At Kutscher Bitter Sporthorses I had my own little flat to live, which was very comfortable and already an excellent start.
The facilities at the barn have a very high standard and offer the best training possibilities; as matter of fact my three horses, Light Star, Camilla and Like About You, have benefited enormously from the whole adventure.
During my stay, since I had no groom, I was responsible for caring the horses, and to feel their mood daily had been indeed central.
My day always started at 8 am - not too early by the way - and ended around 6 pm. My tasks besides riding were also mucking out, cleaning and feeding.
The organization within the stable was always in consultation with Marco, and I can assure you that most of the work focused on flat.
The training plan for each horse was arranged so that 80% of the work was focused on dressage and flat, the struggle was on transitions between canter, trot, walk to make those actions as smooth as possible. Furthermore, we work the horses with circuit training, shoulder-in and leg-yielding. The remaining 20% of the horses' work was gymnastics with poles, cavallettis and small courses. Every two weeks we drove to Riesenbeck for a jumping training session.
I needed to improve my daily dressage work to progress the jumping performance and my expectations regarding this goal have been largely met. Another issue was the over ambitiousness, where I tended to lose motivation if situations didn't work out as planned in the first place. During my stay with Marco, I tried to work on it as well as I tried to be less self-critical especially on performances at shows. Indeed, with his support, my approach to tough situations seems to have largely improved.
Thank you, Marco Kutscher !