With friends Jean & Michael in Ocala

This past month has been exciting, educational and fun. On March 19^th I left for Hernando, MS 

where I was scheduled to teach a USD

clinic for adults. Clifton Farms/Midsouth Dressage Academy owned by Elizabeth Rice turned out to be an absolutely beautiful facility with everything under one roof. Two dressage arena’s next to each other, lots of stabling, accommodations for a lot of riders and a very nice lounge. I had a great time teaching a very enthusiastic group of riders and auditors. I am really enjoying this format and the interaction with the auditors. At most of these clinics the riders and my self stay on the facility, so we really get to know each other and it makes for a very comfortable relationship in the lessons. I was there until Monday March 22^nd. 

On March 25 my husband and I left for Ocala, Fl where we stayed with very close friends Jean and Michael Morris. They have been friends for over 20 years and Jean a student when she lived in Ca. They have a beautiful farm in Ocala with a couple of horses. Each morning I helped Jean with her very nice horse Pelino as well as a few other riders who came to her farm. I also went to Mary Alice Malone’s beautiful Iron Springs Farm. I helped her with her two very nice and talented Frisian breeding stallions. While we where there my husband Joel played some polo with friends at the Village’s polo club near Orlando. His team won. One day we went to see the USEF National Championship for four in hand driving. What a thrill that was. We got to see Chester Weber win. It was a perfect trip with a mix of work, good friends and a lot of fun. We were there for 5 days.  April 1^st. I judged at Los Angeles Equestrian Center and April

2-3rd I took part in a judges Forum. Jane Weaterwax did a great job as our teacher with help from my friend Lilo Fore. Stephen Clarke was there judging the CDI as part of the show and had a book signing for his beautiful book “Dressage Dreams”. A perfect gift for your dressage friends.

April 9^th I left for Minneapolis for my next USDF clinic. It was held  

at Leatherdale Equine Center at the University of Minnesota. This was also a very nice facility with everything under one roof and a heated arena. Friday afternoon I watched all the riders in groups just to get an idea of their levels. After wards Lloyd Landkamer (organizer of WEG dressage) invited all the riders for a great dinner. He is a very good cook. Saturday and Sunday I taught 8 riders a day and had a lot of good interaction with the auditors.  

April 15-16 I taught a clinic in Phoenix. This is a regular clinic with a very good group of riders. Cyndi Jackson is the trainer and it is a lot of fun teaching her on her very talented horse Strauss. She is doing very well at the CDI’s in the PSG and Int. 1 and hopefully will make it to Gladstone. I also teach her students on a regular basis and they are all nice riders on very suitable horses. It is very rewarding to see the progress they make from clinic to clinic.  

April 18 I left for Lexington, Ky. I was supposed to go for a few days to watch the test event for WEG. As it turned out Stephen Clarke who was one of the judges for the event was stuck in London, because of the volcano, so I ended up judging instead. April 19^th I 

spent most of the day with Australian (0) judge Mary Seefried. She had gotten there a day early. We drove around the Kentucky Horse Park most of the day. The new stadium is very impressive and the park is just beautiful. Aside from hosting the test event for WEG it was also the week of the well known Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event. In the afternoon we watched the jog for the dressage horses. All in all 28 Grand Prix horses from all over the East Coast and Canada. At this point Linda Zang, Janet Foy and Joan McCartney had arrived. All 5 of us were judging and Linda was president of the Ground Jury as she will be at the World Games. 

judges panel at test event in Lexington

 

 

Tuesday was the Grand Prix and it went most of the day. The discussion among the judges at dinner time is one of the best and most educational parts of being a FEI judge. I love hearing everybody’s point of view, especially since we all respect each others opinion. I am always learning more. Wednesday was the GP Special and we had some good and very close rides, making it hard to separate out the top placing’s. Mikala Gundersen and Bonny Bonnello were a very close first and second.  In the evening Lloyd Landkamer (dressage organizer) and Gil Merrick (former director of dressage) organized  a birthday dinner for Janet Foy (her birthday April 26 ) and myself (birthday that day) with cake and candles etc. at a very nice restaurant.

Birthday girls Janet Foy and CB

 

 

On Thursday April 22^nd we went to watch the

dressage part of the

Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event in the morning. At noon Janet Foy and I went to a meeting at the USEF headquarters for the High Performance Committee. Anne Gribbons, Eva Solomon, Jenny Van Wieren and Kathy Connelly were also there. After the meeting we went for a late lunch watching the end of the dressage phase for Rolex. In the evening we were back to judge the GP Freestyles. We all had Tina Konyot as the clear winner and Chris Von Martels as runner up. It was an exciting evening with a great crowd. For the entire show I was fortunate to have Maureen Van Tuyl ( all the way from California)  as my scribe and Noah Rattner (all the way from Oregon) as my e-scribe. They are the absolute best and it made my life as a judge so much easier.  Friday morning I went to the airport and the first person I ran into was Robert Dover. It turned out we were leaving out of the same gate and spent an hour getting caught up. Robert is Chef for the Canadian riders and doing a great job. All in all Lexington was a great experience and I highly recommend going to the WEG.  

Friday April 23 I arrived home and started to ride my horses  again. I think they have forgotten what I look like. My next USDF clinic is at Scott Hassler’s in Chesapeake City in MD May 8-9^th. 

My first clinic was at Magnolia Farms in Live Oak, Florida October 15-18. The clinic was very well organized by Holly Hilliard. The facility was beautiful with a great covered arena. Our host was Cathy Wilson. I stayed at the facility and many of the riders stayed in cottages on the property.  It made for a very friendly atmosphere. The riders cooked dinner both nights and everybody got to know each other.  I actually arrived two days early to teach a private clinic before the official clinic. I really enjoyed working with everybody. The format was Symposium style and that is a bit more challenging. I didn’t know any of the riders or horses, but needed to make a fairly quick assessment to make a plan. While I was teaching the riders I explained everything I was doing and why to the auditors. This was very good practice for me, since I have never been very fond of public speaking. I have to say I really enjoyed the interaction with the audience. They were very eager to learn and very supportive of the riders. Some of the riders were getting ready to go the Regional Championship in Wellington, so with them I worked on the details of riding the tests.

The following week I was off to Carbery Fields Farm in Lebanon, CT owned by The Caron’s.

Liz & Carbery Caron did a great job organizing the clinic at their beautiful farm. The facility was perfect for the clinic. I had a great group of riders at every level from Training level up to Grand Prix. I also had a wonderful group of auditors, who stayed focused and enthusiastic for 8 hours a day. We had a variety of good challenges and that makes it more interesting for the audience.  My goal is to make the riders feel comfortable working on the things that are difficult for them in a very positive learning environment.

April was a very exciting month, because of the FEI World Cup in Las Vegas. Earlier in the year I had been asked by show manager Glenda McElroy to participate in the Olympic Grand Prix Pas De Deux competition, but didn’t have a Grand Prix horse at that moment. As luck had it, my student Cathey Cadieux had just bought a Grand Prix horse from my friend Bent Jensen and after riding him (Liberty Light) for a few days, I asked Cathey if I could borrow him for Las Vegas. She said yes and I had less than 30 days to get ready and find a partner. Glenda suggested Charlotte Nielson from Las Vegas who also just got a new GP horse in training (Dacapo owned by Bonnie Elkanich) Charlotte and I met up at LAEC three weeks before Vegas to practice. I had choreography and music in hand. I can’t say it went well and I am sure we both were very nervous about the whole thing. A week before World Cup I trailered out to the beautiful facility in Las Vegas where Charlotte trains. My friend Liz Gilman came along to help me with Bert. We spent three days practicing and by the third day things were looking good. Then we went to the Thomas and Mack arena and had two more days to practice. It was so much fun to be able to ride with all the top riders in the world as well as watch them in their daily routine. I have to say, even with the best in the world Steffen Peters stands out. The harmony between him and Ravel is outstanding and such a pleasure to watch. I was so happy that he won. We need role models like him at the top of our sport.

Friday afternoon it was time for our Pas De Deux and I was a nervous wreck. It was a lot of pressure riding in front of thousands of people on a horse I barely knew. I had no idea how he would handle the crowd. Debbie McDonald and Adrienne Lyle went first on the two lovely GP horses Felix and Wizzard (both qualified to go to Gladstone) and owned by Perry and Peggy Thomas.  Their outfits were great and even though I didn’t see their routine, I could tell from the thunderous applause that they did well. We were next. Liberty Light was a dream and I was so proud of him. He didn’t put a hoof out of place and gave me 100%. Charlotte and I stayed together pretty good and the judges complimented us on that as well as choreography and music. Our theme was disco and on our last center line we did the John Travolta hand gesture to” Staying Alive” while passaging. It brought down the house and I have never in my life had so much fun in a dressage arena. Since I love disco, I have always wanted to do the John Travolta move, but never dared in a regular freestyle. It was great not to worry about rules. Judges Linda Zang and Markovski were great and went along with the fun. We need more fun stuff in our sport to attract a bigger audience. Guenter Seidel and Beth Ball were next and their theme was ‘Phantom of the Opera”. Their costumes were amazing and their routine very dramatic. They won and we were proud to be second. Friday afternoon was also Brentina’s retirement ceremony. It went off beautifully and as with Steffen, I congratulate Debbie on being a great role model for our sport.

Saturday it was time for me to get nervous again. I am not sure what I was thinking when I also had agreed to be part of the Celebrity Reining Challenge during the World Cup Jumping Final. I had no idea what to expect, but had taken some reining lessons locally the month before. On Wednesday before the World Cup the Reining Association brought in some wonderful quarter horses for us to ride. We got divided into two teams. The International Team consisting of no other than the #one reiner in the World, Ann Funck as well as Anky Van Grunsven who takes reining lessons on a very regular basis and world famous jumper rider Rodrigo Pessoa. No pressure there. My Team mates were Gold medal winner Will Simpson (who I know from the Santa Ynez Valley where he used to live) and top reiner and president for the NRHA Rick Weaver. Rick was super helpful and a very good sport. Will is always game for just about anything. All 6 of us practiced at the same time with help from some great instructors. My instructor was David Hanson and he was an exceptional teacher. While we were spinning and sliding right outside the stabling for the World Cup horses, many of the riders  came by and couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Jessica Ransehousen and Gil Merrik came by and for the first time in my life I saw Jessica speechless. She got over it fairly quickly and got into her competitive mode, telling me to beat Anky. Yah, right. When Saturday came, we all got dressed in our finest western gear and for some of us, we had to do our very first reining pattern in front of thousands of people yelling and screaming. My horse Reeboks Rerun had been absolutely perfect in practice, but got a bit fired up in the Mack Arena. Not only was the audience very enthusiastic, but the announcer added serious sound effects like screeching brakes for our sliding stops. I can’t think of too many horses that wouldn’t be affected. When all was said and done our team won. So much fun to try another sport and I absolutely loved all the reining people. They were super nice and made it a great experience for all of us.  If you would like to watch video clips from Pas De Deux and reining challenge click on this link. Las Vegas Pas De Deux and reining Challenge 2009

Saturday evening was the freestyle and the main event. Even though the class had started out with some very difficult moments for American dressage it ended up a magical night when Steffen won with a fantastic ride, ahead of Isabelle Werth and Anky Van Grunsven.  A perfect end to an incredible week. My husband Joel had flown in on Thursday, just in time to be part of it all.

The following week I judged at the CDI at Del Mar. One of the judges on the Grand Prix panel was “O” judge  Stephen Clarke from Great Britain. Stephen is one of the most well liked and respected judges in the world. I have known him for a lot of years and he is one of the most decent human beings I have ever met. I have ridden under him many times and I have sat in the judges box with him many hours to learn. He is so generous with his knowledge and always humble and respectful to others. We should all aspire to be like him. Judging with him and the others was a great experience with lots of good discussion. We had the pleasure of judging up and coming super star Adrienne Lyle on  Felix and Wizzard and she did a great job on both. Leslie Morse also did well on Tip Top.