Click here for Garland Farms Dressage Home Page

Karl Mikolka Clinic August 9-10, 1997
by Katie Patton

Clinic Report

An e-mail from Karl Mikolka commenting on this report

Karl Mikolka was born in Vienna, Austria and spent 14 years at the Spanish Riding School. He was a student of Alfred Cerha, who also taught Alois Podhajsky. Podhajsky and Mikolka were the only two pupils of Cerha who themselves went on to coach. During his 14 years at the Spanish Riding School, Karl advanced through the ranks of Bereiteranwarter (student rider) to Bereiter (rider) to Oberbereiter (chief rider). In 1968, Karl left the Spanish Riding School to coach the Brazilian Olympic Team. After that tenure, he moved to the United States where he has lived and worked ever since. He spent many years training and teaching at Temple Farms in Illinois working with descendants of the Lipizzaners that Temple Smith imported at the end of World War II. Karl is now "retired" from Temple Farms and lives in Massachusetts, working on video and audio projects and writing as well as teaching clinics around the country.

We left for Franklin Saturday afternoon and drove 5 hours in the rain and traffic. Sunday morning, we were relieved to see that the rain had stopped. We had a hearty breakfast to clear the morning cobwebs and headed off to Old Hillsboro Manor. At 9:00 AM we arrived. The clinic had started at 8:00 AM. Karl was on his second lesson. We headed up to the covered arena and took a seat down at A. We chatted with other participants and learned that it had rained all day Saturday. It would have been difficult to hear with rain on the roof. However, we had excellent weather on Sunday. It was comfortable for an August day in the south.

Karl's lessons on Sunday built on concepts he introduced on Saturday so it was a bit confusing to us at first as auditors. When Karl conducts clinics, he prefers the riders audit all the other lessons he teaches so they can better understand his concepts. Karl is a character too, so you have to be willing to go along with his occasional teasing comments and jokes. He also works his riders hard and expects quick compliance and few questions during the lessons. Be prepared to leave your ego at home!

The first lesson we audited was semi-private with Bill Hoos riding "Celtic Cross" and Chris Felker riding "Mr. Jefferson". It was a training level/first level lesson. Karl had the riders learn to feel when each leg was on the ground. That is the moment you can influence that particular leg. They did this at both the trot and canter. The objective was to help them time their half halts better through better feel. He had them call out loud as they performed half-halts at the trot: "Slow-Down-En-Large". Each half halt at the trot had 4 phases and were according to the rhythm of the trot. Phases 1 and 2 were the "Slow-Down" phase, while Phases 3 and 4 were the "En-Large" stage, meaning that the horse stepped under more with the inside hind leg. He also had them work on canter-trot transitions, using 3 phases in the half halt so that the 3 joints in the hind leg are asked to bend: hip, stifle, and hock. In the canter, the riders called out "Slow-Down-And-Trot" in rhythm to the canter while giving their half halt so that when they said "Trot", the horse was trotting. Karl worked the horses steadily. There were few breaks.

The next lesson was private with Gale Kappler riding "Edelman". Karl had them begin with an exercise he had attempted with the previous lesson but it had become "bad leg-yielding", according to Karl. He had Gale ride shoulder-in down the long side. Then she halted in shoulder-in along the long side at V. She then changed the bend to shoulder in right and proceeded across the arena to P. At P she went straight ahead in the new direction. The attempts in the previous lesson turned into leg yield because the riders were trying to stay parallel to the long side. He emphasized imagining the wall was behind her as she performed this movement. To work on canter pirouettes, Karl had Gale ride a diamond pattern from B to center line to E back to center line. From B to center line, she rode shoulder-in. From center line to E she rode haunches in. From E back to center line, she rode shoulder-in and from center line back to B she rode haunches in. The exercise helped her horse's engagement and helped Gale better control the haunches and shoulders. Another exercise Gale rode involved 10 meter circles from X to B and from X to E. There were jump standards set up on either side of the center line at X to serve as "pillars". Gale would ride a 10 meter circle from X and halt on the quarter line. Then she would perform a counter shoulder in across the circle to change direction and bend and repeat. She did this from X to B. Then she did this from X to E.

The next lesson was another private lesson with Darlene Dixon Bottorf riding her Arabian stallion "Lasado". Darlene was the clinic organizer. Karl started out with some in-hand work with Darlene mounted. It was interesting and different. Karl controlled Lasado from the ground while Darlene worked on flexion to encourage the stallion to release the tension in his neck and lighten the feel in the bridle. Then Karl took off the long line and had Darlene trot rising. Counting to 6, Darlene would counter flex Lasado in timing with the outside foreleg. She would flex at beats 2-4-6, releasing on beats 1-3-5. Karl told her to keep Lasado's body straight during this exercise. Then Darlene followed up with shoulder-in, making sure the outside hind stayed on the track. Karl had Darlene perform the counter shoulder-in exercise across from P to V. She had some difficulty at first with the angle. He told her to think of riding shoulder-in on the short side of the arena as she rode this exercise. As she worked on this exercise, there was improvement. During the canter work, Karl had Darlene use 3 strides of preparation (half-halts) for canter-trot transitions. He said that during the canter-trot transition, the weight of the horse should go into the outside hind. Another exercise Darlene performed was to supple her stallion's stiff neck. It was referred to as the "stepping exercise". Darlene posted the trot and moved her weight in her stirrups in the following sequence: right, right, left, both, left, right. It did create better bending in her stallion's ribcage. The lesson concluded with some more " mounted work in hand". With skillful use of the long line and the whip, Karl was able to get Lasado to do some piaffe steps. The stallion remained calm and trusting throughout this intense work. His eyes remained soft, and were never hard or fearful.

At this point, we had a short break before the next ride. Karl had noticed me taking notes. I was by myself as my friends had gone to the restroom. He sat down beside me and very bluntly asked "Are you a trainer?" I responded, "No, I am an amateur". He said "Good. This business is very hard work, too hard for women." I quickly decided this was not the direction I wanted the conversation to go so I proceeded to ask him if he was enjoying himself here in Tennessee. He was positive, saying that the clinic was going well, and the riders were friendly and cooperative, not "snobs". I then asked him where he was living now and if he was enjoying his retirement. He responded that he lives in Gloucester, MA now and his house has a nice view of the harbor. He said he doesn't miss Chicago (he used to work at Temple Farms). One on one, Karl is easy to talk to and sincere but very direct. He doesn't mince words! In a group, he often clowns around and makes off the wall comments.

The final lesson we audited before our long trip home was Cherie Beatty on "Love Me Tater". This was a training level lesson but Karl's teaching still made me pay attention and take notes. He had Cherie ride her corners fairly deep at the walk to test if her horse was on the outside rein and supple in the hips and shoulders. At first, her horse resisted bending by swinging her haunches inside and backing up a step or two. Karl said that during times like this you need to be able to read the horse and decide whether you should be cautious and back off or pursue your objective. He pointed out Cherie's safety strap on her saddle and emphatically said that all riders should have one on the saddles at all times since horses and circumstances can be unpredictable. Cherie was able to work through Tater's resistance successfully. During the trot work, Karl had Cherie work on feeling the hind legs. He noted that when the inside hind is on the ground, your outside knee drops. If you are riding shoulder-in, this would be the moment to use your inside leg. This was a common theme of Karl's, helping the riders feel the horse's legs and footfalls to properly time the aids. Karl also helped Cherie improve her trot - canter transistions. This exercise was done by applying a half halt to influence the outside hind (Cherie would call out "Slow-Down" during this phase), then pushing the inside hind further underneath (Cherie would call out "En-Large" during this phase) and then asking the outside hind to strike off in the canter with the canter aids (Cherie would call out "And-Canter" during this phase). So the steps were "Slow-Down" (outside hind) "En-Large" (inside hind), "And-Canter" (strike off with outside hind). Several repetitions of this exercise created transitions that were more prompt and balanced, with less "running" on the forehand.

There are plans to bring Mr. Mikolka back to the Franklin, TN area for clinics on a regular basis. Contact ArabianDQ@aol.com for more information.