In August 2012, Marc and I visited Russia for a Straightness Training Clinic in Russia.
We arrived in Moscow on August 13th to meet Marina Krasilshchikova, and later in the week also other Russian horse lovers and their horses.
Marina was waiting for us at the airport and we took the train from the airport to the city, then using the metro to get to our hotel:
Visiting Moscow
.Before the clinic started, Marina has guided us for a few days in Moscow. We visited Red Square, the Four Horse Fountain within Alexandrovsky Gardens, Kremlin and the State Historical Museum:
We also visited Gum and on the outside the main gait of the red square you can throw a coin over your shoulder for luck:
And we had a great chance to experience the magic atmosphere of Moscow at night and to photograph Gum and the St. Basil's Cathedral on the Red Square by night.
In the State Historical Museum we saw a painting of the imperial procession inside the Kremlin with the Ivan the Terrible Belfry and the Cathedral of the Assumption beyond (left picture). We also saw Catherine II (1729 – 1796), also known as Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia and she was the most renowned and the longest-ruling female leader of Russia (right picture).
Clinic in Borovsk
On August 18/19 the first straightness training clinic was organized in Borovsk, about 100 km to SW from Moscow, a small but historical town that is known to exist since the 13th century. The clinic was held at the wonderful venue of Stella Stekzer.
The clinic started with theory lessons about natural asymmetry and straightness training:
Thereafter I demonstrated straightness by showing the basic training exercises with the wonderful horses of Stella Stekzer, and giving tips on how to develop a symmetrical body:
It was a very interesting weekend with wonderful riders and horses!
Leo Stekzermade beautiful pictures of all riders and horses as you can see in this video:
During the clinic Marina Krasilshchikova and Maria Rityunskaya did an excellent job in translating English to Russian:
Many thanks to Stella, Leo, Marina, Maria and all participants who brought their drive, eagerness, enthusiasm and passion to the weekend! And last, but certainly not least, I'd like to thank Marc for all his help and invaluable support!
Group photo of all participants of the first straightness training clinic in Russia (photography: Leo Stekzer).
