I have found myself repeating the same thing over and over again: "Get the energy, feel that the horse is between both sides of your body and keep a steady connection with the reins".

Too often we get so focused on the bending and loosening and movements and our position, that we ignore the basics in our warmup. But, we must never forget the training scale and the foundation that it creates in our ride.

When our horse is forward and straight, many things will fall into place. We become more straight and balanced, because our horse is going more correctly.

Fixing the rest - that comes later!

We all joke about how expensive this sport is, but I really started thinking about your typical Annie Newbie-Trainer and young adult amateur, Sarah Former-Young Rider.

Lets say that Annie is teaching lessons at $50/45 minutes. If she has a horse of her own and boards him, that is about $12,000 a year in costs and about $1500 a year in showing fees for the minimum to qualify and get to Regional Championships. Say her rent is $12,000 a year with utilities and her car costs her $6,000 a year in gas, maintenance and insurance. Food is $3600 a year. $2,000 in replacement equipment (boots, gloves, breeches) and $6,000 in health insurance that she has to cover herself.
If Annie needs $43,100 to simply survive and have 1 horse to campaign, she needs to teach 17 lessons a week without a week off just to survive. More, if she discounts the lessons for "training packages".

I did not count training for her own horse and paying a trainer to help her throughout the week, which is another $15,000 or so a year in fees.

Sarah Former-Young Rider also has this issue, since her horse is now ready to go Grand Prix and she is probably working as a paralegal to get ready for law school. She has company health insurance, but other expenses related to driving 1.5 hours to get to the barn out in a rural area.

So here we are, both need about $58,100 to have 1 competition horse that is showing as little as possible. The horse and rider cannot get hurt,  both need to make more than $60,000 a year from work if they want to eat out or take a vacation or buy street clothing anytime soon.

I have to say, I am shocked that there are so many people that are able to do this... because I assume that not everyone is living off of a trust fund.

I think that this is a great argument for more sponsorship/grants for riders in their twenties and early thirties... because there really is not much out there!

In case a 70% and a 72% were not high enough scores at this weekend's Region 1 Youth Team Championships, Jennifer and Shannon thought they would go ahead and get themselves an 81.45% in their Pas de Deux.
Yes, you did read that correctly... an EIGHTY-one point four five.
As Cheryl always says, "You are now banned from that level!"
Looking forward to the First Level version next year girls :)

Every time I see my top hat, it calls to me. It represents all that is holy about dressage and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (hours of sweaty, frustrating rides = the rainbow, in this case). The day you show in a top hat, is the day you enter the big leagues.
How tempting to wear one at Third Level... maybe we could sneak it in to our Second Level test, pretending that we barely had time to hand out Grand Prix mount off before warming up for this class.
Let me use this blog post as a reminder to myself and everyone else: Resist temptation and wear a certified helmet, especially when others are wearing them in your class and the "everybody is doing it" excuse won't save you either.
The last time I considered wearing my top hat just "for the fun of it", the horse I was on went from 0 to maniac in about 2 seconds flat. I stayed on, but boy was I shocked after he was half dead in the warm up. It just goes to show, just when you think you are safe enough to wear a fur-covered piece of cardboard, your "lazy" horse throws you on your head.

Barbara and Degas earned a third place and 70% in the Intermediare I and won their Prix St. Georges division with a 65%. The pair also ended up fourth overall in the Prix St. Georges Challenge.

At Third level, Hilary and Holiday earned a 63% and BLM Championship slot their first weekend out together at that level. The pair also earned a qualifying score of 64.762% at Second Level 4 for the Region 1 Championships.

Jennifer Foulon and Ferrero won their debut at First Level, with a 66%! The pair also secured a spot at the Region 1 Championships with their Training Level scores this weekend.

Judi Rosenfeld and Zivona ISF earned a 66.8% at Training 4 and secured a spot at the Region 1 Championships!

Floete and Barbara earned a 71% at First 3, securing them a spot in the First Level BLM Championships. The pair also got a 68.158% at First Level 4, putting them on their way to the Region 1 Championships as well.

Nancy Mayorga and Sundance earned a 66% and Second Place in a large class at Training 4 and a 67.2% the next day. This was also Nancy's FIRST recognized show!


Meanwhile, at home... the PVDA Schooling Show earned the team some great news: Lauren Peacox and Amy Lynch's Ferrodonis won their Second Level 4 test with a 69%. Karen Yingst and Kapriole won both the First 1 and 3 with a 65%.

Since buying my Trakehner, Holiday, in October 2007, he has put on a few pounds... wouldn't you say?!?!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Hubertus Schmidt is the NEDA fall clinician this year and rider applications are up. YAY!!!

Barbara is putting in 2 applications - 1 with Degas (FEI horse) and 1 with Zivona ISF (Young horse).

There is also room for 2-3 mid level horses, so I thought I would throw my hat in the ring with Holiday. Chances of getting one of the 3 slots seem about as likely as winning Regionals, but a girl can dream :)

Now, I just have to put together an application video, no longer than 10 minutes. Should I roll the dice yet again and plan to use a video from next weekend's Dressage at Lexington? I have a choice between our first time out at Third Level or the yucky Second Level 4 (in a snaffle, no less!). Perhaps not. Hubertus will just have to settle for a home video!

2009 PVDA Ride for Life and Dancing Horse Challenge Bring In Record Donations, Support

Belinda Nairn-Wertman and Jennifer Sirrine Named Challenge Winners

Upper Marlboro, MD--The Potomac Valley Dressage Association (PVDA) announced that their sixth annual Ride for Life dressage show and Jill Hassler-Scoop Memorial Dancing Horse Challenge charity performance brought in record donations and attendance this past weekend, June 27-28, 2009. The benefit for the Johns Hopkins Avon Foundation Breast Center took place at the Prince George’s Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

At the Challenge, international-level equestrians rode their horses to music for a chance to win the Dover/Nutrena People’s Choice Award (awarded to Jennifer Sirrine) and Rosenthal Land Rover $5,000 Trophy (First Place and $3,000 were awarded to Belinda Nairn-Wertman by Olympic judge, Linda Zang).
 
Also competing in the Challenge were: 2009 Olympian, Courtney King-Dye; Felicitas von Neumann-Cosel; 2009 Brentina Cup rider, Lauren Sprieser; and, Jules Anderson. Barbara Strawson performed a tribute ride accompanied by the Bowen McCauley Dancers, Hope Garden dance studio and music by the late Eva Cassidy. Jaralyn Gibson-Finn and Rebecca Langwost-Barlow performed a Pas de Duex. Olympian Debbie McDonald was the Gala's celebrity guest speaker. Unable to ride, but in attendance was Betsy Steiner.  Dr. Cesar Parra, Cathy Morelli and Michael Barisone, were also unable to perform at the last minute.

“Saturday evening’s Dancing Horse Challenge brought approximately 2,250 spectators into the Showplace Arena, almost doubling last year’s attendance. This is notably high turnout for a dressage event of this kind. By Sunday morning, people on multiple online forums were comparing the event to the World Cup,” says Chair of Ticket Sales, Hilary Moore.

Donations are still being counted and the total raised is pending, but the pre-event auctioning of a dressage clinic with Olympian Debbie McDonald brought in $8,500, the Saturday evening silent auction raised over $10,000, and one group of North Carolina riders raised more than $20,200 in donations themselves.

The PVDA Ride for Life brought in over $161,000 in rider donations and sponsor contributions before this year’s event and plans on holding their seventh annual show on June 26-27, 2010.

Saturday evening’s Dancing Horse Challenge has become one of the largest equestrian freestyle performances in the Mid-Atlantic Region and is popular with both the sport horse and non-equestrian communities in the area.

Dover Saddlery, DressageClinic.com, El Paso Corporation, Nutrena, Patuxent Nursery and Rosenthal Land Rover were key sponsors of this year’s event.

For more information about the PVDA Ride for Life, visit www.pvdarideforlife.org or contact Hilary Moore at (703) 400-9108 or marketing@pvdarideforlife.org or www.pvda.org to learn about the PVDA.

###