photos www.lakewebdesign.com