Mag. Janez Rus von Lipica fand folgende Worte über meine langjährige Arbeit im Gestüt:
„In the period from 2011 to 2016, Mr. Artur Kottas-Heldenberg had been a consultant of Lipica Classical Riding School and he held seminars on regular basis with the team of riders.
To distinguish and enrich the stock of thrice-weekly held presentations at Lipica Stud Farm, Mr. Kottas-Heldenberg proposed to integrate elements and figures of classical dressage riding, displayed by female riders in side-saddle.
Therefore, Elke Potucek-Puscha recommended by Mr. Kottas-Heldenberg began to hold monthly clinics at Lipica Stud Farm as skilled specialist for ladies side saddle already in 2011.
To that purposes she selected horses suitable for side-saddle riding an dated as a counsellor for the buying of side-saddles. She advised and organized the necesarry outfitting of horses and riders with appropriate costumes and tack.
Mrs. Potucek-Puscha created a choreography, selected and blended the required pieces of music for Pas de demux of side-saddled horses, which was not only shown during Lipica’s own seasons of presentation (April – October), but represented Lipica on numerous occasions at home and abroad.
After a short time, Mrs. Potucek-Puscha added training male and female riders of all levels on „normal“ saddles as well.
Since July of 2012, she assisted Mr. Kottas-Heldenberg as co-coach. Mr. Kottas-Heldenberg developed and executed regular an additional schooling of riders and horses as a professional mentor. While he supervised the training of individual squads of horses and riders, Mrs. Potucek-Puscha worked out riders who showed difficulties in their exercises. She instructed them in single tuition in dealing with problematic situations efficiently.
Due to her unique ability to immediately grasp the individual problems of every single horse-rider-pairing and detailed instructions, easy adaptability of her practical corrections, inventive and intuitive improvements she soon became a sought after instructor for horse riders at Lipica Stud Farm.
Since 2012, Mrs. Potucek-Puscha coached Mrs. Neja Kogoj, one of Lipica’s leading side-saddle riders, concerning her competitive career. She prepared choreography and music compilation to Kogoj’s Intermediaire II Freestyle too. Mrs. Kogoj won the Alpe Adria Dressage Trophy (all three qualifiers and the final competition) and became National Champion of Slovenia in 2014.
Furthermore, Mrs. Potucek-Puscha supported Lipica Stud Farm in 2014 at the „Marbach Classics“, a festive equestrian event of european proportion, where twelve European State Studs contributed show acts, honoring the 50-year-annivrsary of Principal and Federal Stud Marbach (GER). For the special occasion, a high profile open-air act, Elke Potucek-Puscha developed the display of a quadrille with eight couples. She devised a choreography consisting to two side saddle riders and two male riders from Lipica Stud Farm and four riders from National Stud Kladruby and Labem (CZ) and directed the joint rehearsal with all eight performing couples, followed by two highly successful showings in July 2014.
Mrs. Elke Potucek-Puscha also took part in preparing the annual programs of work of Lipica Classical Riding School and in defining its guidelines and goals. She participated monthly meetings with the management and main trainer of Lipica Stud Farm on the subject of schooling and training of horses and riders, culminating in annual appraisals of personnel, employees and schooled horses.“
