Ellen Miller looks relaxed, sitting in a canvas chair in the shade, scrutinizing every move of the student in the arena and the Trakehner she’s riding. Nothing seems to escape the astute gaze of this consummate dressage instructor. Miller shouts approvingly. The student seems relieved: until she gets the fundamentals mastered she’s going to hear about it — and be instructed to try again.
Ellen Miller’s riding school is based on a lakeside farm in Charlotte, though Miller teaches dressage up and down the East Coast. She is well-known among Mozart Festival devotees as the distinguished rider of Indius, a stunning 27-year old Trakehner who has left fans mesmerized for the past two decades in performances choreographed by Michael Mauss. Her performances in Dancing With Horses have been widely covered, in the Village Voice and elsewhere.
In her work with horses and riders, Miller relies on an ongoing training program that is practiced daily. The ultimate goal is for the rider and horse to move as one.
Ellen Miller – A Passion for DressageMove from the stand-still immediately into the canter . . . That’s it – you’ve got it!” the instructor shouts with approval. 
photo: Jan Doerler Miller first connected to horses through a German instructor and an Australian pony while living in Asia as a child. Miller’s worldly beginnings inform her teaching style as well as her own riding and performing. She abandoned her early ambitions for a career in marine biology. “In those days women really didn’t work in the field — they worked organizing other people’s data. I needed something more hands-on and creative.” Miller began as a student at Skidmore College in Saratoga, New York. When the American Dressage Institute (ADI) made its home at Skidmore’s Riding Institute, Miller turned her sights from the classroom to the stable, enrolling as a working student, then as a groom, a rider, and ultimately a barn manager when ADI moved to Maine. While at ADI, Miller studied under instructors from the Spanish Riding School who instilled in her a love and passion for daily work and training. “The best way to learn about horses is the day after day work,” she states. There may be books and philosophy, but it’s the time with the horses, the total immersion, that teaches. Being at ADI allowed Miller access to the finest instructors and the finest animals, working with ex-Grand Prix horses and learning dressage at the highest level. Today, decades later, she affirms emphatically, “I am passionate about dressage!” Miller brings these high standards and this passion for learning to her staff of young women, who carry out their chores in an atmosphere of camaraderie and respect, along with an occasional ribbing at Miller’s expense. It is the intimate relationship between Miller and Indius — “Mr. Magnificent” as she refers to him — that is extraordinary. These two beings share language, respect — and even jokes. They rise to the moment of performance, both delighting in the joy of strutting their stuff as one. “Indy loves the music,” Miller smiles. He knows when he is going to be going ‘on’— his coat groomed to a shine, mane braided, and legs wrapped in white. He stamps impatiently on the barn floor, eager to perform. Miller recalls one dressage competition when a ruckus occurred among the horses waiting “backstage” before their turn to perform. Miller said she looked over at her horse, standing by himself away from the fray, and knew full well that he had impishly provoked the squabble. She talks to him as a long-time friend who knows all the quirks of the other. The care of a horse often requires doing things the animal may not enjoy. Miller handles Indius with assurance and respect that is clearly mutual. This beautiful horse is kind to novices, gentle with children, and clearly loves his human partner. The two make special magic when they perform together. Miller’s participation in the Mozart Festival and the Dancing With Horses project has taken her beyond the compulsory figures of traditional competitive dressage riding, allowing her to move in new ways with Indius and with other riders and horses. “It’s about pushing the limits,” she says about this style of riding, known as performance dressage. In performance dressage, horses and riders perform a choreographed dance to music. As the daughter of an accomplished musician father and artist mother, it is only natural that Miller’s career would incorporate the creative. Her formative years were spent in Saratoga, a world peopled with art, horses, music, and dance. “We had the race track, ballerinas all over the place, and the music,” she recalls. It was Miller’s background in the arts and in dressage that inspired fellow ADI alumnus Michael Mauss to contact her when he began the Mozart Festival Performance 20 years ago. Miller has been with the festival ever since. She frequently performs the solo piece, but she stresses that for her it is not about the spotlight. “It’s not important that I do the solo piece, but that I can do something different and exciting,” she explains. About her career, Miller quotes the mantra of the Spanish Riding School: “ ‘Invest today to see the reward tomorrow.’ You learn to enjoy the process and the journey as much as the goal. The goal is important, but not as important as the journey,” she muses. “That’s not to say I don’t like to win — I do!” she adds laughing, knowing that those who ride with her know it too. |