The Centerline Vol. 17, Issue 3
www.azdressage.org
MARCH 2017
Chaos
Photo by Aly Rattazzi, Elisa Wallace doing trail class on Hwin, Full Article: www.Horse-Channel.com
Arizona Dressage Association
By Susan Downs Parrish, Ph.D.
On October 9, 2016, I entered my first dressage trail class. I felt obliged. Bobbi Lehman of the Amado Equine Hacienda went to all the trouble of designing two trail classes. The least I could do was enter one. Yes, I go to great lengths to avoid guilt feelings. Dressage Trail 2 appealed to me because one of the movements included weaving among a set of poles at trot or canter. If done at canter, lead changes were required. It sounded like fun—a challenge for my Intermediare 1 girl. Reminding myself that we could back out on the day of the schooling show, I set up obstacles in my dressage ring. If you’re thinking about riding in a dressage trail class, but worried about remembering the sequence of moves, let me assure you that a faulty memory won’t be a problem. The obstacles serve as prompts—cues strewn along the way between the first movement and the last. But if you don’t mention this to your non-horsey friends, they will be so impressed that you managed to get through the sixteen movements of the test without getting lost. The obstacles placed at different points in my ring consisted of poles, garbage cans, cavaletti ends, and a rubber mat. With a little imagination, the conglomeration of stuff scattered around my ring looked like what we would encounter in Amado. As my favorite engineer likes to say, “Close enough for government work.” Maronda willingly walked over the rubber mat at home, but would she be so willing when faced with the wooden bridge at the show? I had my doubts, but Bobbi assured me that before the class, we would be able to practice going over the bridge. When confronted with the actual bridge, I expected Maronda would say, “Seriously?” Before describing how our ride in the trail class went, let me mention a few thoughts about judges. Some years ago, at an event sponsored by the Tucson Dressage Club, a judge talked about what he/ she looked for in tests fourth level and below. Heather Irbinskas rode a horse with gaits that approached perfection. The horse’s name escapes me. The person giving the clinic was also impressed and said, “I would give this trot a nine.” I raised my hand to ask why not a ten?” The judge said, “I don’t give tens. Only God gets a ten.” My left eyebrow (the one with an alpha mare’s personality) arched, but I remained silent. A few months later, I happened to be at a Gerd Zuther clinic at Central Arizona Riding Academy, and found myself standing alone in the aisle of one of the barns with Gerd Zuther. I said, “Judge X said
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