4/2/2019 0 Comments WIT Program Report I had the privilege of participating in Lendon Gray’s Dressage4Kids Winter Intensive Training Program (WIT for short) from January to March 2019. This opportunity would not have been possible without the support of The Dressage Foundation’s Cynthia Aspden Youth Development Fund Grant and the Dressage4Kids Lendon Gray Scholarship. The program spanned from January 3rd to March 28th and took place in sunny Wellington, Florida. Each day consisted of horse care, fitness, lessons, and a lecture. We also had frequent field trips to barns around Wellington and attended other activities.
I left Pennsylvania with my horse on December 30th and arrived at Hampton Green Farm, where WIT is hosted, the next evening. This gave both my horse and I time to settle in before the kickoff of the program. This year, there were 15 “WITees” and three staff members who help Lendon. Emily Gill was Lendon’s assistant trainer, Julia Hengel was our barn manager, and Elsie Reford was Lendon’s assistant who helped with scheduling and coordination. In addition to these three amazing staff members, three other professionals, Robert Leuck, Rosie Simoes, and Stephanie Beamer, volunteered their time to help teach lessons. My WIT experience was not the typical one. As often is the case with horses, things did not go as planned. Two weeks into the program my horse turned up lame. While this was a very unfortunate circumstance, I was determined to not let it define my season in Wellington. I tried to make the most of all the unmounted learning opportunities WIT offers. I also was able to lease a horse for the last few weeks of the program so I could do some riding. I learned about such a wide variety of topics during WIT. We had lectures on many aspects of horse care and riding. Every other week, Larissa Brazier of Summit Hypnosis and Wellness spoke to us about mental fitness for the equestrian athlete. Twice weekly, we were taught Pilates by Susan Copich. This was my favorite part of the fitness work, and I will be continuing to work on it. I felt it made a difference in my core engagement, strength, body awareness, and suppleness. I also learned a lot from the frequent quizzes we took. We had to study and test on basic anatomy, muscles, bones, soft tissues of the legs, the digestive tract, the entire USDF Training Manual (broken up in segments), and various articles. Some of my favorite parts of WIT were the field trips that we took to professionals’ barns. Our very first field trip was to Ali Brock. She was incredible to watch ride and teach, and she explained everything she did. She walked us through her warm up routine and emphasized that she uses the warm up to make sure she has control of every single step the horse takes. I also took away that she never does the work for her horses and makes sure to stay elastic so they are able to perform. Ali never cut a corner, even in counter canter. We were also able to take a field trip to Debbie McDonald’s barn to watch her train Adrienne Lyle and Kasey Perry-Glass. This field trip was very inspirational. Even at the highest levels our sport, they are still working everyday to perfect the little details. One more notable field trip was to another Olympian’s barn, Jan Ebeling. We were able to watch him ride and hear him give an inspiring lecture about training, competing, and the Olympics. One of my favorite things I learned from Jan was on partnership with horses. He discussed the importance of trust from our horses and always being thoughtful about training so you are setting the horse up to understand and be successful. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to interview both George Williams and Katherine Bateson-Chandler. My interview with George Williams was incredibly insightful. It helped me more fully understand what it takes to become as accomplished as Mr. Williams and what it is like to be in his position. Interviewing Katherine Bateson-Chandler was equally as insightful. She discussed her career path, advice for young dressage riders, and what it is like to train with Robert Dover and Carl Hester. It was amazing to be able to sit down and have conversations with such successful and kind people. During my time in the Winter Intensive Training Program, I got a real taste of what it is like to be in this industry and to live and breathe dressage. Along the way, I had fun and made some amazing friendships. I cannot begin to put all that I learned in these three months into words. Even my notebook does not capture what I learned from observation and just spending so much time around horses. I am forever grateful to The Dressage Foundation and to Dressage4Kids for their support of my participation in WIT.
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3/31/2019 0 Comments End of WIT The last day of WIT was March 28th, and I am now writing this post in the truck on the drive home. The end of WIT has been very sad. We are all going to miss each other so much. I have made some pretty great friends over the last three months. It has been weird to see everyone part ways and return to normal life, but I know I will see many of the WITees at shows this summer.
When I reflect over the last three months, I can’t help but feel so thankful for all the opportunities I have had and for all that I’ve learned. From lectures to field trips to fitness to lessons, I feel I have improved as an overall horse person. I am so lucky to have had the support of my parents, Dressage4Kids, and The Dressage Foundation to make this possible. Looking forward, I can’t wait to apply what I’ve learned. I plan on continuing to seek education, improve my riding, and work on my own fitness (especially Pilates). 3/19/2019 0 Comments Diva - Lease Horse for MarchWe are still working to diagnose Rainier's back problem. Because I had not been able to train since mid January, we were able to find a horse for me to ride in the program for the month of March. Her name is Diva. She is a gray PRE mare who is schooling about third level. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to ride and learn from such a cool horse, especially one that feels so different from Rainier. At this point, with just over a week left, I am really trying to learn as much as possible from her.
3/19/2019 0 Comments George Williams Interview reportThis is long overdue - I forgot to post it on here...
On February 10th, 2019, I had the privilege of sitting down with George Williams to discuss his life, career, and advice for young dressage riders. I was able to conduct this interview as a part of Dressage4Kids’ Winter Intensive Training Program. This experience was incredibly insightful. It helped me more fully understand what it takes to become as accomplished as Mr. Williams and what it is like to be in his position. This was actually the second interview I did with a top dressage professional in Wellington because I learned so much in the first one that I wanted to do another. I have noticed a common theme in my interviews with Katherine Bateson-Chandler and George Williams: kindness. Both of them were so kind to me and willing to answer all of my questions in detail. I believe this shows that to make it to the top levels of this sport, you need to be kind to others. It also shows that you are never too important to be nice to people. The main area of discussion in this interview was Mr. Williams’s life and career. We began by talking about his career path. I learned that after graduating high school, he trained in Germany for a few months. He said in Germany he learned “the importance of inside leg to outside rein, really riding the horses forward to the contact, the importance of stretching, a strong emphasis on basics, a correct seat, and a correct hand.” He outlined his entire path for me. From this, I learned that it is a long road to success, and it is important to have as many experiences as possible. Mr. Williams told me that it is important to find a career path that suits you. For him, it has been training, riding, and teaching, but not so much competing. I think it is important to note that he said if there was one thing he could change about his career, he would have gone to college because he believes it is important to be well rounded. I also asked him about his role as USEF Dressage Youth Coach and his time spent as USDF President. He is clearly very dedicated to giving back, which he said was inspired by his mother. His passion for volunteering is both admirable and inspirational. When I asked how he would describe his training style, the first thing he said was “sympathetic to the horse.” The fact that this was the first thing to come to mind is significant. He then followed by saying he tries to be classical and foundational and pays attention to the horse’s development and confidence. The very last question I asked was about his future goals. He wants to leave something behind and develop good programs through USEF and USDF (especially instructor certification). None of his goals were personal goals, which once again shows his dedication to giving back. Mr. Williams also gave noteworthy advice. He says young people should remember to have fun. If we have fun, our horses will too. He also stressed the importance of basics multiple times. To be successful, he recommends working hard, as much saddle time as possible, commitment, riding different types of horses, sticking with it, and maintaining solid education. He said that his persistence and stubbornness has played the biggest factor in his success. He also mentioned that one should not sacrifice suppleness and elasticity for showiness in a gait. Mr. Williams additionally advised to always work on your development so you will be ready when an opportunity to ride a nice horse arises. In conclusion, interviewing George Williams taught me to focus on basics, work hard, and give back to the dressage community. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to directly learn from someone as knowledgeable and experienced as Mr. Williams. 2/18/2019 1 Comment Halfway through wit! February 15th marked the halfway point of the Winter Intensive Training Program, and it has flown by! I can't believe it has gone this quickly, and I am sad that we have only a month and a half left. We have done so much since the program started, and I am sure the second half will be even better!
A quick rundown of the past couple weeks: -Isabell Werth Masterclass: Isabell talked a lot about the importance of the outside rein, especially in canter. It was really cool to hear a master teach. -Just World International: We attend Just World's Leadership Development Program every Wednesday Evening. Just World is a non profit organization that helps kids in poverty stricken areas. You should check them out! -Shows: Two WITees have showed in the past couple weeks. It is fun to go as a group to cheer them on! -George Williams Interview: I had the privilege of interviewing George Williams last week. Report to come soon. -Conrad Schumacher: We took a field trip to watch Conrad Schumacher teach a clinic. It was awesome. He talked a lot about staying supple as a rider so the horse can perform. -Suzanne Von Dietz Lecture: Suzanne Von Dietz teaches about biomechanics. It was very neat to be reminded about how coordinated dressage riders have to be. -Rainier is feeling a little better but we are still working on getting him back to himself. 2/4/2019 0 Comments Catch up post/one month in It has been a long time since my last post, so there is a lot to cover. On January 21st and 22nd, we had the privilege of volunteering and auditing at the USDF FEI level Trainer's Conference. I was able to learn some great tips and useful exercises that I can't wait to implement in my training. The demo horses and riders at the Trainer's Conference were wonderful and the symposium was taught by the national coaches (George Williams, Christine Traurig, Charlotte Bredahl, and Debbie McDonald). After the second day of the Conference on Tuesday, we hurried to the barn to take care of the horses and then went to ShowChic to see Debbie McDonald again. She talked about what it takes to win, and I really enjoyed it.
The next day was the USPRE night party. A few other WITees and I volunteered to be in a line dance as part of the entertainment for WIT's generous sponsor, Kim Van Kampen. There were six total dancers and two horses who danced to "Achy Breaky Heart" in cowboy hats, bandannas, jeans, and riding boots. One of our own WITees, Ever Robak, rode her PRE stallion in the demonstration and did an awesome job. It was overall a very fun night. We have attended two Lunch and Learns so far. Lunch and Learns take place every Thursday at WEF (Winter Equestrian Festival - the jumper show grounds). A sponsor provides a delicious lunch and a lecture. The first week was sponsored by Adequan. I got a lot out of this lecture because even though I have seen Adequan everywhere, I did not actually know that it prevents, treats, and can even reverse degenerative joint disease in horses. We were supposed to have a schooling show last Saturday, but we had to cancel it because it was pouring rain. We had it this Saturday instead. I did not ride (will explain in a later paragraph), but I enjoyed watching at our generous host's farm, Jewel Court Stud. Riders warmed up at home then made the short hack over to Jewel Court where they were fitted with Hylofit heart monitors for humans and horses. Hylofit was very generous with us. The trackers had time stamps so the heart rates could be viewed later with a video of the test, and you could see at which part your horse's or your heart rate rose. We continue to have very insightful lectures. Laura King and her daughter, Larissa, have now spoken to us twice. They are sports psychologists and hypnotists. I was skeptical at first, especially about the hypnosis, but it is actually really cool. It is incredibly relaxing and I think will get more and more helpful as they continue to talk to us. They focus mostly on visualization. We have had a few young professionals tell us their story. This week, we will start giving our own 15 minute lectures on topics of our choice. Lendon's assistant gave the first and taught us about how she makes her goal sheets. She makes a sheet each week which includes the three month goal, one month goal, weekly goal, and daily plans/progress. I liked this and will be making them myself. Last but not least, a Rainier update :) He has been out of normal work for over two weeks at this point. He was great one day, and the next was just not himself. It started with just definite discomfort. We described his behavior to the vet as well as some past behavior and she suggested it could be ulcers. Long story short - he is now on a bunch of medicine for some stomach ulcers, but most of his problems are in the hind gut. He is coming up on two weeks on the medicine so should be starting to feel much better. The ulcer diagnosis was good news, but we are not out of the woods yet. His odd behavior continued and we also noticed that he was uneven behind. We worked with the vet again on Friday but did not really find anything. He has now begun to present some mild left hind lameness, but only after he takes a misstep. The vet should be coming again very soon. Everything is pretty up in the air right now. I am hoping for an answer soon so we can figure out what's wrong and help Rainier get better. Especially considering Rainier has never had an issue with us, the timing is unfortunate. Not riding has not been fun, but I have still been learning a lot and enjoying myself. 1/17/2019 0 Comments Field Trip To Debbie Mcdonald's This morning, after we finished chores, we drove over to TYL Dressage to see Debbie McDonald. Like pretty much everything in Wellington, it was a very short drive. Her facility was beautiful, and we witnessed some beautiful riding. The first pair we watched was Adrienne Lyle and Salvino, with Debbie's coaching. It was very educational to see the way she warmed him up. She started with lots of lateral work in the walk and was always checking in to make sure he stayed sharp off of her aids. Doing this in the warm up phase made the work phase more productive because he was already sharp and responsive. They schooled a lot of canter work today, and Debbie explained that tomorrow they will focus on the trot. She acknowledged the necessity to focus on one thing per day because if you try to do everything, you will not get anything done. Next, Adrienne brought out another horse that is also doing Grand Prix. She will actually be competing this horse at Global tomorrow in his first GP Special. We got to watch her work through problems. Even though she is showing tomorrow, she never actually got a perfect line of ones. It improved, but Debbie said they did not want to drill him. They feel confident enough he will do his ones in the test tomorrow. The final horse we got to watch go was Dublet with Kasey Perry-Glass. Watching her warm up was also very insightful. Just like Adrienne, she began with lateral work in the walk. After working in the walk, she stretched him in trot and some canter in both directions. They then moved into work. I loved watching her work. Most of what they did today was in trot. At one point, she made a big improvement in Dublet's passage, and Debbie said it went from a 6.5/7 to a 9. Kasey said that after their lesson she was feeling more ready to show at Global. I could not believe that even Kasey Perry-Glass does not feel ready for shows!
Even after having time off after WEG, Salvino and Dublet were in great shape. They utilized sugar as a reward in training. Debbie also advised to know your horses really well and pay very close attention to them everyday. For example, she said Salvino was not foaming at the mouth as much today as normal. Watching the country's top riders school and work through their problems was surreal and so inspiring. We all left feeling excited to ride, even though we aren't riding at that level yet :) On Monday, January 14th 2019, I had the privilege of interviewing Katherine Bateson-Chandler. We discussed her teenage years, her horses, and her career. Katherine was wonderful to interview. She was incredibly kind, and she seemed like she really wanted to share her experiences to help both myself and the others this interview will be shared with. Her passion for dressage was apparent, but even more apparent was her love for horses.
Katherine provided great advice for aspiring dressage riders. She spent her teenage years catch riding as many horses as she could and began working for Robert Dover when she was 17. She said if she could go back in time, she would not change a thing about her teenaged life. When asked what advice she would give her 16-year-old self, Katherine said “to not be afraid of hard work or making mistakes.” As a 16-year-old myself, this stuck with me. Her advice for young dressage riders is as follows: love horses first, be your horse’s advocate, work hard, take opportunities, say yes to everything and figure it out later, be a groom if possible, treat everyone the same and with kindness, never burn bridges with anyone, and always ask tons of questions. While reflecting on her professional career, Katherine provided even more insight. She explained to me that if there was one thing she could change about her career, it would be to own more horses to make sure she always had a pipeline. She told me she got into breeding recently, but wishes she would have started earlier. She told me about her training with Robert Dover and with Carl Hester, and how they both influenced her in different ways. “I’m glad I learnt the way that Robert taught me in the beginning because it was very German classical, no gadgets, no nothing,” she explained, “And Carl is also very classical, no gadgets, all that, but he thinks a little more outside of the box sometimes.” She discussed how they taught her about power, correctness, and straightness, and how Carl especially worked with her on suppleness. “Robert’s is more about in the ring. Carl’s is more about out of the ring and not being so perfect all the time. … Both of them love horses ultimately, and that’s what drew me to both of them because at the end of the day, horse welfare is 100% above all else. Both of them have been super influential on my teaching and on my riding.” One thing about Katherine that particularly struck me was her dedication to teaching. She considers her ability to teach one of her greatest achievements and said that the success of her students is an important future goal for her. I really appreciated the fact that not only did she have goals for her own riding, but she also had goals for her students. I also asked Katherine what she thought has played the biggest factor in her success. Her answer was: “I’m pretty level. I’m hard working. I’m stubborn. I never say no. I just say yes and I’ll figure it out. I’ve had incredible support from other people. I feel very blessed in that way.” Katherine additionally shared her challenges as a professional. She remarked that finding life balance is very difficult in this business. She also added that for her, toughening up and ignoring negativity was something she had to work on. Overall, my interview with Katherine Bateson-Chandler was an incredible experience. It was wonderful to be able to sit down and talk with someone so successful. Katherine was kind, friendly, genuine, humble, and not intimidating at all. I am so glad I had this opportunity. 1/13/2019 0 Comments week 2 (first full week) This week has been a very busy one. On Wednesday night, we took a field trip to the Helgstrand Dressage open house. Fourteen horses were brought out for the audience, and they were incredible. Seeing super high quality horse after horse was a very enjoyable experience. Most of the horses were ridden by Helgstrand riders, but one was in training with Adrienne Lyle, so she rode him. She even piaffed directly in front of where the WIT group was sitting. On Thursday, we had cavaletti lessons. My biggest takeaway from that is that cavaletti should be used to enhance the work you are doing. On Friday, we went to our first Friday Night Lights at Global. Anne Cizadlo, an S judge, sat with us and gave commentary on the Grand Prix Specials and then the freestyles. It was incredibly helpful to be able to view the tests through a judge's eye. It provided great insight on test riding. Laura Graves rode Diddy in the freestyle and secured another win. It was so inspiring to see one of the greats live and in person. On Saturday night, a few of us WITees went to WEF to see the jumpers. It was the Battle of the Sexes which was a lot of fun to watch. I left after phase two, but at that point the girls were crushing the boys 25 points to 5. On Sunday, we had a WIT schooling show in a different arena on the farm. We rode tests below our level but were encouraged to practice braiding, warming up for a class, and test geometry. We will be having more schooling shows in the future. Our lectures for the week included interviewing tips with Reese Koffler-Stanfield, stallion safety with Kerrigan Gluch, a longeing demo with Lendon, and showing tips with Lendon. Our fitness program has started to ramp up. My favorite is when we do Pilates on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I feel it has helped my body awareness and flexibility a lot. This week we studied chapters 1 and 2 of the USDF Training Manual and the equine skeleton. I had the privilege of interviewing Katherine Bateson-Chandler today, and I will post a full write up soon. Her kindness and clear love of horses really struck me.
1/7/2019 2 Comments Ali Brock Field Trip On Sunday morning, we took a field trip to Ali Brock's, which was (of course) spectacular. We got to watch her train two horses. The first horse she rode was a Spanish horse who is working the Grand Prix. She demonstrated her checklist in the warm up for us and was very good about explaining why she did the things she did when riding. One thing Lendon made sure to point out to us was how elastic her elbows were. She always kept the connection even on a horse that tried to get behind the bit. It was also incredible to watch the precision with which she rode every movement. She never cut a corner! She said to take it slow and ride through a corner like it's ice. She also made sure she never did the work for the horse and reminded us to always stay soft and elastic when we ride - not try to muscle out an exercise. I really appreciated her comment that as a trainer, she encourages her horses (especially the first one she rode because his gaits can get too small) to take risks and doesn't punish them when they make mistakes. She used her voice quite often to encourage the horse after a job well done. The first horse she rode sometimes had a tendency to get frantic in the walk after work because he really wanted to leave the arena. She stressed the fact that she takes all the times she needs, even when she doesn't want to, to make sure he does not leave the arena until his walk is relaxed. I have a similar problem with Rainier, so I was grateful for her advice.
The second horse was ridden by one of her students, and she coached from the sidelines while explaining to us what the rider was doing. This horse was working towards PSG, but Ali made sure to tell us that the mare will not be showing PSG until she is very confirmed. Ali only wants to show a horse if it is very reliable to score well at the level. She said that the judges should see something beautiful and effortless that would make them want to ride the horse. Ali pointed out different aspects of the mare's training that had improved dramatically since they started working with her and aspects that were still a work in progress. It was clear to me that she is very systematic when it comes to training horses. She described how she gets frustrated when she has to teach a horse the same lesson again. Our morning at Ali Brock's was hugely educational and so interesting. I am already learning so much in WIT. |
AuthorEmma Teff Archives
April 2019
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