Renaissance Austin Hotel in Austin, Texas. The convention was on a
shortened schedule of 3 days ending with the Symposium at the Travis
County Exposition Center with Jan Brink on 5 – 6 December.
We had presenters who spoke on these topics: Fabulous Freestyles: Hot
Tips From Top Sources was a panel discussion lead by Terry Ciotti
Gallo with Ann Guptill, Sandy Howard and Tigger Montague; and, I'm
Right. You're Wrong. The Ground Rules of Dispute Resolution
presented by Tom Blackwood who specializes in conflict management and
facilitates corporate strategy sessions. Jane Savoie presented
Finding Emotional Balance and Dr. Hilary Clayton with Balanced Rider-
Balanced Horse, and a Fireside Chat with Lynden Gray and Debbie
MacDonald.
I also attended the Adult Education Council meeting because adult
education has always been a special interest of mine. Charlotte
Bredhal Baker is under contract through March of 2011 and she has
already taught the Region 3, 8 and 5 clinics. I am hearing good
things from attendees and if you can arrange your schedule they are
great to attend as an auditor or a participator if you are selected.
The next closest clinic will be held in Hermosa, Mississippi in March
– you will see contact information in our USDF Connections magazine.
For those of us fortunate enough to stay through the weekend we were
treated to Jan Brink's "Communication: A Two-Way System of
Understanding" with the first riders and horses taking the arena on
Saturday. Jan also gave a lecture Saturday evening during which he
expressed the importance of a signal system that eases the
communication between horse and rider. He says that this
communication is of great importance for all riders – amateurs as
well as professionals – and is something we need to work on every
single day to improve our riding and performance. He stated during
the evening that the rider's goals and the capabilities of horse and
rider must match. That we need to understand that the horse is not a
machine and that the horse does not see the big picture of our
goals. Jan says the ends do not justify the means and that we need
to stay tuned to the talents and trust of our horses. During the
lecture, we got to see Jan's beginnings and now hard he worked to
reach his level of competition and place in the international
dressage community. He also expanded on comments from the day's
instruction to riders and horses which gave us important insights
into his commitment to improving horse and rider performance. We
then got to see the application of his instruction again on Sunday
and were impressed with the improvements made by these participants,
both horse and rider.
