Classical Dressage Art in Motion

Over the years Paul and I have enjoyed giving many clinics and the abilities of horse and rider that we train varies greatly. While we are generally sought after for clinics in the U.S.A, primarily in the North East, South Carolina and in Florida, we tremendously enjoy giving clinics abroad despite the difficulties of the language barrier. As many of you know we work with FEI coach Greta Kemmer in Switzerland from time to time. Thankfully Greta helps us out with the joys of trying to speak German by providing some translation on our behalf. This has made our FEI4ontheFloor clinics, held in Bedford, NY and Lausanne , Switzerland, a great deal of fun. She translates for us in Switzerland and we translate for her in the U.S.A..We have been hosted at two elite yards in Germany over the past several years, and for those occasions a professional translator has been provided. This however has not worked so well. The translator was not familiar with horses at all! So when we used 'termin

As many of you know I make regular trips to Europe to work with my FEI coach Greta Kemmer in Switzerland, visit England to see family and to work with some other noted names in the dressage world, and visit Portugal and Spain from time to time. I consider myself truly blessed to have the opportunity to enjoy these travels and to broaden my equestrian education and life experiences. A month ago I was thrilled to take another trip to Portugal and Spain with hubbie Paul, for multiple reasons. We were honored to be invited to give two clinics. One in the Sevilla region in Spain, and another in Portugal. We also had a super visit with family in The Algarve, and searched far and wide in both Andalusia, Spain and Portugal for horses for students. A search that was most successful and included a visit with the head of the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art, Antonio Borba Monteiro at his farm in Lisbon.  This farm is the where Nuno Oliveira began his apprenticeship in his magnificent caree

Paul and I are experienced dressage clinicians and it is always difficult to figure out just what is the right number of rides to make a clinic viable. In the past few years we have tried very hard to keep the fee schedule the same for our clinic hosts and our rate schedule has been based on a rather old fashioned method of price per ride with a minimum number of rides needed per day to make our trip and time worthwhile. We allow the host barn to add to our fees so they can make money too and often allow the barn to keep the auditor fees. I was chatting with a high profile Olympic dressage rider who was giving a clinic in our WVH Ride with an Olympian series recently and we were discussing the dilemma. You want to be approachable for riders of all ages and levels and want to keep your prices fair for the experience you have to share. It was pointed out to me that working on a per ride basis with minimums does not incentivize the hosting barn to promote or push the clinic experience

It amazes me that many riders don't set goals and make short and long term plans when setting up their horse training sessions and show schedules. And they don't do their homework between lessons. There certainly is a such a thing as too much horse show time. The show season can be extremely stressful to your horse. Between the change in location, footing, turnout, water, company, noise, trailering and the hard work you will demand of him it is not too smart to just show and show til there is nowhere to go. There is also such a thing as too much schooling time. It is not just about how often you school though regularity is important. It is about how wisely you use the time. As a dressage clinician I see many good hearted and well meaning riders that arrive at the clinic expecting some sort of miracle. Generally we ( my husband Paul is also a Grand Prix dressage trainer), do manage to give every participant at least one 'ah ha' moment. When you school your horse, e