Shannon Dueck

Good Instructors Gave Dueck a Solid Foundation

Over the years, Shannon Dueck has trained with a number of outstanding dressage masters. As a young event rider, she was lucky enough to train with Klaus Albin and Deitrich Von Hopfgarten, although she readily agrees that she was much more interested in jumping and galloping than that “silly dressage stuff”. After deciding to pursue dressage to the highest levels, she trained with Bert Rutten of the Netherlands for 10 years, including stints as a working student at his barn as well as bringing her horses over to train with him every year since 2001. Kathy Connelly of Massachusetts helped Dueck while on this side of the Atlantic and was her coach while at the Pan American Games, the World Championships, the Royal Winter Fair and the World Cup in Sweden. “Kathy has an extraordinary gift for helping me get to the right place mentally when competing at the big events.”

Dueck currently trains with Hubertus Schmidt when in Europe and with Olympian Lars Petersen in Wellington, for whom she has much praise regarding his training techniques. “Lars has super ability as a rider/trainer and really puts 100 percent into his lessons with me. He is also an excellent communicator.” In addition, the Canadian team coach is Norbert Van Laak, who has helped Dueck a number of times, at home and at larger shows such as Dressage at Devon. Norbert and Lars are friends and colleagues, and to be able to work with two such talented trainers is a dream come true for Dueck.

In 2001, Dueck spent considerable time in Europe so that she could gain her first experience competing in the European league. She and Korona competed in four large indoor shows: Düsseldorf, Stuttgart , Amsterdam and Mechelen. Placing in the top 12 at the last three shows, she qualified for the freestyle and had great results.
" It's so different to show over there," Dueck says. "It was a huge learning curve. They had only the large and small tour dressage, plus jumping and driving. They also had pony steeple chasing - it’s nuts! All the shows were sold out to a very knowledgeable audience."

Another thing that she appreciated was having her expenses paid by the show when she was invited to big competitions. "They're so well-sponsored over there," she said. "That's something that we're really missing in North America.”

Competing against the "big guys" like Ulla Salzgeber on Rusty and Nadine Capellmann on Farbenfroh was an invaluable experience to prepare Dueck for the WEG. "I saw them make mistakes too and realized that they're mere mortals," she laughs. She also learned to deal with her own horse's explosiveness in the arena, and exposed herself to the top European judges. "They have to get to know who you are," she commented.

Dueck has since made other trips to Europe to learn her way around the international scene, doing what needs to be done, showing in front of the international judges she will face during Olympic and World Equestrian Games Competitions.