USDF Symposium 2009

The Symposium featured an excellent selection of riders and horses
to illustrate Jan Brink's Communication: A Two-way System of
Understanding. Jan discussed and demonstrated the importance of
expressing a signal system that eases the communication between horse
and rider. I thought he did a great job of communication but when it
went awry he smoothly turned to finding a solution for horse and
rider that made the experience better for both. With the clinics
that I have attended and the Symposiums on the National stage, I
think many attendees don't realize that the rider has quite a role to
fill -- to be able to ride to the standard expected and execute the
instructions given. It can be quite a challenge.

SPS Christmas Party

We have had our last practice for the Christmas Quadrille and it was
fitting to be in the mist and we will be doing the performances in
the upper competition ring for the first time. Looking at the
weather: wear warm clothing, good warm shoes/boots and we will be
performing regardless of the weather. The good part is the food and
dog agility will be indoors! My direction on what food to bring: we
will be furnishing ham and turkey, rolls, cider, coffee, and hopes
that there will be lots of chocolate.

Convention & Symposium in Austin

I'm BACK! And it was a great convention. Starting with a nice
hotel, the Renaissance Austin Hotel, and convenient meeting rooms
and schedules of Councils and Committees that also enabled the
Delegates to attend the education sessions as well. Of course, since
my flights were uneventful and my luggage was on the carrousel when I
arrived in Austin and back home that was an added plus. I am on the
Membership Committee so I shall give you a run down on the items
coming from this group. I also attended the Adult Education Council
and the GMO Council. The Adult Education Council oversees the Adult
Clinics given through all 9 Regions. The Region 3 Adult Clinic was
held in Ocala in October.

The Symposium was held over Saturday and Sunday with a lecture
Saturday evening. The clinician was Jan Brink and the topic:
Communication: A Two-way System of Understanding. We were in a
climate controlled arena -- emphasis, wear your big coat over layers
because climate controlled temperatures change drastically when they
roll up the big door between horse and rider combinations -- and
there were 8 of those! I will be posting information gleaned from
the lecture and symposium in my lessons and on this site.

Glad I went, glad to be home.

Off to Austin.....

I'm of to Austin, Texas to attend the USDF Annual Convention and
Symposium. We have a jam packed agenda from Committee and Council
meetings to University Education sessions to Youth education to the
Trade Fair to the Board of Governors (BOG) General Assembly to the 2
day symposium itself which features Jan Brink.

Some of the presenters and panelists are: Hilary Clayton, Terry
Ciotti Gallo, Sandy Howard and Jane Savoie.

As usual, I will attend the BOG Assembly as a voting Participating
Delegate. I expect there to be votes on dues, replacement of BOG
members, and, restructuring of the BOG as well as other items which
may come up.

Look here for a report upon my return.

Judith

Debbie Rodriguez Clinic Dates

Here are the dates for the Debbie Rodriguez Clinics in 2010:

9 - 10 January
8 - 9 May
28 - 29 August
20 -21 November
Please be sure to check our calendar to see if there are any changes
or additions.

Show Date

SPS is pleased to announce that it will hold its Spring schooling
show on 10 April 2010. The judge will be Leslie O'Neal Olsen "R"
from Villa Rica, GA. She judged here last year in our August show
and both competitors and volunteers were pleased with her.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving -- and we have many friends and animals to
give thanks for having in our lives. The horses are fluffing out
their winter coats with the cold coming in and enjoying their days.
We have clinic dates for Debbie Rodriguez for next year and we are
all hyped on the riding aide of the Unisit which she introduced at
her last clinic and which we have added to our riding routines. If
you are interested, stop by the barn and watch us work.

This must mean we are rich !!

An old European proverb states, "You can measure the extent of a
farmer's prosperity by the height of his manure pile."

From the AQHA magazine.

Sad Day at SPS

We are sorry to report that we lost one of our school horses - Dundee
- yesterday at the age of 29. He was a TB gelding and had been in
our school program for 19 years. Dundee was a good natured horse who
taught many students, both child and adult, to ride. We will miss
him greatly.

Debbie Rodriguez Clinic

There was some great fall weather when I arrived in Huntsville for a dressage clinic at Steel Prize Stables. Temperatures were in the low 70's and the sun was shining. It doesn't get much better than that in November. Recently at home one of my students was cleaning out the tack room and came across a Unisit,  a strap that helps position you into a more correct seat, hip and back position. I asked if I could borrow it and brought it along to let some of the riders at Steel Prize play with. Everyone that was willing to give it a try felt a longer leg position with most everybody comfortably lengthening their stirrups. Some of the riders had a light bulb moment feeling the security that correct posture brings. In the lessons each person warmed up at the walk, trot and canter  before trying the Unisit. Then after some work  with the Unisit they tried to get that same feel without the device. While experimenting with that was fun and useful it was nice to see riders keep that longer leg position through their regular work and add an exercise or two that was new to them. For some of the training level riders it may have just been adding some smaller circles and figures into their work while some of the more advanced riders concentrated on staying centered while alternating leg-yield and half-pass across the diagonal. At first the leg-yield to halfpass was a challenge for riders to keep both themselves centered and their horse aligned to the long sides of the arena. However after a few attempts the horses alignment stayed steady through the change of flexions. With no shows in the immediate future it was nice to address some of the basics and keep things simple. When I return in January it will be good for the riders to have an idea of their show season goals to see if we can put some of this week-end's learning toward those goals. 


Until then, Debbie

Sara practices her position on Freeda.