dressage
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Flatlanders Dressage & combined training assoc. Member Visits the Spanish Riding School Submitted by Shannon Klepper
this article isn’t actUallY aBOUt the spanish riding school in Vienna. instead, i’m referring to our personal experience with a not-so-famous riding school in northern spain. a couple of years ago, i wanted my children to experience life outside of our rural existence in Ohio. although none of us spoke spanish, i moved my four children to spain and enrolled them in public school for a total cultural immersion. although all of the children adjusted very well to their new surroundings, my youngest child, annie, had periodic bouts of homesickness, and she especially missed her pony, Pepper. Using my best “spanglish” to search out somewhere for annie to ride, we discovered a riding school within a 30-minute walk from our apartment. i was a little concerned about her
10 tries to get her name correct—Zocky (pronounced thocky). the instructor, Patricia, was very sweet to annie; perhaps she sensed my nervousness, but she asked if i could help her with teaching the class. this eased my mind greatly in that i could be right there in the center of the arena if anything went awry. Patricia helped me with my spanish, and i helped her with her english. teaching a riding class isn’t easy, and having a new student who didn’t speak the language added a great deal of stress. it was reassuring to see my homesick daughter smile the entire time, even though her legs were burning. it obviously doesn’t matter what language you speak, or what country you live in—ponies make little girls very happy!
taking lessons in a foreign country. Prior to her first lesson, annie’s siblings and i drilled her with every possible spanish, equestrian, vocabulary word we could think of! We arrived at the school early and were able to watch the class before hers. the horses looked very nice and well trained, but there was one chubby, little black pony that was an obvious troublemaker. annie and i both hoped that she wouldn’t be stuck with him! Our favorite pony was a little grey mare [ equine journal affiliate ] that reminded annie very much of Pepper… that’s the one that annie was paired with. it took us about Offers Many Benefits to
charles river Dressage association New Members
Submitted by Jill diGreGorio
KATHLEEN CROSBY USDF Gold Medalist Former USET Grand Prix Training List USOC Olympic Festival Team Bronze medalist
PHELPS PHOTO
Dressage Instruction and Training Boarding and Training Available at beautiful new facility.
Wander’s Way, Ipswich, MA
978-317-9090 148 equine
Journal
| November 2012
charles riVer Dressage assOciatiOn (crDa) invites dressage enthusiasts to sign up for early registration and save. crDa Membership benefits include: eligibility for crDa year-end awards, e-newsletters, lower “Member” pricing for clinics and shows, subscription to the Equine Journal, subscription to the Massachusetts Horse magazine (to be eligible for the subscription, the member has to be a Massachusetts resident), and special year-end clinics with well-known clinicians. there are a few other perks to our relationship with the two publications—neither sell or rent their mailing lists. in the Equine Journal, you can take advantage of the following: each member will receive one free classified advertisement per year. each member will receive one free Equine Journal Prospect per year. all members of crDa will receive a 10% discount on display advertising when paid within 30 days. in Massachusetts Horse, you can take advantage of the following: each member can run one free 20-word classified ad in each issue of the magazine. crDa annual membership dues are $35 (postmarked before December 31, 2012 and $50 (postmarked after that date. crDa also offers Business Memberships for $70 if postmarked before December 31, 2012, and $95 if postmarked after that date. Business Membership includes all family members. to join, please send your completed membership application form (you will need adobe® acrobat® reader to view and print this form), as well as a check, to: charles river Dressage association, 4 Jade Walk, Medfield, Ma 02052. For more information, call carol Burkhart at 508-359-9961, email cburkhart3636@gmail.com or visit crdressage.org.