Sabine Schut-Kery sometimes provokes strange crowd responses. A string of beautiful one-tempi flying lead changes often elicits nothing. “But I let my horse rear and they go nuts!” she laughingly relays.
Such is the unusual world of this unusual dressage trainer. A Bereiter certified by her native Germany’s national equestrian federation, Sabine has accomplished equal success in open dressage competition and on the exhibition circuit where her considerable creativity flows freely. It’s this latter setting, of course, where the one-tempis sometimes don’t get their due.

Sabine moved to the United States in 1998, to train and show the Friesians at Proud Meadows Farm in Texas, then came to her current base in the Los Angeles area in November of 2005.
The majority of her time is spent training and campaigning horses on the West Coast dressage circuit, but she admits her great passion is exhibition riding. “I really love it for the horses,” she enthuses. “I can express whatever I think is pretty, without having to go from A to B. And I can show each horse’s strong points.”
The precise confines of dressage competition and the free form of exhibition work are perfect counterbalances, Sabine asserts. “In exhibition work, nobody really knows what you are supposed to do, so you don’t have a standard. With so much freedom, it would be easy to lose your track. Competition keeps you correct and maintains a high level of quality in my horses’ work. Exhibition is a little fresh air, a chance to play.”
World Cup Finals fans this past April saw Sabine every day in Las Vegas, where she served as the flag bearer for various ceremonies. Although the horse she rode, Granito, was new to the lights, crowds and raucous applause, carrying a flag around the Thomas & Mack Center arena was simple stuff compared to Sabine’s exhibition routines.
Baroque breeds comprise the core of Sabine’s exhibition cadre, although she is toying with the idea of teaching a Warmblood some tricks just for fun. Her own Andalusian Destino and client Cynthia Neilson’s Friesian, WBR Hannibal, bow, rear, lie down, and do the high-stepping Spanish Walk as easily as eating a carrot. They and others do more as stars of Sabine’s elegant, entertaining and fun performances.
Grand Prix movements performed while riding side saddle and/or one-handed are de rigueur, and many are pulled off in multiple as part of a pas de deux or a quadrille. In her tandem driving performance, Sabine rides “the back horse” while controlling “the front horse” with long lines as the pair dances through high-level work in perfect unison.
Sabine’s open mindedness and creativity shine in a dance with her German partner, Ana Ayromlou, a Flamenco dancer who sashays in the arena with Sabine and her horse. In part of this act, Sabine and Ana hold the ends of a garrocha, a wooden shepard’s pole, as they move together. Canter pirouettes under her end of the pole are sure crowd pleasers whenever a dressage audience is involved, Sabine notes.

Easy & Elegant
While she loves the roar of the crowd, Sabine’s most rewarding compliments often come quietly in a barn aisle, after the show. “When people say, ‘Wow, you were my favorite because you made it look so easy and effortless’ is when I know I really got the job done.”
The exhibition scene in America has grown nicely in the nine years since Sabine moved here, but the country’s geography makes it impossible to support oneself in that arena alone. Fortunately, Sabine also loves and succeeds on the show circuit.
Sabine splashed onto the national dressage scene with Jorrit, the Friesian stallion that brought her to the United States.
After 15 years on the European exhibition circuit, based in Germany, she sold her then 12-year-old star Friesian, Jorrit, to Proud Meadows Farms. “I just came to the States to show them how to push his buttons,” Sabine explains. She accepted the breeding farm’s job offer and cheerfully led the charge in promoting her beloved breed in America.
Originally bred in Holland for farm work and to pull carriages, Friesians made a new name for themselves in domestic dressage under Sabine’s hand. In 1999, a string of USDF Horse of the Year accomplishments began with Proud Meadows’ Tinus earning that honor at Second Level. He repeated that at Third Level in 2000, Fourth Level and Prix St. Georges in 2001, then was sixth in national Grand Prix Freestyle standings in 2005. Not to be outdone, Jorrit took the HOTY Prix St. Georges prize in 2000 and finished sixth in Grand Prix Freestyle in 2001.
From 1998 to 2002, Sabine served as head trainer for the Friesian Horse Society’s 50-day testing.

Not Just Friesians
Dressage successes with the Friesians, combined with the exhibitions, created a lingering perception that Sabine works only with that and other baroque breeds, but that’s not the case. The three-year apprenticeship with Jan Bemelmans that earned Sabine her Berieter designation was all about dressage, not a particular breed, she notes.
Intent on doing all training herself, Sabine limits her clientele to eight horses that are currently a mix of baroque breeds and Warmbloods. She trains out of Mission Pacific Equestrian Center in Moorpark, and most of her horses are owned by clients who live out of state and count on Sabine to campaign them. A handful of stablemates do double duty in exhibitions.
“Dressage means ‘to train’,” Sabine comments. “It doesn’t matter what breed of horse it is. To train a horse you have to have a good relationship in the bond and the trust you establish.”
As becomes quickly clear when talking with Sabine, having fun is an important part of her training philosophy. That applies to herself, her students and, perhaps most importantly, her horses. Classical dressage training basics are interspersed with trail riding, free jumping, long lining and other activities as appropriate to each horse’s temperament and abilities.
The results of Sabine’s approach consistently speak for themselves in the show ring at all levels. Kathleen Kearney’s young Friesian Arjen earned up to a 78 score in four wins at Training and First levels this spring during an Equestrian Performance Center show. With Mike and Alice Womble-Heitman’s 7 year old Holsteiner stallion, Cacique, Sabine scored more 70-pluses at a recent Burbank show. And, she and Hannibal were second only to Steffen Peters and San Rubin in Third Level classes at the Flintridge Dressage Show this spring.
Sabine works regularly with international Grand Prix rider Sue Blinks, who is based in San Diego. She returns often to Germany, where she studies with mentor Jan Nivelle, who also coaches Spain’s Young Riders team.
Sabine enjoys teaching and does so as her schedule allows.
“I had a horse that was really talented and a psycho,” recalls Teresa Koehler of her first clinic with Sabine many years ago. “I had just gotten an offer of $20,000 for the horse the same day. She was so amazing that, after the clinic, I didn’t take the offer.
“Sabine has the ability to get you to a totally different level,” continues Teresa, a Second Level competitor and professional photographer who now shoots and edits Sabine’s photos. “She connects with you, on your horse, and takes you to a different place. It’s something I can see even as I edit photos of people that ride with her and in the movements of the horses she rides.”
The Agoura Hills stable where Teresa keeps her horse is one of several training operations throughout the country where Sabine is an in-demand clinician.
In Texas, Sabine developed a quadrille of young riders that performed in many of her exhibitions, including a performance at the prestigious Dressage At Devon Horse Show. With the crazily busy schedules that are typical of California’s youth, finding kids with enough free time to pursue something similar here hasn’t happened yet, but Sabine is open to the idea.
Horse buying is another aspect of Sabine’s multi-faceted career. Nationally acclaimed dressage trainer and author Jane Savoie is among Sabine’s happy customers in this regard. Just back from Spain in search of a new Andalusian to compete and exhibit, Sabine is known for having many contacts, a great eye and a knack for bringing out the best in young horses.

Baroque Outlook
The growing embrace of baroque breeds by dressage judges is a phenomena Sabine has witnessed first hand. “At the beginning I found the judges to be more open minded,” Sabine recalls of her late-90s days showing Jorrit and Tinus. “They were amazed a heavy horse could move so lightly.” Judges have become tougher critics now that they see baroque breeds more often, and Sabine says that’s a great thing. “They are looking more closely.”
The breeds’ acceptance has come with some frustrations in the show ring. The Friesian’s conformation, for example, causes a case in point. “A Friesian’s hocks will always be more ‘out’ than a Warmblood’s,” she notes. “But that doesn’t mean they can’t be trained to the concept of collection.”
A horse has to be collected to perform Grand Prix movements like the canter pirouette or one-tempi changes, she notes. “Those movements are so much harder for a Friesian than for a Warmblood that was bred to perform what’s asked in the test.” The frustration emerges when a “hocks out” notation turns up on a judge’s card with a 5 score for that movement. “For sure, it’s not an 8, as I would give a Warmblood, but I think if the horse performed the movement, why not a 6?”
Overall, Sabine emphasizes that she feels judging is quite fair for Friesians and other non-traditional dressage breeds.

California Girl
Shortly after setting foot in California, Sabine knew she’d love to live here. After eight happy years in Texas, and as Proud Meadows began to scale back its endeavors, she moved to California. The weather, the mountains, the friendly but high-level nature of competition and the accessibility of top professionals all appeal to her.
If California had a busy exhibition circuit, as Germany does, it would be perfect. Sabine rode in the huge equine extravaganza, Equitana, as a 16-year-old. She thrived for 15 years focusing on that profession while entertaining fans in Germany and throughout Europe.
The equine exhibition scene is a world unto itself in Europe, Sabine explains. “Right now there are three or four entertainment exhibition horse shows, like Cheval, going on in Germany.” A creative equestrian can support themselves there, but the creative equestrian who also wants to compete is likely out of luck. “German dressage is so traditional,” Sabine says. “They have trouble looking away from their own Warmbloods.”
“I was a bit rebellious for Germany,” Sabine adds with a smile in her voice.
She loves America’s open-mindedness in that regard, and attributes it somewhat to the fact that cross breeds have long been part of our equestrian culture.
Sabine’s appearances at shows, including this year’s World Cup Finals and the DG Bar Dressage Show, have always been hits. “It’s entertaining and the people always appreciate it,” she observes. “But the show managers don’t always have money to pay for it.”
Whether in exhibition or competition, Sabine is always putting on an impressive and inspiring show of horsemanship.