Mette's December 2006 News

Mette's horse Rockefeller (left) received the 2nd highest score in the lower divisions at the Dressage Holiday Special at LAEC (74.000%)!

Mette's November 2006 News

The United States Dressage Federation Horse of the Year standings are final and Mette's horeses are placed well in the standings. Basquewille is the #22 Grand Prix horse in the nation. Edelweiss de Bonce, owned by Cory Walkey, is #24 at the Prix St. Georges level (out of 386 horses) and #55 at the Intermediare I level. Congratulations Mette!

Basquewille also won the USDF Grand Prix All-Breed award for NADWA (North American Danish Warmblood Association) for 2006, as well as the Adequan USDF 2006 All Breed Award for Open 1st Place Grand Prix!

Report on Donatello

My horse Donatello, who's still in Sweden came in 3rd at the Swedish championship for 4 year olds. He is ridden by Minna Telde. In the first qualifier he came in first. In the semi, it was about 50 horses and he was second. The best go to the finals and he ended up 3rd total. One of the judges was American O judge, Linda Zang. I bought Donatello when he was 6 months old and I'm very proud of him and his rider Minna. The sire of Donatello is Don Shufro, ridden by AndreasHelgstrand. Don Shufro won a big CDI in AAhus last weekend. Hoping Donatello will be there as well one day!

Washington International Horse Show Invitation

Mette and Basquewille were invited to ride in the $25,000 Grand Prix at the Washington International Horse Show at the end of October! Sadly, Mette was unable to find a flight for Basquewille on such short notice, but she feels very honored to have received the invitation.

DressageClinic.com Project

Mette just received a horse from Andreas Stano, owner and creator of DressageClinic.com. The horse is Sensation, a 6-year old very green, but very sweet gelding. Mette will train the horse over the next few months and every few weeks, DressageClinic.com will film the horse’s progress and post it on their website. Mette is looking forward to this new project.

Congratulations Mette & Basquewille

Congratulations Mette & Basquewille for winning the Great American USDF Grand Prix Regional Championships & Reserve Champion in the $1,000 Grand Prix CDS Horse of the Year. The Great American USDF/Region 7 Championships and 39th Annual CDS Championships were held at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center October 5 - 8. Mette feels that Basquewille was better in the CDS HOY class and that she rode better, too. She felt she "held the first place in her hands," but then made two errors when the coefficient was worth double and that's what cost her the championship. Nonetheless, these are great accomplishments! Congratulations Mette! Mette also qualified Edelweiss de Bonce for the Championships in both Prix St. George and Intermediare I, but due to a minor injury, he could not compete that weekend.

Mette's August 2006 News update

Mette went on a horse buying trip to Sweden, Holland and Denmark in August for 10 days looking for horses for herself and for her clients. She discovered that it is difficult to find horses with the quality and rideability she is seeking. She estimates that out of the 35 horses she rode only five were of a caliber she would seriously consider. Mette hopes to make another trip in the near future.

Mette is featured in an artilce in the August/September issue of the Equestrian News. Click here to read the article!

Mette's July 2006 News Update

Mette welcomes Heritage Performance Riding Gloves as her newest sponsor!

"I love Heritage Gloves for both riding at home and at shows. They make a terrific product."

Read more about Heritage Gloves on the Sponsors page.

Meet Mette's Working Students: Viktoria Alfhors from Sweden (left) and Lisa Hathaway from Seattle, Washington (pictured with Rockefeller).

Mette has another working student coming from Israel next month. Mette feels very honored that so many students are willing to travel from around the world to work and train with her.

Mette's Story about her Gladstone Championship Experience

It was fun journey to try out and make it to Gladstone. I worked hard and I had a lot of good help from Debbie McDonald and Cory Walkey. I competed in a couple of shows in California: some CDI shows and some normal shows with High Performance classes. I think my horses did great. This was the first time that I tried out for the championship so maybe I could have done it a little bit different if I would have known how the whole thing would come out. Basquewille made it in Grand Prix and I almost made it in Intermediare I with Edelweiss. He was 13 th on the list and a couple of horses that passed me at the end, I think I could have been ahead of them, but unfortunately that didn’t work out. So I did go with Basquewille.

We left on Friday, June 9. We flew out of Los Angeles with FedEx and then arrived at Gladstone the same day. The trip went well. The first couple of days it was fun to be there, because we saw the place from the beginning when no rings were set up and everyday more horses came and more people came. It was a very good and fun experience.

The show started on Thursday and the vet check was on Wednesday. The first couple of days Basquewille was great and felt strong and my training went well and I was really ready to go for it. Unfortunately he got sick and it started because he didn’t want to eat the hay and didn’t drink. And then, I think it was Tuesday, the humidity got worse, so he really needed the water. He got very dehydrated so had tendency to colic and he just didn’t feel well. When the jog out came up on Wednesday, I only had him on fluid--I think he got 20 liters that day. I really tried to help him as best I could. The starting time was on Thursday and on that day, unfortunately, I made a big mistake myself and then he didn’t really feel as good as he could. After that he got better and better and I really wish that he could have been as good on Thursday as he was on Friday and Sunday, because then I would have had a chance to be maybe in the top six.

The whole week in Gladstone was phenomenal. The people were very friendly and I had a great time. It was fun for me to get to know riders from the East Coast, as well. Debbie was there to help me warm up. She did a great job and I was very happy with that. We were supposed to leave on Monday from the beginning, but we ended up having to leave on Tuesday, so I felt that we’d been gone forever. It was a fun experience and I would try to do it again. Now I know more so I can prepare better with the shows and pick the best shows to go to. You learn from your mistakes. This coming year, 2007, I will try out for Gladstone and the finals there. I know that the Pan Am games are coming up and I will try to get a spot on the team that goes to Rio de Janeiro.

Best of all, I was very happy that my mother Gertrud, my sister Elisabeth and my brother-in-law Göran Odin took their time and all the effort to make their trip to come out and see me compete in this big event. They flew from Sweden all the way to Newark, New Jersey. They just came out for Friday, Saturday and Sunday and cheered me on. It was fun for me to know they were there. I don’t think they’ve seen me compete since I left Sweden 20 years ago, so for me to have them around was a wonderful feeling and I know that they had a great time. I just wanted to say thank you Mom, Elisabeth and Göran for taking your time and making a big effort to cheer me on!!

Mette's Results from Gladstone:

Combined Results (Grand Prix, Grand Prix Special, Grand Prix Freesytle) (pdf file) Grand Prix Freestyle results (pdf file)

Mette's May 2006 News update

Mette prepared for the Del Mar National Horse Show (see below) and another Clinic with Klaus Balkenhol on her road to qualifying for Gladstone this year. Read Mette's report of her training sessions with Debbie McDonald.

Mette wins again! This time she takes the CDI*** $2500 Grand Prix Special on Basquewille at the Del Mar National Horse Show!

Basquewille Chronicle of the Horse Article

Mette was interviewed in Chronicle of the Horse for her double Grand Prix win on Basquewille in April at the Golden State Dressage Festival.

Debbie McDonald visit

Olympian Debbie McDonald came to Mill Creek a few times to help Mette prepare for her major shows so far this season: the CDI Festival Dressage Show at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center and the CDI show at Del Mar National Horse Show. Mette greatly admires Debbie and felt fortunate to be able to work with her. Mette wishes she had more opportunities to work with her, but the bad weather prevented it Mette says: “I am grateful for the opportunities to train with Debbie McDonald, who has taken valuable time to come to my stable and help me with two horses: Basquewille and Edelweiss. She is a wonderful teacher and I really enjoy riding with her. When you do pick a trainer to work with, it has to be someone who works in the same way as your beliefs. Her system makes me feel at home and my horses are working great!”

Mette's goal for this spring is to qualify both Basquewille and Edelweiss de Bonce for the Gladstone show in June (that's the USET Foundation Dressage Festival of Champions). After the CDI show Del Mar, Mette will ride in the Flintridge High Performance show where she will need to compete both horses in a Freestyle division as part of qualifying for Gladstone.

Chronicle of the Horse Article

Mette and Edelweiss de Bonce were written about in the February 17 Chronicle of the Horse. Click here to read.

Report on Second Klaus Balkenhol clinic

Mette had a chance to ride with Klaus Balkenhol again the weekend of February 3-6 along with a lot of other top riders and horses from California. Mette found it fun and inspiring to be part of this group. She had a very good workout on Sunday. Mette felt better about her ride and both she and Klaus felt that Basquewille was going a lot better than he had the last time she rode with Klaus. On Monday, she got a chance to ride again and Basquewille went even better than on Sunday and she got a lot of credit for her “ones” and for her passage work. Mette says this clinic again reminded her how important “the basics” are in riding and that there really are no short cuts. You must start from the “ground up.”

Mette also brought Taison this time just to use the good facility of Brookside. She used the galloping track to practice forward and back and flying changes. It was great because there was no stopping: she was able to go and go and Taison really enjoyed it.

The clinic had started on Friday, but Mette didn’t arrive until Saturday. That evening, the owners of the facility, Keith and Linda Walton hosted a great barbeque party in a beautiful setting for all the riders, Klaus and his wife, and the resident trainer.

Mette hopes to have another chance to ride with Klaus before the Del Mar show at the end of April.

Report on First Horse Show of 2006

Mette competed in her first show of the year at the L.A. Winter Dressage show at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank last weekend. Mette was grateful for the wonderful preparation help she had from Birgitta. She brought three terrific horses to the show: Rockefeller, Basquewille and Cory Walkey’s stallion, Edelweiss de Bonce. Rocky won his first Training level class at the show and placed 2nd and 4th in his other two classes. On his first test, the judge wrote: “Super horse!”

Edelweiss was amazing in so many different ways. He has not been shown in a long time and this was Mette’s first time showing him, so she didn’t know what to expect. He behaved very well, not only in his stall, but also in the warm-up and show ring. It was a highlight to win the Intermediare I division on him in good competition. In the Prix St. Georges, they were beaten by only a couple of points and finished just behind Günther Seidel, Sue Blinks and Shannon Peters. (Note: A reporter from the "Chronicle of the Horse" called her for an interview about Edelweiss because he had done so well at the show).

Report of Birgitta Bergsten's Visit

Birgitta Bergsten is an International (I) Dressage judge and long-time friend of Mette who flew out from Sweden for 10 days to help Mette get her 2006 show season off to a good start. Birgitta has been working at her judging credentials since 1966 when she first attended a national judging seminar. She noted that it takes a number of years to move up the judging levels. She reached the level of national judge in 1970 and then became qualified as a Grand Prix judge in 1984. It took an additional seven years to get her International Judge rating, which she achieved in 1991. Birgitta as judged all over Sweden and abroad—she has judged in 40 different countries! The FEI asked her to go on long tours judging around the World. She has been to Central and South American, Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia, Asia and New Zealand. In Fall 2005, she was juding in South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Birgitta started riding at the young age of seven at a riding school near where she went to school. At the age of fifteen, she also started exercising race horses at a local track before and after school, while continuing her riding education in jumping and dressage. When she finished her last exam in school, she decided she wanted to continue to work with horses and responded to an ad in the newspaper listed by a family who needed a groom for their jumping horses. She worked there for 1 ½ years until her previous riding school needed a new instructor. Even though she didn’t have any teaching experience, the family she worked for also had a connection to the riding school and recommended her for the job on a trial basis for the summer. The owners of the school liked her teaching ability, but wanted her to have more education, so allowed her to go to classes to learn more.

Birgitta then headed off to the prestigious Strömsholm academy. As was the usual procedure there, Birgitta went for two months in the summer and then practiced the following year for the first two years and then in the third year, stayed for a year long course. At the time, Strömsholm was a military academy, so her education was very tough and rigorous. Next, Birgitta went to Vetlanda where she and Mette first met: when Birgitta was 23 and Mette was 11. Birgitta immediately saw the Mette had “a very big talent.” Mette was also jumping at the time. Birgitta allowed Mette to compete on her dressage horse, Alamo, in junior classes Swedish championship for Young Riders and did quite well.

After four years at Vetlanda, Birgitta met her husband, was married and moved back to Stockholm, where she was born, leaving Mette behind. Birgitta didn’t see her much for awhile. Mette had gone on to become the chief instructor at Strömsholm (which was no longer military at the time). Once Mette was in the states, Birgitta flew out a couple of times a year for 4 or 5 years to help Mette with her horses until she found help locally.

Mette and Birgitta have now been friends for just over 40 years. Even when they haven’t beeen able to visit each other, they have stayed in contact by phone. Birgitta has followed Mette to every place she’s been in California and this is her second visit to Mill Creek. Birgitta had to stop riding and training horses a number years ago because of back problems, but she and her husband continued to own and breed Sweedish Warmbloods for jumping. Her husband is a vet who had bred horses for a total of 25 years. Their last horse passed away in January 2005 and Birgitta is without a horse for the first time in 42 years.

It is clear that Mette and Birgitta have a similar training background. Birgitta notes that they both believe that it is most effective to be nice and patient with horses and not break them down, but rather “guide them up.” Both strive to become harmonious with the horse and believe it is best to try to make the horse want to work for you. To do this, the horse has to understand and feel comfortable with you.

Birgitta emphasized that Mette is an amazing rider. She says: “She is so talented and has such a good feeling for riding. I’m happy she has such good horses now—she would be even better if she got to ride a horse of international quality (Mette says: Anybody know one?”). She is as good as Kyra Kyrkland and Anky Van Grunsven.”

Mette’s point of view of Birgitta’s visit:

It was a wonderful treat to have Birgitta take time to come help me. She is extremely knowledgeable and I totally trust and agree with her opinion. She is very positive and has a straight way of thinking. If a circle is supposed to be 8 meters, it should be exactly 8 meters. If a trot starts at M and ends at K, then your trot should start exactly at M and ends at K.

While she was here, we worked horses from training level to Grand Prix. I rode a lot and all my horses changed tremendously. The biggest changes were in the accuracy of what’s supposed to be done in the show ring. I think I am pretty good preparing horses for shows, but to have someone pointing out the details with a positive eye makes a huge difference in scores. I wish I could have her here on a regular basis, but she is extremely busy with her own judging and training life. So thanks Birgitta for all of your help. You are very, very good!

New DressageClinic.com Video

Mette has a new video available on DressageClinic.com. This one features Mette teaching her working student, Lindsay Smith, riding Edelweiss du Bounce, the Selle Francais stallion owned by Mill Creek owner/trainer Cory Walkey.

Mette selected to ride in the Klaus Balkenhol again.

Mette and Basquewille will once again ride in a clinic given by Klaus Balkenhol at the beautiful Brookside Equestrian Center owned by Keith Walton sometime in February (check back for exact dates).

Mette’s plans for her horses for January and beyond

Donatello

Mette has a stallion in Sweden who was born in 2002. His name is Donatello and she bought him when he was 6 months old. He is a Swedish Warmblood out of Don Schufro. He is being trained in Sweden by Minna Telde, a very good rider who was on Sweden’s Olympic Dressage Team in the Athens Olympics. He will take the stallion test in Flyinge at the end of February and hopefully be approved. Mette will try to go to Sweden then to cheer him on. When Mette spent time in Germany last year, she had Donatello with her. Mette and her groom, Sofia, worked him together. Sofia was the first one on his back!

Wellington

Wellington, also born in 2002, is a young horse Mette has at Mill Creek for sale. She is planning to have him out and showing in the green horse classes at the beginning of the show season. By fall, she hopes to have him riding in the regular training level classes. Mette will take advantage of the new green horse divisions to take him out and give him experience and exposure to the dressage ring.

Rockefeller
Mette will show Rockefeller at the L.A.E.C. show at the training levels. If all goes well this year, she will try him out for the five year old competition. He is doing very well and is a very promising horse.

Taison

As reported before, Taison was U.S.D.F Training Level Horse of the Year for 2005. Mette will be moving him up to Third Level this year; it’s a big step so she will be taking it slowly and methodically. If she feels he’s ready, she will try for the 6 year old competition. The U.S. Dressage Finals are in Kentucky this year and the winners there will qualify for the World Games.

Basquewille

Mette will ride Basquewille with Birgitta when she is here (see news item). She will also take Basquewille to theL.A.E.C. show at the end of January and ride in the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special divisions. A week after that, Mette will ride with Klaus Balkenhol again at Keith Walton’s beautiful Brookside facility. The 2006 World Games are in Aachen, Germany this year and only three horses from America will be selected for the team. Mette will try to compete in the qualifiers this year.

Edelweiss

Edelweiss is a stallion owned by Cory Walkey, Mill Creek’s owner. Mette will be riding him at the L.A.E.C. show at the Prix St. Georges and Intermediare I levels. Mette is very much looking forward to riding Cory’s beautiful horse.

Birgitta Bergsten is coming to Mill Creek

International Dressage Judge, Birgitta Bergsten is coming to Mill Creek to work with Mette from January 16th through the 25th. While here, Mette will ride dressage tests with Birgitta, who will judge her as if it were a real show. Mette is looking forward to getting a judge's point of view on her performance. Mette feels this is the best way to start off her dressage show season because who better than a judge "to say what's good."