78
The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
BITS and pieces (continued)
Josie Sedgley & WR Rogue
Sophie with Lendon Gray
DRESSAGE NEWS
a great job controlling their ponies. Josie really stepped up her
Dressage 4 Kids - Sarah Duclos
game and finished in 5th in the Equitation portion. At the end of
Whoever thinks that kids can’t do dressage, or don’t like to
the day all the scores are combined and ribbons given to 10th
do dressage needs to come to watch Lendon Grey’s Dressage 4
place. Josie pulled off a 9th place finish! She was so proud of her
Kids Youth Festival in Saugerties, NY in July.
accomplishments.
My two daughters, Josephine, age 8, and Sophie, age 5 along
Sunday was a more leisurely day – started off with a Dres-
with their fantastic pony Half-Arabian pony WR Rogue (aka Ren),
sage Trail class and ended with the super cute Leadline class. The
packed up the truck and trailer and headed north for a fun week-
trail was challenging with barrels topped with flakes of hay and a
end of camaraderie and some pretty stiff competition.
bunch of carrots that needed to be moved from one hay topped
The show starts at Leadline and includes tests up to the FEI
barrel to another (many a pony had a snack!). They kids also had
levels. Josie entered the 9 and under Walk Trot division, along
to pick up a ball and trot a one handed 20 meter circle before
with 13 other kids and 13 of the most adorable ponies you have
dropping the ball in a bucket at C. This was Josie’s high point of
EVER seen. The Festival is composed of three separate portions
the weekend – a 2nd place finish!
– a written exam, a dressage test, and a group equitation class.
Lendon Gray herself judged the Leadline class. It was held in
Scores are calculated in each section and then combined to
the main arena area and was the pinnacle of cuteness! Little tiny
decide the division winners.
kids on ponies of all sizes and colors maneuver through the pat-
This year everyone 10 and under read the US Pony Club D
tern. Lendon spoke with each participant and asked a few horse
manual for their written test. Josie was a bit nervous, as we had
knowledge questions. She asked Sophie what color her pony
not finished reading the entire manual, but she did a great job
was…I held my breath I was sure Sophie would never come up
finishing with a score of 88 and a 6th place finish.
with “tobiano” and would be disappointed to get it wrong. Well, I
Saturday was time for the dressage tests. Josie and Ren had a good ride for a 61%, but it was not strong enough for a ribbon.
should have more faith – Sophie looked up smiled at Lendon and said, “He is brown and white.” Lendon chuckled out loud at that!
These Walk Trot kids were very talented! They knew how to use
It was a wonderful weekend with a good mix of down time
their corners and rode very clear circles and solid transitions. To
and competition. Each competitor is required to do two hours
be honest, I have no idea how the judge decided who would win!
of “volunteer” work – everything from running tests to checking
All the kids rode really well.
portapots! Josie and Sophie both had a wonderful time and we
Later that afternoon was the group Equitation class. They rode in an enormous outdoor arena and every one of them did
are looking forward to next year!