July/August 2022 USDF Connection

July/August 2022

Official Publication of the United States Dressage Federation

PRESERVE YOUR HORSE’S LONGEVITY Build Fitness for the Upper Levels with Dr. Hilary Clayton (p. 20) Develop Confidence & Strength with Charlotte Bredahl (p. 28) The Latest on Laminitis (p. 54)

Charlotte Jorst and Kastel’s Nintendo

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USDF CONNECTION

The Official Publication of the United States Dressage Federation EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Stephan Hienzsch (859) 271-7887 • stephh1enz@usdf.org EDITOR Jennifer O. Bryant (610) 344-0116 • jbryant@usdf.org CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Hilary M. Clayton, BVMS, PhD, MRCVS EDITORIAL ADVISORS Margaret Freeman (NC), Anne Gribbons (FL), Roberta Williams (FL), Terry Wilson (CA)

An official property of the United States Dressage Federation

TECHNICAL ADVISORS Janine Malone, Lisa Gorretta, Elisabeth Williams SENIOR PUBLICATIONS COORDINATOR Emily Koenig (859) 271-7883 • ekoenig@usdf.org

YourDressage delivers exclusive dressage stories, editorial, and education, relevant to ALL dressage enthusiasts and is your daily source for dressage!

Look for these featured articles online at YourDressage.org

GRAPHIC & MULTIMEDIA COORDINATOR Katie Lewis (859) 271-7881 • klewis@usdf.org ADVERTISING SALES REPRESENTATIVE Danielle Titland (720) 300-2266 • dtitland@usdf.org

USDF OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE BOARD PRESIDENT GEORGE WILLIAMS 421 Park Forest Way, Wellington, FL 33414 (937) 603-9134 • president@usdf.org VICE PRESIDENT KEVIN REINIG, 6907 Lindero Lane, Rancho Murieta, CA 95683 (916) 616-4581 • vicepresident@usdf.org SECRETARY MARGARET FREEMAN 200 Aurora Lane, Tryon, NC 28782 (828) 859-6723 • secretary@usdf.org

EDUCATION “What My Tests Taught Me”

An adult amateur competitor shares some great advice on using the scores and comments from your previous tests to improve your rides this show season.

TREASURER LORRAINE MUSSELMAN 7538 NC 39 Hwy, Zebulon, NC 27497 (919) 218-6802 • treasurer@usdf.org

REGIONAL DIRECTORS REGION 1 DC, DE, MD, NC, NJ, PA, VA BETTINA G. LONGAKER 8246 Open Gate Road, Gordonsville, VA 22942 (540) 832-7611 • region1dir@usdf.org REGION 2 IL, IN, KY, MI, OH, WV, WI DEBBY SAVAGE 7011 cobblestone Lane, Mentor, OH 44060 (908) 892-5335 • region2dir@usdf.org REGION 3 AL, FL, GA, SC, TN SUSAN BENDER 1024 Grand Prix Drive, Beech Island, SC 29842 (803) 295-2525 • region3dir@usdf.org

COMPETITION

REGION 4 IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD ANNE SUSHKO 1942 CliFFord Street, Dubuque, IA 52002 (563) 580-0510 • region4dir@usdf.org

“The Future Looks Bright” Meet para-rider Madison Young, a Region 7 equestrian who shares about her life-saving brain and spinal surgeries, and the horses that have given her the motivation to keep fighting.

REGION 5 AZ, CO, E. MT, NM, UT, W. TX, WY HEATHER PETERSEN 22750 County Road 37, Elbert, CO 80106 (303) 648-3164 • region5dir@usdf.org REGION 6 AK, ID, W. MT, OR, WA NOAH RATTNER 25033 SW Pacific Hwy, Sherwood, OR 97140 (503) 449-1274 • region6dir@usdf.org REGION 7 CA, HI, NV CAROL TICE 31895 Nicolas Road, Temecula, CA 92591 (714) 514-5606 • region7dir@usdf.org

ACHIEVEMENT

REGION 8 CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT HELEN VAN DER VOORT 8 Boulevard West, ph4, Pelham, NY 10803 (917) 834-2635 • region8dir@usdf.org

“Who Knew?”

A rider shares how she used tools available to USDF members, like the USDF Member Dashboard, to learn about awards and recognitions she was eligible for, much to her delight and surprise.

COMMUNITY “My Blind Knabstrupper” A Region 1 rider shares the story of her Knabstrupper, who suddenly lost his sight, but through perseverance, determination, and love, now acts as an advocate for both his breed and his disability.

It’s YourDressage, be a part of it!

Visit https://yourdressage.org/ for all these stories & much more!

REGION 9 AR, LA, MS, OK, TX BESS BRUTON 5696 Piper Lane, College Station, TX 77845 (662) 702-9854 • region9dir@usdf.org

AT-LARGE DIRECTORS ACTIVITIES COUNCIL SUE MANDAS 9508 Bridlewood Trail, Dayton, OH 45458 (937) 272-9068 • ald-activities@usdf.org ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL BARBARA CADWELL 324 Benjamin Street, Fernandina Beach, FL (715) 350 1967 • ald-administrative@usdf.org TECHNICAL COUNCIL SUE MCKEOWN 6 Whitehaven Lane, Worcester, MA 01609 (508) 459-9209 • ald-technical@usdf.org USDF Connection is published bimonthly by the United States Dressage Federation, 4051 Iron Works Parkway, Lexington, KY 40511. Phone: 859/971-2277. Fax: 859/971-7722. E-mail: usdressage@usdf.org, Web site: www. usdf.org. USDF members receive USDF Connection as a membership benefit, paid by membership dues.

Copyright © 2022 USDF. All rights reserved.

USDF reserves the right to refuse any advertising or copy that is deemed unsuitable for USDF and its policies.

Excluding advertisements, all photos with mounted riders must have safety head gear or USEF-approved competition hat. USDF assumes no responsibility for the claims made in advertisements. Statements of fact and opinion are those of the experts consulted and authors, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the policy of USDF. The publishers reserve the right to reject any advertising deemed unsuitable for USDF, as well as the right to reject or edit any manuscripts received for publication. USDF assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. All materials must be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Questions about your subscription or change in address? Contact USDF Membership Department, 859/971-2277, or usdressage@usdf.org.

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2 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

USDF Connection

JULY/AUGUST 2022

Volume 23, Number 8

Columns

28

4 Inside USDF

Focused on the Future

By Noah Rattner

6

Ringside

Outside the Box

By Jennifer O. Bryant

Departments 20

Sport Horse

Is Your Horse Fit to Compete?

By Hilary M. Clayton, BVMS, PhD, Dipl. ACVSMR, FRCVS

26

The Judge’s Box

Focus on the Purpose of the Movements

By Jayne Ayers

28

Clinic

Set Your Horse up for Success

By Beth Baumert

Features

36

42

40

48 54

GMO

Think Nationally, Act Locally

By Penny Hawes

The Game-Changer

Put US para-dressage on the medal podiums? Bien sûr, says French-born program leader Michel Assouline, who has brought his winning ways with Team Great Britain to the USA

By Jennifer M. Keeler

62

Reviews

Pass It Down

By Jennifer O. Bryant

By Kelly Vencill Sanchez

68

Dressage Paraĺso

Salute

Embracing a New Chapter

My Dressage

Human Resources

By Katherine Walcott

World-class dressage awaits at Portugal’s Monte Velho Equo-Resort and Lusitano Stud Farm

By L. A. Sokolowski

Basics

New Hope for Laminitis The most common form of this dreaded disease is largely preventable. The keys: diet and exercise

8 Contact 10 Sponsor Spotlight

By Kara L. Stewart

11 Collection 64 Rider’s Market 66 USDF Connection Submission Guidelines

On Our Cover At 19, the KWPN stallion and veteran international competitor Kastel’s Nintendo is happy and in peak Grand Prix form. He and owner/rider Charlotte Jorst are vying for a slot on this year’s US FEI World Dressage Championship team. Photo by Sunsoar Photography.

66 USDF Office Contact Directory 67 Advertising Index

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

3

Inside USDF Focused on the Future One of USDF’s new regional directors shares his hopes and goals for the sport

I

’ve spent the past 30 years involved with our sport: as a competitor, show manager, secretary, announcer, facility owner, and every volunteer position at a dressage show. Last year, I accepted a nomination to serve on the US Equestrian (USEF) Dressage Sport Committee, which is one of the primary steering committees for our sport in the US. As I began my term, I soon realized that there was more work to be done on the home front— in my own USDF region—and began pursuing the opportunity to serve as USDF Region 6 director.

One of my primary goals as a new USDF regional director is to help drive an attitude of being “future focused.” As someone who travels to every corner of the country to work with various dressage-competition organizers, it has become quite evident to me that we need to keep our eyes on where dressage is going and what we’re doing to position it for long-term success. That mission, I believe, is relevant to every aspect of our sport.

As a show organizer, being future-focused means working to improve the process flows that can make entering a show frustrating or confusing. I want to facilitate a streamlined process that competitors can use to 1) identify shows easily, 2) enter a show, 3) communicate with organizers, and 4) compete. As our sport rebounds from COVID and now faces a downward shift in the economy—our next force to overcome—I believe that the “noise” in these flows leads to a frustrated competitor and a negative customer experience. Lengthy and convoluted prize lists, seemingly endless waivers,

so many different membership requirements for each program—all can be barriers to entry for future and current participants alike. I don’t have the cure-all solution, but I am determined to make improvements to these elements.

Another future-focused initiative is helping to grow our family of licensed officials. For years, I’ve watched the phenomenal USDF L Education Program thrive. But many L graduates who go on to become USEF “r” licensed officials seem to get stuck and can’t find their path forward to the “R” and “S” judges’ licenses. They become disheartened by the process and defect from the programs. The truth is, we desperately need these officials. I want to work with our educational partners to help make the training process more accessible, without the need to travel long distances to complete training requirements that could be accomplished virtually. I am committed to prioritizing this so that the attrition rates of lower-level judges decrease.

I also see a lot of opportunity

4 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

to help those judges and technical delegates (TDs) already in the training pipeline for promotion to complete their program requirements. Once these officials are accepted into the programs, they have to sit, scribe, shadow, or apprentice at specific tests, levels, or types of events in order to fulfill the requirements to complete their application for licensing. Chasing these requirements can be frustrating, financially exhaustive, and logistically nightmarish. I’d love to work on implementing a reciprocity program for show organizers, who would be given incentives to offer opportunities at individual shows. Our sport needs more licensed officials, and we need to do whatever we can to keep the talent pipeline flowing.

Based on what I’ve written, you might think that my only focus is competition, but I am equally committed to working with USDF’s group-member organization (GMO) partners to produce successful programming for our adult amateurs. I’m also future-focused on membership growth through the “grass roots” of our sport, such as the US Pony Clubs and the Intercollegiate Equestrian Association.

I am excited and hopeful for the future of our sport. I’m equally grateful for the hard work by so many who have gone before me, and by those with whom I have the privilege to serve in my new role. I hope to bring a fresh perspective to USDF’s hard-working committees and councils and to do whatever I can to help advance our sport and position us for the future.

KATHLEEN BRYAN/YOUR HORSES PHOTOGRAPHY

By Noah Rattner, USDF Region 6 Director

Photo: Sharon Packer Photography

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Ringside Outside the Box Carrot-stretching our way to dressage improvement

Hilary presents the second of her fascinating two-part series on conditioning the dressage horses, with this second installment focusing on the requirements to perform at the upper levels (p. 20).

I was familiar with some of the exercises even before Hilary’s series came along. First off, I have her book Activate Your Horse’s Core, and I’ve been fortunate to attend her lectures on this topic at several USDF events. Those got me dabbling in “carrot stretches,” but I got more serious about them a few years ago, after Junior was diagnosed with some cervical arthritis. The veterinarian sent us home with a physical-therapy regimen designed to maintain my horse’s flexibility and mobility while strengthening his musculature in order to keep everything functioning as optimally as possible. Lots of “baited stretches.” I go through a lot of carrots!

To drive the point home, it was around this same time that I myself embarked on a couple of successive PT regimens to deal with the aftermath of some injuries. My PT

6 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

routine, which is now a permanent part of my unmounted fitness regimen, is surprisingly similar to my horse’s (minus the carrots): core work, isometric resistance, balance challenges, and specific exercises that target the muscles I need for overall stability and better posture.

The discomfort and pain associated with injuries, overuse, rehab, or simply a hard workout will give you a newfound empathy for what your horse feels. You will learn very quickly how difficult it can be to retrain incorrect usage patterns and build strength and mobility, and how easy it can be to hurt yourself if you push too far, too fast. That’s why we all need to heed the message that Olympian and current USEF national dressage development coach Charlotte Bredahl imparts in this issue’s “Clinic” (p. 28): to take great care in bringing along our equine partners, especially those whose talent and temperament make it possible to ask of them what their bodies and minds aren’t ready for.

Charlotte also points out that several key aspects of preparing the dressage horse for success are truly “outside the box” factors that cannot be addressed via conventional training.

Let me know how you or your horse have benefited from crosstraining. I just might add your ideas to my own toolbox. Until next time, namaste.

Jennifer O. Bryant, Editor @JenniferOBryant

MICHAEL BRYANT

T

here’s nothing like saddle time to improve one’s seat and riding skills. But—and it’s a big but—developing the balance, body control, suppleness, and stamina needed to advance as a dressage rider requires additional types of physical training. I’ve never met a top rider who didn’t do cardio work, strength training, Pilates, or other activities to enhance their athletic ability.

Only recently do we equestrians seem to be figuring out that our horses’ gymnastic development requires a similar approach. Sure, many dressage enthusiasts have “cross-trained” for years, incorporating hacking, cavalletti, and hill work into their mounts’ routines; but some treat those activities as little more than equine mentalhealth breaks from arena work. That doesn’t make trail rides and trot poles less valuable, but it may mean that they’re not being utilized as part of a thoughtful overall strategy of developing the dressage horse, physically and mentally.

The world-renowned equinebiomechanics expert and USDF Connection contributing editor Dr. Hilary Clayton might as well start calling herself the fitness trainer to the equine dressage stars. More than anyone I know of, she has studied how horses’ bodies actually perform the incredible movements we ask them to do, and she has come up with specific exercises that target the exact muscles and skills needed.

Some of them are, in fact, things like cavalletti and hill work; others are— well, I’d have to call them Pilates or yoga for horses. In this issue,

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Contact Timely Column Thank you for your recent column, “Dressage Lessons” (“Ringside,” March/April). It touched me in many ways and was very timely.

My wonderful gelding, whom I was planning on showing this year, was diagnosed with a serious heart issue. This was totally unexpected, and just like that the ride is gone. It really puts things into perspective.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings in the column.

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I’ve always disliked the term “horsemanship.” I understand the “horse” and “ship,” denoting skill, but I’m not a man. NASA has OUT OF TOUCH? stopped using the USDF’s “salute term “manned” for horse” logo spacecraft flights. depicts a male The term now used rider, top hat in hand is either “crewed” or “uncrewed.”

A new day has dawned, and gender identification matters.

Before 2013, US Equestrian rules for dressage specified that during the salute “a gentleman rider shall remove his hat and let his arm drop loosely along his body or may render the salute as does the lady rider.” The language now states: “At the salute riders must take the reins in one hand. All riders shall let one arm drop loosely along his/her body and then incline his/her head in a slight bow.”

Anyone who has attended a dressage show understands that we are at present a female-dominated sport. Given this, I ask: Why does

8 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

the USDF logo feature a male rider, using a strongly gendered image and action, to represent our sport?

I am proud to be part of a sport in which males and females compete on an equal playing field—horses as well as riders. Of course, I want to encourage boys and men in the sport of dressage, but most important, I want to encourage all people of all genders.

The logos of both the US Eventing Association and the Western Dressage Association of America depict a horse and rider whose gender is ambiguous. Today is a different time than when our gender-specific logo was developed.

The world is watching. It’s time to change. Let’s be proactive in updating our image. The more we lag, the more antiquated and elitist our sport appears to a world that is paying keen attention to such things.

Andrea Pappano Huntsville, Alabama

USDF Connection welcomes your feedback on magazine content and USDF matters. Send letters to editorial@usdf.org along with your full name, hometown, and state.

Letters may be edited for length, clarity, grammar, and style.

IN THE NEXT ISSUE • Annual youth issue • Careers for dressage enthusiasts • Family affairs: Dressageloving parents and kids • Get a taste of the USDF L Program

USDF Breeders Championship Series

2022 Series Finals Dates and Locations* Northwest Series

Northeast Series

August 14, 2022

September 10–11, 2022

Spokane, WA

Somers, CT

Mid-West Series

Rocky Mountain Series

August 19, 2022

September 15, 2022

Washington, MO

Longmont, CO

September 3–4, 2022

September 27–October 2, 2022

Lexington, KY

Devon, PA

Southern Series September 4, 2022 Magnolia, TX

Please check the USDF competition calendar for USDF Breeders Championship Series Final competitions that may be added.

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Collection Bits and Pieces from USDF and the World of Dressage ★ Swan Song for Weihegold at World Cup Dressage Final ★ Not-Guilty Verdict for Olympian Barisone ★ ★ IDA National Championships ★ IN THE FRAME Ashley Holzer of the USA exults after a personalbest Short Grand Prix score of 72.519% on Havanna 145 at the 2022 FEI World Cup Dressage Final. They finished ninth.

Story, p. 14. Photo by Jacques Toffi/Arnd.nl.

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

11

Collection DRESSAGE AT LARGE Olympian’s Attempted-Murder Trial Concludes with Not-Guilty Verdict Dr. Steven Simring, the psychiatrist hired by the defense, determined that Barisone suffered from delusional disorder and was dealing with persistent depressive disorder. He had been seeing a therapist on and off for years and also was vulnerable because he was abused during his childhood, the psychiatrist said.

Kanarek met Barisone at a clinic in 2018, when he suggested that she bring her horses to his stable

HAPPIER DAYS: As the 2008 US Olympic dressage team alternates, Michael Barisone and Neruda school in Hong Kong

He had been arrested on August 7, 2019 at his farm in Long Valley, New Jersey, after his student and tenant Lauren Kanarek, 41, was shot twice in the chest and spent 19 days in a hospital intensive-care unit. Barisone was charged with the attempted murder not only of Kanarek, but also of her boyfriend, Robert Goodwin, who claimed that the 2008 US Olympic dressage team alternate had fired a 9mm Ruger at him. Two other charges included possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes.

Barisone, 57, wasn’t called to testify at his trial, but defense attorney Edward Bilinkas contended that his client did not remember the shooting.

and live on the property. The rider had ambitions to reach the higher ranks of dressage, and felt lessons from Barisone could be a key to that. But testimony revealed friction between Barisone and his tenants in the winter of 2019 when they were based at his farm in Loxahatchee, Florida, and it worsened after everyone came north.

Barisone was frustrated in his efforts to evict the tenants. That led to a toxic atmosphere at his Hawthorne Hill farm, as 19,000 pages of social-media postings by Kanarek escalated harassment, which included recording of his conversations and disruption of his home and stable.

12 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

CRITICAL MOMENT: Barisone (center) is steadied by one of his attorneys as the verdicts are announced. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity of attempted murder of his former student and tenant, Lauren Kanarek, and her boyfriend, Robert Goodwin.

According to Simring, Barisone “became increasingly desperate because he saw himself in a situation in which he was being physically threatened by Lauren Kanarek and Robert Goodwin. He felt trapped. He felt there was no way out. He was afraid he’d be killed and wanted to defend himself.”

Several high-profile equestrians testified on behalf of Barisone, noting how the situation with his tenants had changed a once-dynamic man into a frightened shadow of himself.

One even expressed a fear that Barisone would commit suicide.

Allison Brock, whom Barisone coached to a 2016 US Olympic team bronze medal, called him when she heard he was in distress. By the end of their discussion about the situation at the farm, she said, “he got more upset, sobbing hysterically.”

When Bilinkas suggested in court to Kanarek that she was bent on destroying Barisone and threatening everything he held dear, she replied, “At some point, yes.”

The only accounts of the shooting came from Kanarek and Goodwin.

They were difficult to follow, and a question that did not get answered was why no third shell casing had ever been found if a shot was aimed at Goodwin.

JENNIFER BRYANT; NANCY JAFFER

Thousands of people followed the fate of dressage trainer Michael Barisone as his attempted-murder trial live-streamed from the Morris County Courthouse in Morristown, New Jersey, during three tense weeks in March and April. Many registered their opinions online about the drama of a landlord/tenant dispute that had turned tragic, with support for Barisone dominating the comments.

SUPPORTER: Olympic dressage bronze medalist Allison Brock, whom Barisone coached, testified on his behalf. US Olympic eventers Boyd Martin and Phillip Dutton also testified.

After deliberating over the course of four days, a jury of 10 men and two women delivered their verdict on the afternoon of April 14.

Barisone’s nerves, frayed during the trial as his life was dissected in public, reached the breaking point in the moments when he learned his fate. Crumbling onto Bilinkas’s shoulder, he bowed his head and began shaking in dry sobs after hearing the words, “Not guilty by reason of insanity,” on the count of attempted murder regarding Kanarek.

It was the identical verdict for the weapon-possession charge related to her. The jury decided on simply “not guilty” in connection with the attempted-murder and weapon

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BOTH SIDES OF THE SANDBOX: Dressage competitor and aspiring show manager Michele Ng

—Nancy Jaffer

YOUTH

TDF Awards Development Grants for Show Management, Technical Delegate An aspiring dressage-show manager and a dressage technical delegate each has received a grant from The Dressage Foundation (TDF), Lincoln, Nebraska, to advance their professional development.

Michele Ng, of Sacramento, California, received a $1,000 grant from TDF’s Lloyd Landkamer Show Management Development Fund. She

charges related to Goodwin, and the same for a charge of aggravated assault involving Goodwin that had been added late in the trial.

After the trial, Barisone, who had been in the Morris County Correctional Facility for nearly three years, was transferred to the Ann Klein Forensic Center in Trenton, New Jersey, for evaluation. He was to be assessed to determine whether he is a danger to himself or the community, needs treatment, or can be released under certain conditions.

A hearing on the findings, set for May 17, at press time had been postponed with a new date not yet set.

USPC/USDF Joint Program Rider Recognition

aspires to help manage well-run shows with the hope of encouraging more participation. She planned to use the grant to attend three shows this summer to shadow the show secretary, the show manager, or both.

Created in memory of the late beloved show manager, the Lloyd Landkamer Show Management Development Fund provides financial assistance to show management to aid in their development and to help them move up the levels of management.

The US Equestrian “r” dressage technical delegate (TD) Michael Taylor, of Pocatello, Idaho, has received the 2022 Veronica Holt Dressage Technical Delegate Grant. He will use the $1,000 grant toward the apprenticeships required to earn the “R” TD’s license.

The late Veronica Holt was equally beloved as a dressage TD. The memorial grant fund in her name helps recipients to defray costs associated with completing apprenticeship requirements at competitions or attending required TD clinics.

Learn more about these grants at dressagefoundation.org.

United States Pony Clubs (USPC) members can be recognized for their participation in both a USPC Dressage Rally and a USEFlicensed/USDF-recognized competition. (Introductory or Opportunity classes may be used by submitting a copy of the official score sheet from the show for verification.)

USDF and USPC would like to recognize the following riders for completing these levels. For more information, go to ponyclub.org.

Medallion Morgan Porter Connor Stegeman Bronze Medal Antonia Santacroce Mackenzie Brown Breanna Fuchs Silver Medal Tessa Geven Antonia Santacroce Breanna Fuchs Gold Medal Tessa Geven

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

13

Collection WORLD CUP DRESSAGE FINAL Dalera Extends Reign as Dressage’s Queen They saved the best for last at the 2022 FEI World Cup Dressage Final. Being five months pregnant with her second child didn’t slow Germany’s Jessica von BredowWerndl one bit: The final rider in the field of 17, she danced to victory aboard her 2020 Tokyo Olympic team and individual gold-medal partner, the 15-year-old Trakehner mare TSF Dalera BB (Easy Game x Handryk), taking the title on a Grand Prix Freestyle score of 90.836% in front of a cheering home-country crowd at the Leipzig Messe, April 9.

Olympian Ashley Holzer, 58, of New York City, on Havanna 145, a 15-year-old Hanoverian mare (Hochadel x Rodgau) owned by Diane Fellows.

“I’m thrilled with this mare,” Holzer said afterward. “She doesn’t owe me anything, and to go into this big crowd and do what she did, I’m just so proud of her. I feel so lucky at this stage in my life to come out here and compete with these other athletes, and to have a horse who has never seen anything like this and work like that for me.”

It was the first World Cup Dressage Final for 27-year-old Anna Buffini, of San Diego, California. She put in a lively freestyle performance aboard her 15-year-old Hanoverian mare, FRH Davinia La Douce (Don Frederico x A Jungle Prince), to finish twelfth on a score of 74.011%.

“The atmosphere was massive and it’s the biggest stage we’ve ever been on together, and she was definitely feeling it,” said Buffini, “but for her to go in there and trust me shows the hard work we’ve put in and the harmony we have, and I couldn’t have asked anything more from her today.”

THE NEAR SIDE

Von Bredow-Werndl and Dalera are unquestionably the world’s top dressage pair of the moment. After Tokyo, they won triple gold medals at the 2021 FEI European Dressage Championships last September, then went on to capture several European CDI championship titles prior to the 2022 World Cup Dressage Finals. They would otherwise be favored to win gold at this year’s Ecco FEI Dressage World Championship in Herning, Denmark, except for the fact that von Bredow-Werndl is due to give birth in August, the same month that the competition will take place.

The silver medal went to Denmark’s Cathrine Dufour on Vamos Amigos, a 10-year-old Westfalen gelding by Vitalis (86.164%). In her competitive swan song, the great German mare Weihegold OLD won bronze on 85.921%. Ridden

by Isabell Werth, the 17-year-old Oldenburg (Don Schufro x Sandro Hit) earned a rousing ovation in appreciation of her last show-ring appearance. After the medal ceremony, the pair reentered the arena for Weihegold’s retirement ceremony, an emotional tribute to the mare who won team gold and individual silver at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, European team gold in 2017, three FEI World Cup Dressage Final titles in a row (2017-2019), and team gold at the 2021 European Championships.

Two of the horse/rider combinations in Leipzig represented the USA. Finishing ninth on a score of 75.532% was

14 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

FEI/RICHARD JUILLIART

CHAMPIONS: Germany’s Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB

Dressage at Devon

Learn more at DressageatDevon.org

Collection INTERCOLLEGIATE DRESSAGE Otterbein University Wins IDA National Championship

TOP TEAM: 2022 IDA national champions Otterbein University

Collegiate saddles from Weatherbeeta Group, custom jackets from Sew You Custom Gifts, and a coach’s shadbelly from Kerrits.

The reserve team

PARA-EQUESTRIAN DRESSAGE

championship went to Johnson & Wales University, Providence, Rhode Island (Claire Decker, Julianna Marchetti, Brenna Stephens, and Grace Dolan). Emory &

Henry College, Emory, Virginia (Lindsay Shaw, Sofia Inchausti, Makayla Williams, and Rebecca Pagnini), placed third.

In the USDF/IDA Quiz Challenge, Elizabeth Kness of Rutgers University in New Jersey won the overall title as well as the First Level championship. The Lower Training Level champion was Breanna Gemmell of Averett University, Danville, Virginia. Anne Morgan, also of Averett University, won the Upper Training Level championship.

HORSE INDUSTRY

Development Coach Joins USEF Para-Dressage Roster

Dover Saddlery Acquired by Equity Firm

Expanding its para-equestrian dressage program, US Equestrian (USEF) announced March 29 that it has hired a development coach to assist chef d’équipe and technical advisor Michel Assouline.

Based in Ocala, Florida, Lisa Hellmer is the owner of LCH Equestrian, a USDF bronze and silver medalist, a silver USEF para-dressage coach, and a US Pony Clubs Traditional B graduate. She holds a degree in equine business management, with work experience including a stint at the GROWING THE PROGRAM: New Hanoverian Verband in USEF para-dressage development Verden, Germany. coach Lisa Hellmer Hellmer will assist Assouline and USEF para-dressage discipline director Laureen Johnson with further implementation of a development pathway and support of new programs for athletes. She will also work with USEF’s Laura Roberts, who coordinates USEF’s Para-Dressage Centers of Excellence.

The well-known English-riding-focused equestrian retailer Dover Saddlery, Littleton, Massachusetts, has been acquired by an affiliate of the Chicago-based private-equity firm Promus Equity Partners LLC, Dover Saddlery announced April 22. The acquisition includes the dressage specialty retailer Dressage Extensions, which Dover Saddlery acquired in 2015.

Founded in 1975, Dover Saddlery currently operates 35 retail locations and operates an extensive catalog and online-sales business. Dressage Extensions, founded in 1982 in Moorpark, California, specializes in apparel, tack, and other products for dressage horses and riders nationwide.

“With the support of Promus, we are positioned for growth according to a robust strategic plan,” said Dover Saddlery CEO Brad Wolansky. “Our team continues to be committed to providing world-class products and customer service to equestrians on all levels as we step into a bright future. I’m looking forward to building our next chapter as CEO with them.”

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COURTESY OF IDA; TYLIR RUSS

Otterbein University, Westerville, Ohio, bested 11 other teams to claim the 2022 TheraPlate Intercollegiate Dressage Association (IDA) National Championship. Held April 22-24 at the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, the event drew 23 schools from around the nation to take part in individual and team competition.

Coached by Jenn Roth, the 2022 Otterbein team of Valerie Golden, Jenna McPeek, Lily Syah, and Isabella Cobrun went home with a TheraPlate for their school,

BECOME A PATRON Support the US Dressage Finals by making a tax deductible gift.

Patron gifts will be recognized in the event program*, the yearbook issue of USDF Connection, and receive a commemorative gift of appreciation.

Patron levels of giving are: • Platinum

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*Gifts received by October 7, 2022 will be recognized in the event program.

To make your contribution please visit USDF’s secure online giving site at

www.usdressagefinals.com For more information please contact us at

donate@usdf.org or (859) 971-2277

Collection OBITUARY Carolyn K. “Lynn” Boomer, who helped to manage the dressage philanthropic organization The Dressage Foundation (TDF) for more than a decade, died March 28 in Omaha, Nebraska.

She was 90.

Her late husband, John Boomer, was the son of TDF DRESSAGE founder BENEFACTORS: Lynn and USDF and John Boomer in an “founding undated photo father” Lowell Boomer. Assisted by his wife, John Boomer took over the running of TDF when his father stepped down.

Founded in 1989, TDF, headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, today manages assets of more than $5 million, out of which it regularly awards monies for dressage-related education and other activities from 37 grant funds.

A Nebraska native, Lynn Boomer held jobs in various fields, partly as the result of frequent moves for John Boomer’s career. She worked as a high-school language-arts teacher, an advertising-agency researcher, and, after helping John Boomer form his own consulting firm, as an administrator in that organization. Lynn Boomer was also an active volunteer in her church, in hospice settings, and with youth.

She is survived by her sons John Jr., David, and Mark Boomer; a sister; and a grandson and great-granddaughter.

Memorial contributions may be made to The Dressage Foundation, dressagefoundation.org.

USDF BULLETINS Don’t Miss the All-Breeds Declaration Deadline

The deadline to declare a horse for the 2022 Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards Program is August 1. Submit your horse’s breed-registry papers and the completed All-Breeds Awards declaration form to the USDF office before that date.

Check Your Scores

Check your scores on USDFScores.com. If you spot an error, e-mail scorecorrections@usdf.org or call 859-971-2277. Score corrections must be reported by October 15 at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Nominate for the USDF Regional Schooling Show Awards Program

The USDF Regional Schooling Show Awards Program offers yearly awards and regional rankings for USDF group members in four award divisions: open, junior/young rider, adult amateur, and non-professional. Nominate now on the USDF website under Awards: Regional Schooling Show Awards.

Host a USDF Benefit Class at Your Dressage Show

USDF benefit classes support dressage education though USDF educational programs. Winners receive special USDF awards! Ask competition management to host a USDF benefit class.

Scores Do Not Expire for USDF Horse Performance Certificates

Even if your horse earned the scores last year, you can still apply for a USDF Horse Performance Certificate. For easy online application, see the Awards tab on the USDF website. Refer to the current USDF Member Guide for complete award requirements.

See You at the Great American/USDF Regional Championships!

Go to the Regional Championships Competitors page on the USDF website to verify that you’ve qualified for the 2022 Great American Insurance Group/USDF Regional Championships.

Have You Qualified for the USDF Regional Adult Amateur Equitation Program?

To qualify for a USDF Adult Amateur Equitation Regional Final class presented

by Big Dee’s Tack and Vet Supply, riders must either 1) earn a score of 70% or above in an applicable dressage-seat equitation class, or 2) qualify at any level (excluding freestyles) for the Great American/USDF Regional Championships.

A USDF Adult Amateur Equitation Regional Final class will be held in conjunction with each of the nine Great American/USDF Regional Championship competitions.

First Look: 2022 US Dressage Finals Presented by Adequan®

Visit USDressageFinals.com as you begin your preparations to compete in the 2022 US Dressage Finals. The Finals prize list is now available online, and declarations are open!

Horse/rider combinations must declare their intention to participate by completing the Declaration of Intent form by midnight on the day prior to the first day of their Regional Championship competition (including any open class day before the start of championship classes). There is no fee to declare, but horse/rider combinations must declare at the level(s) and eligible division(s) in which they intend to compete.

18 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

COURTESY OF THE DRESSAGE FOUNDATION

Carolyn K. “Lynn” Boomer

HOSPITALITY SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITY

Show your support to competitors and event staff as a US Dressage Finals Hospitality Sponsor! Hospitality Sponsors will receive valuable onsite exposure to over four hundred of the top competitors from around the country, as they compete at this showcase event.

Hospitality Sponsorships are available starting at $1,000.

Hospitality Sponsors will receive exposure in the event program and through onsite signage at hospitality events throughout the week. Additionally, Hospitality Sponsors have the opportunity to include a promotional gift item in the competitor gift bags. Items must be received by USDF no later than October 7, 2022 to be included in the competitor gift bags.

For more information about Hospitality or other sponsorship opportunities, contact: Chelsey Burris cburris@usdf.org (859) 271-7873

Sport Horse Is Your Horse Fit to Compete?

Develop your horse’s strength and balance for upper-level work. Second of two parts.

n Part 1 of this series (May/ June), we looked at the fitness requirements for horses at Training through Second Levels, including the need for core training, cardiovascular conditioning, and neck strengthening. Exercises to develop strength and endurance lay the foundation that enable a dressage horse to progress to the higher levels.

that, contrary to the body’s natural inclination to minimize energy expenditure, dressage horses work considerably harder than is strictly necessary, and this implies a need for greater cardiovascular fitness.

However, performing more energetically in training should stimulate a sufficient improvement in overall fitness to cope with the demands of the tests. The key fitness component

TEST OF STRENGTH AND SKILL: The canter pirouette requires the horse to simultaneously lift, bend, and turn, which requires strength and pelvic stability. Demonstration pair Megan FischerGraham and Elian school a working pirouette at the 2020 Adequan®/USDF FEI-Level Trainers Conference.

As training advances, the horse is expected to perform with greater energy and impulsion. This means

that is often deficient in high-level dressage horses is strength in specific muscles.

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Strength Training The principle of strength training is that muscles adapt to their regular type of work, growing larger as they get stronger, which changes the shape of the body. In dressage, important muscle groups include: • The topline muscles of the neck that support the weight of the head and neck • The core muscles that stabilize and move the spine • The forelimb extensors and thoracic-sling muscles that elevate the withers • The hamstrings, gluteals, and back muscles that are responsible for carrying weight, providing propulsion, and lightening the forehand.

Correct strength training for dressage produces a rounder top line, well-developed hamstrings that fill the contours behind and between the thighs, and better definition of the muscles on the forearms and gaskins. Incorrect training, on the other hand, may result in bulging muscles on the underside of the neck; a sagging back; and poorly developed hamstrings, gluteals, and back muscles.

Muscle is a heavy tissue, however, so larger muscles require greater energy expenditure during locomotion and increase concussion on the limbs. Therefore, it is counterproductive to increase a horse’s muscle mass indiscriminately. We need to focus on the dressage-specific muscles.

The higher the horse’s level of training, the more important the hamstrings become. If a session involves a lot of highly collected work, the hamstrings produce and accumulate lactic acid. This causes

JENNIFER BRYANT

I

By Hilary M. Clayton, BVMS, PhD, Dipl. ACVSMR, FRCVS

a burning sensation in the muscles and reduces their ability to produce more energy, so the horse becomes fatigued. Signs of fatigue include a loss of quality in the highly collected movements—for example, in the final passage-piaffe tour at the end of the Grand Prix test.

Strength-training exercises should be as specific as possible to the range of motion and the speed of joint rotation during the collected movements. For example, the hindlimb joint angles are more flexed and the rate of loading and unloading is slower in piaffe and passage than in the more forward-moving gaits. Therefore, slow, well-controlled movements are appropriate for strength training.

If you have access to hills with good footing, hill work can be particularly useful in a dressage horse’s strength training. Walking up and down steep hills is somewhat akin to the loading pattern in collection.

Walking uphill requires the hind limbs to step well forward, accept weight in a flexed position, then push off forcefully to overcome the effect of gravity. Walking downhill in self-carriage requires the forelimbs to push upward and backward to avoid rolling forward over the forehand, which recruits the muscles used to elevate the withers.

At Third and Fourth Levels, the canter assumes greater importance with the introduction of extended canter, transitions between collected and extended canter, flying changes singly and later in sequence, highlycollected canter steps, and working pirouettes. Canter differs from walk and trot in that the lumbosacral joint flexes as the hind limbs reach forward, allowing them to reach further forward under the horse’s body. Lumbosacral flexion and pelvic tilting can be stimulated from the ground by applying pressure along the intermuscular furrow in the haunches (see part 1 of this series for more on this exercise). This exercise activates and strengthens USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

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STRENTHENING THE HIND LIMBS: This photo sequence of a horse cantering up a hill shows the hind limbs reaching well forward under the body, with marked joint flexions when weight-bearing. Maintain a slow, controlled canter, and build repetitions and distance gradually.

Flying Changes Are Late Behind, or Hind Limbs Jump Together Learning to perform correct flying changes can be difficult for the horse because the movement involves hopping on one hind limb to initiate the change. Hopping is not a natural movement for the horse, and it requires considerable strength for one limb to push the body upward and forward as the other limbs rear-

range themselves into the pattern of the new lead. Sometimes the second hind limb contacts the ground early so that both hind limbs push off together into the change. The strength deficiency may affect both sides equally or primarily one side.

Exercises to strengthen the hind limbs should be initiated prior to teaching the changes. Some suggestions: As described above, working on an uphill gradient increases hindlimb loading and requires greater muscular effort to raise the horse’s body. Given the option, many horses will increase their speed when going uphill, but to maximize the strengthening benefits they should not be allowed to rush. A slow, controlled canter allows time for the joints to flex and extend at a similar rate to a collected canter stride. Two or four repetitions up a short hill (50-100 meters), using the left and right leads equally, repeated two or three days a week are sufficient to start the adaptive process. A greater number of repetitions or going a longer distance uphill stimulates further increases in strength.

Riding through a grid of small fences set at short “bounce” distances is another way to challenge the propulsive muscles. As in the uphill work, the jumping efforts must not be rushed; the horse needs to take

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time for the hind-limb joints to flex and extend during each landing and takeoff. As with the hill work, start with a small number of repetitions and repeat two or three days per week. Progressive loading is accomplished by increasing the height of the obstacles, the number of obstacles, or the number of repetitions.

Transitions from rein back to canter or from walk to canter, as well as simple changes of lead, all performed in an uphill balance, help to build strength in the hind limbs.

Ride these transitions frequently in preparation for starting flying changes.

Horse Falls on Forehand in Canter Pirouettes Fourth Level introduces the working pirouette at canter, and in Prix St. Georges the turns tighten into true pirouettes. The horse has to lift, bend, and turn, all at the same time.

Movements that combine a number of distinct technical skills can be learned and the muscles strengthened, one skill at a time. After the components have been trained separately, they can be melded together into the pirouette. Horses that fall on the forehand in the pirouettes are losing roundness of the back and are failing to use the thoracic-sling muscles to prevent the withers from

COURTESY OF DR. HILARY CLAYTON

the muscles responsible for tilting the pelvis.

The rein back is an excellent preparation for the canter movements because it involves tilting the pelvis and weight-bearing with the hind limbs under the body. Short, controlled backward steps are most effective; longer steps may flatten the croup. There is no need to stop after four or five steps as in the dressage tests; keep going over a longer distance to increase muscular endurance, taking care to keep the steps slow and deliberate. Reining back on a 10-meter circle or in a figure-eight pattern combines the pelvic tilt with bending of the spine, which is another useful skill for the horse to learn.

The rest of this article will focus on exercises that are helpful in improving specific problems.

sagging and the topline muscles to lift the forehand.

The “very collected” canter strides shown in Fourth Level Test 1 require mastery of balance control while moving slowly in an uphill balance. While taking ultra-short steps, the hind limbs must keep jumping under the horse’s body in the canter rhythm and accept a little more weight behind. There should be obvious flexion of the lumbosacral joint and rounding behind the saddle as the horse’s base of support shortens. Developing the ultra-collected canter correctly is a gradual process, and frequent transitions between canter strides with different degrees of collection are beneficial. After the horse learns how to shorten his steps, the ultra-collected canter should be maintained over progressively longer distances to develop the muscular strength and endurance needed for the multiple steps required to execute single and double pirouettes.

The ability to lighten the forehand has two biomechanical prerequisites: 1) the horse must carry weight behind by lowering his haunches with his hip joints flexed, and 2) his hamstrings, gluteals, and back muscles then act together to raise the forehand. Because the hind limb is grounded with the joints flexed, the muscles extend the hip joint by lifting the pelvis, the back, and the withers. This creates lightness by lifting the forehand. Note that this is a different mechanism than the forelimb pushing against the ground to raise the scapula while tension in the thoracic-sling muscles supports the trunk and the withers in an elevated position.

The “lifting from behind” motion can be taught from a highly collected walk by cueing the horse to elevate his withers as he takes a single canter step with his forelimbs. When this is well established on both leads on the straight, incorporate turning the forehand in the direction of the leading forelimb—working equally,

of course, to the left and right sides, for most horses show a distinct side preference in this movement.

The lifting exercise leads to riding a walk pirouette with a transition to a couple of strides of canter pirouette, then back to the walk pirouette. Over time, the number of canter-pirouette strides can be increased. Riding quarter-pirouettes at the corners of a square or onethird of a pirouette at the points of a triangle are also good exercises to incorporate. Building up the number of repetitions of each exercise effectively progresses toward the goal of strengthening the muscles correctly. Bear in mind, however, that these are strenuous exercises and that it takes time to strengthen the muscles that protect against overuse of the suspensory ligaments.

Therefore, progress slowly with this work, and allow plenty of time for muscle adaptation.

Horse Falls to the Inside or Inside Hind Steps to the Inside in Pirouettes During the pirouette, the horse’s body should remain vertical with the inside hind leg stepping forward.

Common problems include leaning or falling to the inside of the turn, turning too quickly, and stepping sideways with the inside hind leg, all of which signify a loss of balance, with the horse’s center of mass being too far toward the inside of the turn.

The correction is for the muscles of the outside hind limb (hamstrings, pelvic stabilizers, and back muscles) to hold the horse’s body upright (not falling over the inside shoulder) as his forehand turns around his inside hind limb.

Try these exercises to activate the pelvic-stabilizer muscles: An easy unmounted exercise that can be performed in the stall is to pull the horse’s tail gently to the side until you see the muscles around the stifle tighten, then release the tension. Repeat 10 times each on the

left and right sides. The horse can be either standing or walking while you do this exercise.

Another ground exercise is to lift one hind limb and gently sway the horse’s body from side to side or forward and backward. A helper can do this by gently pushing back on the haunches or the chest. The horse engages the pelvic-stabilizing muscles of the grounded limb to resist being pushed off balance.

A more specific exercise to improve pelvic stability is a modification of the baited stretch (“carrot stretch”) in which the horse reaches sideways toward his hock. Teach him to lift each hind limb on command, preferably a verbal command.

Just before using the bait to turn the head and neck to the side, ask him to lift the hind limb on the inside of the turn. Then do the baited stretch with the horse balancing on his outside hind limb while moving his head and neck around to the inside.

Maintain the position for several seconds. The horse’s tendency to fall toward the inside is overcome by muscles in the grounded outside hind limb that stabilize the hip and stifle and hold the center of mass within the triangular base of support. Do this exercise three times to each side daily for two weeks, then increase to five repetitions daily on each side. The horse’s ability to control his balance and position in the pirouettes should improve within four to six weeks.

Horse Doesn’t Lower His Haunches in Pirouettes or Piaffe Lowering the haunches in the pirouettes and piaffe is a skill learned more easily by some horses than others. From the horse’s perspective, the difficulty lies in changing the way the hip joint is used. During forward locomotion, the hip flexes in the swing (airborne) phase as the hind limb is pulled forward, and it extends in the stance phase

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to propel the body forward. In order to lower the haunches, the hip must be flexed, not only in swing but also in the stance phase. This is difficult for some horses to understand, and it is one of the reasons that individual horses respond to different approaches to starting half-steps.

Some horses respond favorably to being stroked with a whip on the tailhead or tapped on top of the croup, but the assistant needs to observe the response carefully and to try a different tactic if the horse bounces his croup up rather than down.

When a horse travels up or down a gradient, he tries to maintain his trunk in a somewhat horizontal position by changing the joint angles of his upper limbs. When going downhill, the forelimbs are extended to raise the withers, and the hind-limb joints are flexed to lower the croup.

From a training perspective, walking downhill has value in teaching the horse to carry weight on a flexed hind limb. Practicing half-steps on a slight downhill slope can therefore be beneficial for teaching the horse to “sit” by flexing his hip joints.

When a horse steps backward in a rein back, the hip movements

are reversed: The hind limb leaves the ground under the body with the hip joint flexed. In transitions from rein back to half-steps, the goal is to maintain the hip in flexion as the limb steps forward and accepts weight. Once the horse understands the concept of allowing the weight to sink into the hind limb with the hip flexed, the muscles can be strengthened by gradually increasing the number of steps performed with the hip flexed and the croup lowered. Transitions into half-steps from rein back help to train the motor pathways.

Horse Loses Balance in Piaffe, Passage, or Both When they are standing still, horses have a large rectangular base of support, which makes it easy for them to maintain balance by keeping their center of mass above their base of support. During locomotion, each footfall creates a new base of support, but remaining in balance is not a problem as long as the horse moves actively forward. As forward speed decreases, however, balance becomes more precarious.

When piaffe is performed in place,

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the horse must balance his weight over a very small base of support, consisting solely of the line between the grounded pair of diagonal limbs.

Each time the horse steps from one diagonal to the other, the body position needs to be adjusted to align it with the new base of support.

The ground work for balance in piaffe should be started early in a horse’s career. The ability to move the body position relative to the grounded limbs is learned in the agility exercises that I described in the first article in this series. These exercises teach the horse how to maintain his center of mass above his base of support. Horses that fail to master this skill may compensate by swaying the forehand or the haunches from side to side. Toetapping, in which a hind hoof briefly touches the ground, momentarily increases the size of the base of support and allows the hoof to push against the ground to adjust the position of the center of mass.

No Shortcuts to Strength From the first day that you work with a horse, have in mind your final goal and play the long game.

COURTESY OF DR. HILARY CLAYTON

UPHILL REIN BACK: A horse performs a rein back on a slight uphill slope. 1) The right diagonal pair of limbs lifts off. 2) The left front pushes up while engaging the sling muscles to elevate the withers, and the joints of the hind limbs flex as they bear weight. 3) The left diagonal pair prepares to lift off.

Realize that some aspects of conditioning can’t be addressed until he has reached an appropriate level of technical skill, and this is one of the reasons that there are no shortcuts to the Grand Prix ring. On the other hand, there are some areas of strength and fitness preparation that can and should be worked on throughout the training process, especially those that address balance and agility in preparation for the highly collected movements, such as piaffe.

Meet the Expert

COURTESY OF DR. HILARY CLAYTON

D

r. Hilary Clayton is the professor and Mary Anne McPhail Dressage Chair emerita. She was the original holder of the Mary Anne McPhail Dressage Chair in Equine Sports Medicine at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, East Lansing, from 1997 to 2014.

A world-renowned expert on equine biomechanics and conditioning, Dr. Clayton is president of Sport Horse Science, LC, which is dedicated to translating research data into practical advice for riders, trainers, and veterinarians through lectures, articles, and private consultations. A USDF gold, silver, and bronze medalist, she is a longtime USDF Connection contributing editor and a past member of US Equestrian’s Dressage Committee. In 2020 she was inducted into the Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame.

BALANCING ACTS: Diagrams show how the horse’s center of mass position changes relative to the base of support. From top: Standing square, lifting a hind limb, lifting a forelimb, left diagonal stance phase in piaffe, and right diagonal stance phase in piaffe.

www.usdf.org/join USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

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The Judge’s Box Focus on the Purpose of the Movements Let the exercises point the way in your dressage training

By Jayne Ayers Graphics by USDF

A

ll of our US Equestrian dressage tests include a purpose statement at the top of the test sheet. This statement is there to help clarify what the horse is supposed to have achieved in his training before presenting the results at a dressage competition. It is a guideline for riders, coaches, and judges.

Something not explained on the test sheets, however, is how each of the movements included in a given level contributes to the progressive development of the horse’s mind and body. In order to use these build-

enabling him to progress to more difficult exercises. In this article, let’s look at some examples from each of the national levels.

Training Level: Large circles.

The Training Level tests include lots of large circles. When a horse performs these circles accurately, with appropriate energy and correct bend, his inside hind leg is gradually strengthened. Because the inside hind reaches under the horse’s body more than the outside hind, and carries a bit more of the weight, it works harder. We know that it is im-

KNOW THE PURPOSE: Graphic from the USDF “Know the Movements” educational series displays the purpose of Training Level. There is a purpose statement at the top of every US Equestrian test sheet.

ing blocks to your best advantage in your overall training, a clearer understanding of what each exercise does is fundamental. Correctly performed, the gymnastic exercises and patterns in the dressage tests will help to preserve your horse’s health while improving ridability and

portant to develop our horse equally on both sides. Riding circles in both directions balances out the extra effort between the two hind legs.

Building block for: Building hindquarter strength eventually enables the horse to take the weight behind needed to produce the

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engagement, collection, and uphill balance required to perform higherlevel movements. As we go up the levels, the circles get smaller, thereby demanding more effort and building additional strength.

First Level: Leg-yield. First Level introduces the leg-yield, the first time that sideways-pushing leg aids are used. This is a new concept for the horse, and so it can be confusing when first applied. The idea of yielding to the rider’s inside leg and going into a supporting outside rein was introduced in Training Level circles, but it requires a higher degree of acceptance by the horse in the leg-yield.

Building block for: Leg-yielding improves the freedom and lateral suppleness of the fore- and hind limbs, something that will facilitate all lateral work at higher levels.

Second Level: Turn on the haunches. The turn on the haunches requires the horse to focus on and react to a new, very complex set of aids. His front end is traveling while his hind end is mostly staying in place and keeping the rhythm. It’s perhaps a bit like patting your head while rubbing your stomach!

Building block for: The turns on the haunches build the reactions to the aids necessary for canter pirouettes, but without the much greater strength needed to do the exercise in canter. This exercise also begins the process of improving the ability of the horse’s hind-leg joints to flex more, and to do so on command.

Third Level: Renvers. Renvers (haunches-out) requires exactly the same effort from the horse’s body as the travers (haunches-in), which is introduced at Second Level. Like the travers, the renvers strengthens the

Building block for: Work in very collected canter, and the transitions in and out, help to develop the lightness of the forehand needed for canter pirouettes and other highly collected work.

“Know the Movements” with New USDF Educational Program

FIGURES EXPLAINED: Understanding the criteria for every figure and exercise (like this three-loop trot serpentine) will help to guide your dressage training as well as to improve your test scores

hind leg that is on the outside of the bend, helps to develop collection, and teaches the horse to move into the bend with his line of travel. So why did the test-writers wait until Third Level to introduce the renvers? Because the entry into the renvers requires a change of bend and position in just a stride or two. The aids are complicated for the rider to apply and for the horse to understand. The end of the renvers also requires a quick reaction to the aids so that the horse clearly straightens before bending in the opposite direction through the corner.

Building block for: The changing

of the bend and balance required in the renvers is great preparation for the counter-changes of hand in halfpass at higher levels.

Fourth Level: Very collected canter. The very collected canter is a separately scored movement at this level. It tests the horse’s reactions to the half-halts as well as his willingness to shorten his base of support into a more unstable balance. He must take a great deal more weight onto the hind legs and flex his joints more in the process. To do this well, with clear transitions in and out, is one of the most difficult exercises in Fourth Level.

RENVERS: This Third Level movement develops hind-leg strength, collection, bend, and responsiveness to the aids

Delving into the gymnastic benefits of each of the exercises in a level helps riders, coaches, and judges to better understand how the progressive training of the horse develops, and why holes in the training emerge when a horse does not master the more basic movements before moving on to higher-level work.

To that end, the USDF has developed a new series of PowerPoint presentations called “Know the Movements.” These presentations explain how each movement should be performed, what the training benefits are, and what can go wrong.

The series of three remote programs is available to USDF group-member organizations (GMOs) for general education, USDF University credit, and continuing-education credit for L graduates. It is part of the Continuing Education in Dressage Judging programs listed on the USDF website.

FEI 4* dressage judge and US Equestrian “R” sport-horse breeding judge Jayne Ayers, of Pewaukee, Wisconsin, has been a USDF L Education Program faculty member since the program’s inception. She is a member of the USDF L Program Committee and a former longtime member of the USEF Dressage Sport Committee.

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

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Clinic CONVERSATIONS ON TRAINING

Set Your Horse up for Success Doing so goes beyond the daily dressage training, says USEF national dressage development coach Charlotte Bredahl

By Beth Baumert

to her. She has a kind, quiet way about her, so it’s easy to understand why she won the 2016 Horse Hero Award given by the Humane Society of the United States. The award honored “her work using horses as teachers and encouraging young equestrians to achieve their greatest potential, as well as treating their horses with the utmost care and respect.”

ADVOCATE FOR THE HORSE: Charlotte Bredahl and friend

28 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

Bredahl, who divides her time between Florida and California, is happiest when she’s teaching dressage—or riding, or playing tennis, or dancing….well, she is happy most of the time. Her positivity and resilience shone especially bright in 2020, when she underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor and the ensuing months of rehabilitation.

Her extraordinary personal qualities are partnered with the ability to train horses to the Olympic level. As an Olympian herself (she won team bronze aboard her famously difficult horse, Monsieur, in Barcelona 1992), Bredahl has helped countless horses and riders to develop through the levels. Before she was appointed to the position of USEF dressage development coach, she served as the USEF national dressage assistant youth coach. She also has contributed to the development of the sport through her career as a dressage judge. A former FEI 4* judge and USEF “S” judge, she retired from judging in 2021 to focus on her USEF coaching duties.

Although the four horse-andrider combinations Bredahl focuses on in this article are at the top of their game, she is quick to remind us that setting your horse up for success happens at all levels. The underlying philosophy is the same for any horse, and ideally it starts at the very beginning of your horse’s career.

Beth Baumert: Charlotte, would you say that many of the best horses are often challenging? It seems that many of them are “hot,” and it

LILY FORADO

I

met up with Charlotte Bredahl during the winter of 2022 in Wellington, Florida. As the US Equestrian (USEF) national dressage development coach, she has a busy schedule supporting horses and riders who are nearing the top level of the sport.

Bredahl, a native of Denmark, is an expert at setting a horse up for success, and it comes quite naturally

takes a thoughtful trainer to help them find success.

Charlotte Bredahl: Absolutely. At the Grand Prix level, the horses are working very hard, and that requires a lot of energy. Sometimes being able to channel all that energy can be a real challenge.

US EQUESTRIAN PHOTO

Do some horses come to mind that were successful but required skillful managing early in their dressage careers?

The first horse that comes to mind is Verdades. He was one of the best horses in the world, but he could be very reactive to outside stimuli.

Laura Graves did a masterful job of gaining his trust and respect so that he would work for her under any circumstances.

How about the horses you are working with currently?

The horse that first comes to mind is owned and ridden by Chase Shipka, of Wellington, Florida. Chase has been my student for three years.

Last year she won the USEF Young Adult “Brentina Cup” Championship, which is the Grand Prix test for riders under 25, riding her KWPN gelding, Gladstone Zee T. Chase’s younger horse is a nine-year-old Hanoverian gelding by Don Frederico named Dolani, and he fits the description of the type of horse we’re talking about. Chase has had “Dobby” for about six months, and we have found him to be very supple and blessed with three good gaits.

His conformation is very good, so he naturally wants to carry himself in the right way. The connection is soft; he has a nice mouth; and he likes to work. When Chase first got him, Dobby was confirmed at about Fourth Level, and he had been shown once in the young horse Prix St. Georges in Germany.

That sounds like an ideal situation for Chase.

It does, doesn’t it? But our challenge with Dobby is that he is very aware

and can be reactive to his surroundings. If someone suddenly pops into the arena, for instance, he notices and he might scoot. Although it isn’t dangerous, he can easily lose his focus, and that will make showing him a bit more of a challenge. Our plan has been to postpone showing him until he is very solid at Prix St. Georges and we have had more time to work on desensitizing him at home to increase his confidence.

We try to work on a desensitizing program about once a week.

Can you tell me more about that program?

I learned desensitizing techniques from the famous Western horseman Monty Roberts, who is my neighbor and friend at home in California. I have watched him transform many horses with a myriad of problems, and overreactivity is a common issue that he’s especially known for resolving.

It’s ideal to do desensitizing in a space where you have control over the environment. It’s difficult in a boarding facility where people randomly come and go, so we usually go to a round pen, where a reliable handler can lead the horse with a rope halter and lead shank without a chain. I expose the horse to very mild stimuli that, in larger doses, might have the potential to scare him.

With Dobby, we started with a plastic bag at the end of a stick. I presented it at a safe distance, and by the time I was done, I could touch him all over with it. During the same session, we also used a bottle with pennies in it. We shook it quietly in the beginning, and once he was used to it, we did it louder and louder until there was no reaction. In other sessions, we opened and closed an umbrella and we showed him a tarp, which he could soon walk over. Eventually we could lift up the tarp and shake it.

How many sessions did it take to see a difference?

Even after the first session there was

BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS: Chase Shipka won the 2021 USEF Young Adult “Brentina Cup” Championship aboard Gladstone Zee T (pictured). She’s now bringing along a younger horse, Dolani, with help from Charlotte Bredahl.

improvement, and in subsequent sessions, we continued to make rapid progress.

You mentioned using a bottle with pennies in it to help desensitize Dobby to noise. Applause and loud music can definitely be a problem for some horses.

Dobby was quite reactive to music, so we started to play marching-band pieces and other sounds, including applause, until he didn’t care any more. We started on very low volume and increased it until it was quite loud, but never loud enough to scare him.

It sounds as if your desensitizing program was a success.

We’ve made great progress with things in front of him, but Dobby still reacts to noises or things coming up from behind him, so we have to work more on that. The most important thing is that we never scare the horse. The purpose is to give him confidence to the point that he knows nothing is going to hurt him, even in unusual situations. [

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

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Clinic leg is stepping directly under his center of gravity, which makes the work easier.

How do you transfer the unmounted desensitizing to work under saddle?

We’ve recently moved on to the next step by doing some desensitizing with Chase mounted, and with no one else around riding. Before Chase shows Dobby, we will take him different places without the stress of showing. Dobby has come a long way, but we will continue this work until he is somewhat “bombproof.”

In reality, very few successful Grand Prix horses ever become bombproof because, as we discussed earlier, horses have to have a lot of energy and some fire to do the work they have to do in a Grand Prix test.

Let’s talk about setting the horse up for success in the normal dressage training. How do you accomplish that?

The most important thing is to train very incrementally so that the horse has a chance to understand each aspect of the work and to develop the physical strength needed to do it.

Explain what you mean by “incremental training.”

The canter pirouettes, for instance, are challenging for all horses

because they require the highest degree of collection at the medium levels, and at the same time, the horse has to turn.

It’s easier for horses to learn to collect without turning first. So we ask Dobby to collect on a straight line for a few strides, and as soon as he does it well, we go forward again as a reward for his good reaction. It is very important not to hold it too long so that the muscles don’t get sore and the horse mentally accepts it.

Then we take that a step further by noting that most horses try to evade the difficulty of collection by bringing the haunches in (or out). So we collect on the long side because it is easier to keep the horse straight when you have the wall or the rail to help you.

Over time it became much easier for Dobby, and he learned to collect very well when Chase rode him on the rail.

Next, we added the challenge of riding away from the wall. With incremental training, you wait until the horse is quite successful before adding difficulties bit by bit.

We do whatever we can to make it easier for the horse. For example, if you ride a slight shoulder-fore, you ensure that the horse’s inside hind

30 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

It sounds as if this approach also helps to preserve the horse physically.

Yes. Preservation of your horse’s physique is a high priority. For instance, if your horse has a wonderful extended trot, as Dobby does, you don’t need to practice it much. I feel that horses can only do so many extended trots in their lives, so if we school it, we do it for 15 meters or so—just enough to test the transitions in and out and to sharpen the quality of the trot. We’re always thinking about preserving the horse for the long term.

It’s the same with the half-pass.

Instead of riding half-pass across the entire arena, we will do a transition to shoulder-in several times during the half-pass.

For the horse that has started piaffe and passage, it’s important to keep in mind that horses gain strength slowly. With Dobby, we do transitions from collected trot into a forward-moving piaffe, followed perhaps by a few steps on the spot, then return to a forward-moving piaffe and back to collected trot. We do it for only a short distance so that he can maintain the rhythm and quality.

SUSANJSTICKLE.COM

OVERACHIEVER: Zhaplin Langholt with owner/rider Charlotte Jorst

How can you apply this principle to other exercises, especially ones for lower-level horses?

When your horse is learning legyield, be sure that he’s successful on a very shallow line before you increase the steepness. For example, ensure that he can turn down the center line and leg-yield to the far corner letter with confidence in a way that improves the connection before you try riding a steeper line.

Later, the same principle applies for training half-pass. Any time you can break down the requirements of a movement and let the horse learn one step at a time, you help him understand and gain confidence mentally.

As soon as the horse gives a good effort, we reward by going forward.

Then the horse learns to anticipate going forward.

We also make passage easier by posting because it encourages the horse’s back to come up and helps to develop the right muscles.

Dobby is very motivated by verbal praise, pats on the neck, and sugar!

COURTESY OF KAREN LIPP

What other kinds of challenges do horses sometimes present?

Zhaplin Langholt comes to mind.

“Zhaplin” is a nine-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding (Zonik N.O.P. – Sonia Langholt, Stedinger) owned and ridden by Charlotte Jorst, of Reno, Nevada. I have only been working with Charlotte and her horses since January, so I am still getting to know them. Zhaplin has been very successful in Young Horse classes. His general attitude is very good and he’s a hard worker, but we need to be careful not to overface him because he’s an overachiever. He worries about doing things right, so we need to be respectful of that. I love overachievers, but you have to always make sure they feel successful in their work.

Can you give an example?

In the tempi changes, Zhaplin was inclined to anticipate and start doing flying changes on his own with tension. To help him, we go on the diagonal but never ask for a change until he’s relaxed. He might do three changes, but without counting. The only thing that matters is that he’s relaxed. And Charlotte never, ever punishes him for making a mistake.

She just repeats. Zhaplin wouldn’t do well with punishment because he’s already trying.

Once again, I was very adamant that we not show Zhaplin until he was really ready and felt confident in all the movements. Our patience was rewarded, and he got a 72% in his first CDI in the Prix St. Georges, and that was after scoring 75% at the national level. At the last [2022 winter]

CAREFULLY TAUGHT: Infinity, owned and trained by Karen Lipp, has been brought along slowly and never overfaced

CDI in Wellington, Florida, he won the Prix St. Georges-level Summit Farm Future Challenge Final with scores of 75% from five FEI judges.

Charlotte and Chase are both doing a great job with their horses.

They’re both very patient, and we have high hopes for these young horses’ futures. Progress will happen at their own pace so that they can stay positive all the way to Grand Prix.

Can you say a bit more about the value of incremental learning?

I should mention Karen Lipp, of Ball Ground, Georgia, and her nine-year-old KWPN gelding, Infinity (Dream Boy N.O.P. – Ultraster, Freestyle). I started working with them about three years ago, and because Karen has had “Marty” from the start, they already had a solid relationship. His muscles were never

Customize the Approach to Suit the Horse

T

wo of the horses I discuss in this article are both sensitive, but in very different ways. Dolani is sensitive to outside stimuli, while Zhaplin Langholt is sensitive to internal pressure because he tries too hard.

In both cases, our goal as trainers is to help the horses gain confidence. We’re careful never to overface them. We want to introduce new information carefully, breaking down the requirements into small steps that are easy for them to understand.

—Charlotte Bredahl

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

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Clinic an 8? Is there a possible way to make it an 8? This is where my judge’s training is helpful. We like to analyze each movement so it can be an 8.

overchallenged, so he has stayed good in his body and mind. Karen is quick to reward him, so Marty is confident, very solid in his mind, and happy in the work.

The biggest challenge for us is to make sure we preserve Marty’s confidence all the way up and not ever take advantage of his good nature. It would be easy for someone to push him too hard too soon, which could quickly ruin his eagerness to work.

Karen always analyzes her aids and is quick to take responsibility for any mistakes or miscommunications.

That’s how you preserve the horse’s willingness to work.

Two years ago, Marty showed in the Developing Prix St. Georges, and last year he finished third in the USEF Intermediaire I Dressage National Championship. This season, we patiently kept working on the one-tempis until they were confirmed.

Then, in the Intermediaire II, they scored over 70% four times out of five.

Now they’re showing the Developing Grand Prix and scored 71% at the last qualifier. The best part is that Marty doesn’t show any stress, and he comes out happy to do his job every day.

Many readers are familiar with Charlotte Jorst’s older horse, Kastel’s Nintendo. Can you tell us a

little about him, and about setting up the “finished” horse for success in his work?

Of course! “Nintendo” is a 19-yearold KWPN stallion (Negro – Rodieni R, Monaco). This well-known stallion is a top competitive Grand Prix horse, and he and Charlotte represented the USA at the 2016 FEI World Cup Dressage Final.

Nintendo really knows his job, and Charlotte has done a fabulous job of keeping him happy and healthy while fit enough to keep doing everything. There’s a fine balance to that challenge. She accomplishes it by incorporating a lot of variety in the work, taking him out on the trails in Wellington, and giving him hours of turnout.

In the work, Nintendo spends lots of time stretching over his back, which keeps him supple, and he enjoys it. We want him to retain that suppleness over the back in his extended trot, but we do very short stretches of it—15 meters maximum. We keep piaffe and passage to a minimum, doing just enough to maintain his fitness and strength.

We also concentrate on details, like halts and rein backs. Most people don’t spend enough time on these simple movements. We challenge ourselves by asking, Why is this not

32 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

Meet the Expert

B

eth Baumert is a USDFcertified instructor through Fourth Level, a USDF L program graduate with distinction, and the author of When Two Spines Align: Dressage Dynamics. She currently serves as president of The Dressage Foundation. For many years she owned and operated Cloverlea Dressage in Columbia, Connecticut, and served as the technical editor of Dressage Today magazine. She divides her time between Connecticut and Florida.

LILY FORADO

GOAL REALIZED: With help from coach Charlotte Bredahl (right), Charlotte Jorst and her Kastel’s Nintendo made the short list for the 2022 US World Dressage Championships team

What are Charlotte’s competitive goals for this season?

Her end goal—which she achieved— was to be short-listed for the 2022 US World Championship dressage team. Nintendo doesn’t need show experience, so Charlotte showed him only enough to accomplish this.

They won every Grand Prix except one during the season, and they achieved their goal. We are excited to be going to Europe together, to compete with the other nine shortlisted combinations at Aachen and other observation events before the team is named in July. It’s a tribute to Charlotte that Nintendo is still so eager to perform every day.

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THE USDF/USEF YOUNG RIDER GRADUATE PROGRAM Can Be Your Key Piece

January 14–15, 2023 w West Palm Beach, Florida Visit www.usdf.org for eligibility requirements, application and information.

Application deadline is September 30, 2022.

Applications will be accepted between October 1, 2022 and October 31, 2022 at an increased fee.

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featuring over $120,000 in prize money US Dressage Finals Junior/Young Rider Classes at the national levels

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FOUR IMPORTANT STEPS AND DEADLINES 1. Declare – Complete a Declaration of Intent for each level and division for which the horse/rider combination may qualify.

2. Qualify at one of the Great American/USDF Regional Championships.

3. Nominate – Each US Dressage Finals horse/rider combination is required to complete the nomination (preliminary entry) process.

4. Enter - Can nominate and enter at the same time.

US Dressage Finals Deadlines Regional Championship

Declaration

Nomination

1

Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Thursday, October 13, 2022

2

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Thursday, September 22, 2022

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Thursday, October 6, 2022

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Wednesday, September 7, 2022

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Above deadlines are midnight in the time zone of the specific Regional Championship

Entry Closing Date is October 17, 2022 midnight Eastern Time See Official Prize List for more information.

For additional qualifying, declaration, nomination, and entry information visit

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GMO Think Nationally, Act Locally An introduction to USDF’s new GMO Volunteer Incentive Program

find a way to provide more prominent kudos for local volunteers.

As Group Member Organizations Committee chair Cindi Wylie explains, most of USDF’s previously existing volunteer awards—the Ruth Arvanette Memorial Fund grant, the USDF Volunteer and Youth Volunteer of the Year awards, the USDF Regional GMO Volunteer of the Year awards—are “big awards…for that one person in a region or the country, or who fits a particular description.”

The committee saw a big gap.

“It just felt like there was a need.

The GMOs and some of the regions do recognize their local volunteers, but the idea was, why couldn’t we do something nationally for the people who don’t fit into one of those [existing] categories?” says Wylie, of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, who’s also a USDF FEI B certified instructor; a USDF gold, silver, and bronze

BOOTS ON THE GROUND: From these runners to all the other “essential workers,” volunteers make dressage happen

36 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

medalist; and a US Equestrian “S” dressage judge.

In truth, the committee had another reason for wanting to create a new means of volunteer recognition: motivation.

In 2020, “when we were starting to go back to showing after the initial COVID lockdown, we were feeling like, ‘Well, people are going to be afraid to volunteer. How can we support this? How can we get them out there again?’” Wylie says.

“So this just felt like the timing was right to get it happening.”

What the Group Member Organizations Committee created is the new GMO Volunteer Incentive Program (VIP). Still in its infancy—Wylie calls it “a baby program”—the VIP is in its fledgling stage. Here’s what the program is now and how the committee hopes to see it develop.

Encouraging Volunteers from the Ground Up The purpose of the USDF VIP, says Wylie, “is to try to recognize the ‘grass roots’ volunteers. We want to motivate people to jump in a bit more, and hopefully work their way up.”

Although the Group Member Organizations Committee hopes to grow the VIP into a system of more-tangible rewards, currently it’s purely a recognition program: “Your name goes up on a leaderboard on the VIP page on the USDF website,” says Wylie. “Hopefully in the future we can grow it into something else, but we had to get our foot in the door with it right now.”

The concept of the GMO VIP awards is simple: Current USDF group members can receive recognition for hours they’ve volunteered

JENNIFER BRYANT

O

ur sport would not exist in its current form without the thousands of hours donated annually by volunteers. From the USDF Executive Board to the runners and scribes at shows, volunteers keep the dressage ball at all levels rolling.

Although there have long been volunteer-recognition awards at the regional and national levels, the “grass roots” volunteers have largely been rewarded with heartfelt thanks, a lifetime supply of T-shirts, and perhaps a USDF group-member organization (GMO) volunteer award at the end of the year. Those dedicated helpers who show up again and again tend to do so for the love of dressage, not because they’re expecting anything in return.

A couple of years ago, the USDF Group Member Organizations Committee decided that it was time to

By Penny Hawes

for one or more GMOs. Award levels are 25, 50, 75, and 100 hours.

The process of applying for a VIP award is also simple. Volunteers wishing to participate download and complete the hour log housed on the VIP page on the USDF website (usdf. org/clubs/gmo/gmo-volunteer-incentive-program.asp), then get the form signed by an official of the GMO hosting the event for verification.

Hours may be volunteered for any GMO, not just a member’s primary club. When the member reaches the initial volunteering milestone of 25 hours, submit the hour-log form to gmoliaison@usdf.org and their name will be added to the VIP leaderboard.

(The fine print: Only hours volunteered after the program implementation date of May 28, 2021, will be recorded. Current GMO officials may earn volunteer credit as long as the hours earned are not in the context of the positions they hold. Hours earned may be carried over to the following year(s). The GMO must be affiliated with the USDF at the time volunteer hours are worked.)

Challenge: Getting the Word Out The USDF VIP rolled out fairly quietly—so quietly, in fact, that even some GMO presidents we interviewed hadn’t heard of it. But when they did, most reacted positively, with such comments as “I am unaware of the VIP program and couldn’t find it on the USDF website. I would very much like to learn more about it.” “We haven’t shared it yet but will do so now that we’re aware of it! It’s a wonderful idea.”

“Now that we know, I’ve already sent the information to our newsletter person. It’s exciting!”

However, many GMOs are already heavily promoting the VIP to their members. “Our volunteer coordinator is keeping track of those hours for our members,” says Kathy Maxwell, president of the Oklahoma-based Central Plains Dressage Society.[

The USDF GMO Education Initiative was created to support new and affordable programs, and to engage members.

Congratulations to GMOs that received funding support for 2020 and 2021: Kansas City Dressage Society, Louisville Dressage Society, Lehigh Valley Dressage, Kentucky Dressage Association, California Dressage Society, Oregon Dressage Society, Temecula Valley Chapter of California Dressage Society, Rocky Mountain Dressage Society, Grand Valley Dressage Society, Central Texas Dressage Society, Florabama Chapter of Deep South Dressage & Combined Training Association, Virginia Dressage Association, VADA/NOVA, and Arkansas Dressage Society.

For more information on the USDF GMO Education Initiative, visit

w w w.usdf.or g YOUR CONNECTION TO DRESSAGE EDUCATION • COMPETITION • ACHIEVEMENT Funding support provided by the USDF GMO Education Initiative Grant Program.

USDF UNIVERSITY • USDF Online Courses • USDF Short Courses by Topic • USDF Technical Delegate Learning Modules • USDF Education Library items available for education credits UNIVERSITY

and more!

UNIVERSITY

www.usdf.org/education/university USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

37

GMO In any discussions about volunteer recruitment, Shannon Ryan-Dinmore, co-president of the Cayuga Dressage and Combined Training Club in New York state, tries to mention the VIP as an extra incentive. CDCT also maintains a link to the VIP program on the volunteer page of its website.

Goal: Extra Recognition to Bolster GMOs’ Efforts Of course, many GMOs have well-established volunteer-awards programs of their own. Some offer enticing rewards that range from cash grants and special lanyards to personalized plaques and dressage-themed Christmas ornaments. But even those GMOs with successful programs in place are eager to see how the USDF VIP helps with the process of “basically asking and begging people to help,” as Keystone Dressage and Combined Training Association president Stephanie Dobiss puts it.

Submit your dressage stories, content, and photos to

yourdressage@usdf.org www.yourdressage.org

To that end, the Pennsylvaniabased KDCTA recently launched a new rewards program that pays volunteers $1 per hour worked, Dobiss says, explaining, “Our treasury is pretty good right now, and we wanted to be able to give back to the members.”

Some GMOs have discovered that offering volunteers monetary credit isn’t always useful. New Mexico Dressage Association volunteers “can earn a $25 grant that they can put toward any NMDA paid events, like a show or a clinic,” says GMO president Maribeth St. Cyr. Problem is, “most of our volunteers are our older members who no longer ride, so we don’t get a lot of them using the grant.” St. Cyr hopes that the USDF VIP will offer those volunteers meaningful recognition, saying that those worth-their-weight-ingold members are “stalwart helpers, so I would love something for them.”

A few GMOs have found that dangling additional “carrots” as incentive is actually a bit of a turnoff for some volunteers.

Although the Central Plains Dressage Society offers volunteer awards, “I don’t think incentives encourage more participation,” says Kathy Maxwell, although she acknowledges that such awards constitute “a way we recognize the importance of our volunteers and the hours that they serve as a vital part of our organization.”

According to Maxwell, the idea of rewarding a person for volunteering—or even just recognizing the effort—draws mixed feedback from NMDA members: “Some don’t like the idea and think that you volunteer because it is what you do to support your organization without any accolades, and others think it’s a great idea.”

Growing Stronger Grass Roots Sometimes Wylie gets asked why she takes time away from her career as a busy dressage professional to

38 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

work as an unpaid volunteer on behalf of USDF’s GMOs. “It’s because that’s where my education started,” she responds.

“That’s where I started getting put onto the right track off the backyard farm I was at. My GMO did so much for me, and I understand how important it is for the GMOs to be able to reach out locally. The USDF can only reach so far. It’s the GMO that really brings the people at the grass roots, who are trying to get an education but don’t know how.”

Those GMO volunteers, in other words, are the people who help draw in the dressage enthusiasts who will keep the clubs alive and our sport thriving.

A lot of small GMOs, Wylie points out, are powered largely by “one worker bee.” Social media and websites can achieve some of the promotional heavy lifting, she says, “but somebody’s got to do that marketing; somebody’s got to do that face-to-face and say, ‘Hey, how come you’re not a member?’ And when people hesitate and say, ‘Well…,’ the person doing the face-to-face needs to be educated enough to be able to point out all the reasons you should be a member of your GMO.” She hopes that, like the GMOs themselves, the USDF VIP will help build dressage from the ground up.

To learn more about USDF’s GMO Volunteer Incentive Program, visit usdf.org/clubs/gmo/gmo-volunteer-incentive-program.asp.

Penny Hawes is a writer, rider, and coach from Virginia. When she’s not working, you can find her hiking with her daughter, scouting around for antiques with her husband, or hanging out with her assortment of horses, cats, and dogs.

Salute Embracing a New Chapter Working behind the scenes for almost two decades, competition manager and volunteer Anne Kuhns has supported the sport she loves through all of life’s changes

T

he first time she managed a dressage show, Anne Kuhns had no idea what she was getting into.

It was 2005, and Kuhns was at a meeting of the Oklahoma Dressage Society (ODS), her local USDF group-member organization (GMO) at the time. ODS members were

PLANNER EXTRAORDINAIRE: Dressageshow manager Anne Kuhns

discussing plans for that year’s USEF-licensed/USDF-recognized dressage competition “and asked for a volunteer to serve as the show manager. Everyone looked at one another, and I thought, ‘Why not?

Somebody’s gotta do it. How hard can it be?’ Little did I know!” Kuhns says with a laugh.

She soon found out. “Thankfully Susan Peacock was the show secretary and gave me great guidance, and the rest is history. I ended up managing that show ever since, up until this year.”

So began a 15-year span of professionally managing dressage competitions across the country, including as many as ten shows and CDIs a year in Kentucky, Oklahoma, Ohio, and Texas. The detail-oriented Kuhns found herself a born organizer. She embraced all of the planning and teamwork that goes into making a competition possible, even with the long hours and sometimes many days away from home.

“My favorite moment of a show,” she says, “has always been when the first horse goes down center line on that first day, knowing that all of your staff and volunteers are in place and have what they need to make everything run smoothly.”

Before she embarked on her show-management career, Kuhns spent more time in the saddle than in the show office. Growing up in western Pennsylvania, she was the only child in her family with any interest in animals, but there was never any doubt where she wanted to be: on the back of a horse.

“When I was about four or five, my father took my three older sisters and me to a place where you could take horseback rides,” she recalls. “I insisted that I didn’t want a pony; I wanted to ride a big horse. They finally relented and let me ride double with my dad, and that was it. I just knew I could do it.”

When Kuhns was nine, her mother signed her up for riding lessons at a local eventing barn.

A few years later she got her first horse, a grade Morgan cross, and the pair enjoyed competing in both English and Western events as well as driving. In college, Kuhns became involved with the Pennsylvania State

40 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

University equestrian team; and after getting married and moving to Oklahoma, she purchased an offthe-track Thoroughbred. That horse would prove a turning point in her equestrian career.

“He was terribly nervous about showing, but I discovered that dressage suited him because we’d go in the ring one at a time,” Kuhns says.

“I think that was my introduction to ‘real’ dressage.”

Her increasing interest in the sport eventually led to that fateful day when Kuhns raised her hand to volunteer for her first show-management role. She soon learned that running shows left little time for competing herself.

“In the early days, I still did some competing while I was managing shows, but it just became too much as I took on more and more competitions,” Kuhns says. Showing got shelved as she expanded her services to take on management roles for events in Houston and Katy, Texas, as well as in Ohio and Kentucky. She did manage to find the time to serve on the ODS board, organizing several dressage symposiums and adult camps as well as a USDF L program.

As much as Kuhns loved Oklahoma, the winds of change began blowing in both her personal and professional lives. She explains, “I was a schoolteacher for a long time, and about 12 years ago I decided that I wanted to do something different. My sister had gotten involved in court reporting, and it piqued my interest. One day I received an advertisement in the mail about court-reporting classes at night, which meant that I could attend after work, and the rest is history. I

SUSANJSTICKLE.COM

By Jennifer M. Keeler

loved it from day one, and through that I got into scoping.”

As a scopist, Kuhns edits deposition transcripts for court reporters.

“It’s a very interesting, detail-oriented job,” she says. “I think of it like a puzzle to sort out all of the information and commentary, and sometimes I do as many as 600 pages a week. It can be tiring at times, but it also allows me the freedom to make my own schedule and pursue my other interests, like working in the dressage world.”

Another other major life change occurred as a result of a visit to Kentucky’s Bluegrass Region.

“My husband and I just fell in love with the area, and subsequently we made the decision to purchase a small farm in Paris and move there in 2012,” Kuhns recalls. “After that, I started managing shows in Kentucky for both the Kentucky Dressage Association and the Mid-South Eventing & Dressage Association, and was involved in several different Regional Championships, as well, over the years.”

In her rare free time, Kuhns volunteered to serve on the USDF Youth Programs Committee for more than ten years and currently serves on the USDF Regional Championships Committee. She also began working as hospitality coordinator for the US Dressage Finals in Lexington in 2014, with duties that include not only hospitality arrangements, but also acting as a liaison between show management and Kentucky Horse Park staff, coordinating a multitude of logistics behind the scenes.

“It’s a great way to put my showmanagement experience to good use,” Kuhns says. “For instance, when the Finals expanded last year to utilize the Rolex Arena for the first time, I was able to advise on how that might work, such as lighting, ring placement, movement of horses, and so on. The team that comes together to produce the Finals is the cream of the crop in

the industry, and being able to work with everyone is just an honor. It’s also so special to be a small part of an event that is so important to so many people and is bigger than ourselves.”

As it did for so many others, the COVID-19 pandemic brought Kuhns challenges and unexpected new directions.

“As most of my shows were cancelled, I realized it was time for a change,” she says. “I wanted to stay closer to home; so even as shows started to come back, I drastically cut back on my management contracts.”

Instead, Kuhns has embraced her latest project: the creation and development of her company Show Support Services LLC, which handles such behind-the-scenes arrangements as license renewals, hiring of officials, development of prize lists, and creation of signage. The service is intended to reduce many of the headaches for show managers and volunteer boards, who may not have the time or the knowledge needed to navigate the many requirements involved in producing a licensed dressage competition.

The new venture is “a perfect fit for me at this point in my life, when finding the right balance between work and personal interests is of utmost importance to me,” Kuhns says. “I’m also very excited about the possibilities because I can put my knowledge and experience to use to help others to put on great events and stay involved in the sport I’ve always loved. So on with the next chapter.”

Jennifer M. Keeler is a Kentuckybased media professional and the owner of Yellow Horse Marketing.

She has served as the US Dressage Finals’ press officer since the event’s inception.

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

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The Game-Cha

Put US para-dressage on the medal podiums? Bien sûr, says Frenc program leader Michel Assouline, who has brought his winning ways with Team G

BY KELLY VENCILL SANCHEZ

WINNING WAYS: After coming on board in 2017, US head of para-dressage coach development Michel Assouline (standing, left) has put Team USA on the medal podiums. He posed with the winning Team USA at the 2019 Adequan®/USEF Para-Dressage National Championships: Roxanne Trunnell, Sydney Collier, Kate Shoemaker, and Rebecca Hart.

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I

anger

ANDREA EVANS/US EQUESTRIAN

ch-born Great Britain to the USA

n 2016, Michel Assouline found himself at something of a crossroads. After coaching Great Britain’s para-equestrian dressage team to an unprecedented 11 team gold medals in international competition in as many years, he was itching for a new challenge.

Fast-forward to September 2018, when Assouline guided US para-dressage athletes to four individual medals at the FEI World Equestrian Games in Tryon, North Carolina. And then there were last summer’s 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, where he led Team USA to a historic bronze medal, its best Paralympic finish ever.

Will Connell, US Equestrian’s director of sport, was delighted though not entirely surprised by the results, which included a pair of individual golds for world number-one-ranked rider Roxanne Trunnell. After all, it was Connell who coaxed Assouline to cross the Atlantic and take the post as US Equestrian’s (USEF) head of para-equestrian coach development and highperformance consultant in 2017.

“I knew Michel could work with athletes and that he had a deep insight into the sort of horse that’s needed to be at the top of the sport in the five [para-dressage] grades,” says Connell, who worked with Assouline for about a decade during his own tenure with the British Equestrian Federation. “Michel knows where the sport is internationally, and he understands what’s needed to gain a winning score.”

With the Paralympic Games in Paris a mere two years away, the 67-year-old Assouline, who has since added chef d’équipe and technical advisor to his responsibilities, isn’t making any predictions. He’s too busy shepherding US para athletes and their horses to international competitions in Florida, Denmark, Qatar, France, and Belgium; creating a pipeline for backup horses; building up a network of supporters; and, perhaps most important, providing assistance and expertise to riders and their individual coaches.

With sponsors including Rowan O’Riley, who owns Rebecca Hart’s mounts El Corona Texel and Fortune 500; and Karin Flint and Flintwoode Farms LLC, owners of Trunnell’s Paralympic partner Dolton; plus Lisa Hellmer, who in March assumed the newly created post of USEF national para-dressage development coach (“Collection,” p. 16), US para-dressage’s future looks very bright indeed.

But Assouline isn’t one to rest on his laurels. “We had great success in Tokyo, and there’s tremendous momentum in the para-dressage community now in the USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

43

States,” he affirms. “But one thing to be very realistic about is that our depth is not great. The US is a very big country, and we haven’t got that many para riders compared to the Netherlands or Great Britain. But they are all fighting hard to just be as good as they can be. And the only way they can do that is having the right horses and competing against the best riders in the world.”

A Coach’s Coach Assouline may boast an impressive resume as he leads the charge to transform US para-dressage into a global powerhouse, but the trim, elegant French native is all business as he intently watches a horse and rider go through their paces. He’s quick to encourage but just as quick to listen, as FEI-level dressage trainer and competitor Lehua Custer learned when she began coaching Grade IV athlete and 2020 Paralympic team bronze medalist Kate Shoemaker.

“Michel spends time building rapport and mutual respect with the coaches,” Custer says. “We’re there to get medals, and he needs to do his job to make it happen. But doing

that is about building relationships and making all of us—the riders, the coaches, the grooms, everybody— perform at their best.”

“He is very commanding,” Custer adds, “but he’s also extremely approachable, extremely friendly, and extremely amenable to dialogue and conversation.” Assouline understands when riders need a push and when they need to be left alone before heading into the arena. “He knows how to work the two angles,” she says.

Hart, a four-time Grade III Paralympian who trains with 2019 US Pan Am Games team silver and individual bronze medalist Jennifer Baumert, agrees.

“Michel is really sensitive and well-balanced in how he approaches horse-rider communication,” says Hart. “He’ll stand with your coach and use them as a liaison without interrupting your riding style and your flow, which is great when you’re in an intense situation, like warming up for a CPEDI or a World Championship. He doesn’t disrupt your personal system, but he still gives you great insight and knowl-

44 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

edge from his eyes on the ground.”

Having watched Assouline in action for nearly two decades, Connell appreciates his no-nonsense yet empathetic interactions with athletes and others.

“Michel is not going to dress things up. If a difficult message needs communicating, he will communicate it. But he’ll communicate it in a manner that it’s understood and clear. He’s not a screamer or a shouter or an arm-waver. He’s direct, subtle, clear, and measured.”

Discovering Horses

Assouline’s roots in dressage run deep, but if his parents had had their way, he might have never had a career in horses. He was born in France, where his parents owned a couture business in the town of Tours. When he was in his early teens, the family moved to the picturesque city of Blois, which sits at the heart of the Loire Valley and is a stone’s throw from Saumur, home of the iconic Cadre Noir.

“My family was not horsey at all,” Assouline says, “but Blois was home to a large national stud farm, which meant that riding was the

COURTESY OF MICHEL ASSOULINE

POWERHOUSE TEAM: Assouline coached Team Great Britain to an unprecedented 11 international medals. He’s pictured with legendary para-dressage athlete Sir Lee Pearson after Pearson won a freestyle gold medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

MILESTONE: Assouline with Rebecca Hart, who in 2018 became the first US paradressage athlete to win a medal at an FEI World Equestrian Games

thing to do and part of the school curriculum. The stables were at the center of town, so you could walk or take a bicycle and ride every day if you wanted to.”

Assouline embraced his new hobby and eventually graduated to vaulting, jumping, and eventing as well as dressage. But his father shot down his son’s notion of making horses a career. “Especially in the 1960s and ’70s, to be into horses was not a thing to do as a guy,” Assouline explains.

After high school, he headed to university at the Sorbonne in Paris, where he studied psychology and graphic arts as well as fashion design, riding his brother’s event horse when he could. Degree in hand, Assouline made his way to Carmel, California, to work for Robert Talbott, the tie and menswear company.

He also made an important connection. The late former French military officer and 1948 Olympic team dressage gold medalist Jean Saint-Fort Paillard was living in California, and when he discovered Assouline’s passion, he let him ride his horses.

“I started training with him,” Assouline recalls. “And then I had the bug again.”

Assouline became a dual French/ American citizen and bought his first horse, a Thoroughbred named Arthur, whom he trained to Grand Prix.

“I never had my own horse in France,” he explains. “There were so many riding clubs with wonderful school horses that very often were trained to a very high level. So at 12, 13, or 14, you were learning, riding, and competing on those horses, which was absolutely incredible.”

After several years in the States, Europe beckoned, and Assouline sold Arthur and returned to the Continent, where he began training

MUCH MORE THAN A COACH: Assouline rode for France at the 1988 Olympics and won the 2000 French National Dressage Championship. He’s pictured competing at Intermediate II with the Danish Warmblood mare Amarone (by Gribaldi), whom he co-owns with his wife, Mette Lubker, at the 2016 Addington Manor Premier League show in England.

in earnest with the likes of the late German masters Willi Schultheis and Herbert Rehbein and later with Uwe Schulten-Baumer, who at the time was training German superstar Isabell Werth.

At the recommendation of the well-known sport-horse breeder/ trainer Ullrich Kasselmann, Assouline was offered a position at Addington Manor Equestrian Center in Buckinghamshire, England, where he began working as the private trainer of the Countess of Inchcape.

His full-time career was launched.

Serendipitously, England was also where Assouline met his future wife, Danish dressage rider Mette Lubker. The pair married in 1995,

and their daughter, Megan, herself a rider and competitor, was born in 2001.

“With Mette being Danish and me being French-American, it was a happy medium to stay in an English-speaking country,” says Assouline. “I wasn’t going to move to Denmark—I didn’t speak the language—and she wasn’t going to move to France. We were quite happy to continue in England.”

Though Assouline’s father died some 15 years ago, he did celebrate when his son was selected to represent France at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and when he swept the French National Dressage Championships in 2000. [

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Building a Better Network

46 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

Instructor/trainer Shayna Simon, who coaches Grade II athlete Béatrice de Lavalette, was one of the first to complete the program.

“I’ve trained in Europe, where they have degrees and Bereiter certifications, and I was really excited to see an academic program here that incorporates riding and coaching,” says Simon. “Para-dressage is a bit different because you have adaptive aids and equipment—things I was pretty unfamiliar with. Not only did it give me a foundation for what you can use to make it safer and more comfortable for the rider and horse; I also learned auditory and visual approaches that give you a different way of coaching.”

Paralympian Hope Hand, who today serves as the USPEA’s president and executive director, has watched para-dressage in this country evolve from athletes catchriding borrowed horses to competing on top-level mounts alongside the best in the world (see “ParaDressage at a Glance” on the facing page). The USEF/USPEA coaching program, with its focus on theory and training, will go a long way toward enabling riders to explore opportunities outside the confines of therapeutic-riding programs, she says.

“It’s so gratifying to see the pieces of the puzzle finally coming together,” Hand says. “We had the talent. Now we have the good horses and we’re building a great coaching platform, and that’s all because of Michel. We’re not a foreign discipline. Dressage is dressage. We ride the same 10-meter circles. That’s always been something I’ve tried to get across. The credibility of the sport is there.”

Underpinning Assouline’s approach to both the coaching certification program and his interactions

COURTESY OF ELIZABETH DE LAVALETTE

having perfect communication with the horse.

It’s the essence of dressage to make your horse super-responsive and super-alert to the slightest invisible aid. Of course, you have to be careful because horses cannot be so sensitive that they would overCOACHING PIPELINE IN ACTION: One of the first to earn USEF parareact to a rider dressage coaching certification was Shayna Simon (right), who coaches who might not 2020 Paralympian Béatrice de Lavalette (left). They’re pictured with have the same Assouline at the 2022 CPEDI de Deauville, France, in April. coordination [as one] who is fully abled.

If you’re working with a rider Assouline might have continued who’s an amputee, we adapt to it happily overseeing a thriving dresand find ways to communicate.” sage business, with Mette specializing in Grand Prix horses and producing youngsters for the World Young Horse Championships, had he not been approached with an intriguing Assouline’s first major undertaking job proposition by Will Connell, who when he took the job with USEF was then the British Equestrian Fedbuilt on an effort he’d devised in eration’s performance director: coach the UK, and he began the process of Great Britain’s para-dressage to develop a multi-level coaching team. Despite Assouline’s lack of program to prepare para-equestrian experience in the para world, he told coaches to train athletes from the Connell he’d give it a try. grass roots up through international “And I was hooked,” Assouline competition. says. “Para-dressage in England “I knew the only way to get a was really at its peak—extremely proper network for para-dressage competitive and really buoyant and in the US was to work with coaches fun. As a coach, it was a great enviand educate the coaches,” he says. ronment because the athletes were In 2019 USEF launched its Paralooking up to you, and there was a Equestrian Dressage Coach Certifilot of trust and respect and a lot of cate Program, which works closely commitment.” with the USEF/US Para-Equestrian He discovered that para-dressage Association (USPEA) Para Centers is nearly indistinguishable from of Excellence for seminars and other able-bodied dressage: “You’re just events. To date, the program has dealing with athletes who have turned out more than 30 certified a disability and finding ways of coaches.

Para-Dressage at a Glance with horses and riders is a passion for psychology.

“I’ve always put a lot of emphasis and importance on the technical, on classical training,” he says. “But if you don’t make the horse your friend—if you don’t have an understanding of animal psychology and equine behavior, and how to gain their trust and respect—no matter how good a technique you have, it’s just not going to work.”

He says it’s the same with people. “Bad communication is a deal-breaker in terms of learning.

There are so many good people out there who have a strong technical background, but if they don’t know how to deliver their message or how to adapt to the learning style of the rider, there’s no transfer of knowledge. A lot of my coaching modules are based on that: on philosophy and understanding one another, and how to transfer knowledge and understanding what the receptors are on the other side so that you can communicate your message.”

US EQUESTRIAN PHOTO

Juggling in the Runup to Paris 2024

Still based at Nightingale Barn in Essex, England, the US paradressage coach finds creative ways to supplement his in-person sessions with riders and their coaches. Assouline regularly employs a range of technologies, from online judging and WhatsApp video analysis and feedback to remote coaching via Pixio.

One might assume that Assouline’s considerable responsibilities have caused him to put his own riding on hold. But back in England, he rides as often as possible and even finds time for a few competitions of his own. His current mounts include his own eight-year-old Danish geld-

ing, Korslunds Depardieu, as well as a six-year-old by Sir Donnerhall owned by a client.

“I ride every day, and I absolutely love it,” he says. “I also run a little bit, jog a little bit, and visit a gym two or three times a week. I really do the best I can to stay fit.

“It’s hard to juggle everything,” Assouline admits, “but it gives me extreme pleasure, so I don’t want to give that up. Sometimes I’m in the States for two or three weeks; and last year, with the pandemic, I ended up in Florida for two months. But then my wife or my daughter would ride when I’m away, so it works well.

And when I come back, I just pick the horse up and move on.”

He knows he’ll need to stay in tiptop shape to successfully negotiate the next two years, during which time he’ll lead Team USA to the 2022 Ecco FEI World Championships in Herning, Denmark, this August, and to the Paris Paralympic Games the summer of 2024.

Will Connell, meanwhile, is feeling guardedly optimistic about what’s in store for US para-dressage, even allowing himself to envision his dream scenario for the 2024 Paralympics when asked.

“I’d like to see the selectors sweat—not because they have too few athletes to choose from, but because they have too many.” He laughs. “Worried selectors, that’s what I want to see.”

Connell knows that if anyone can make that happen, it’s Michel Assouline.

Kelly Vencill Sanchez is an awardwinning freelance writer based in southern California.

P

ara-equestrian dressage is one of the Fédération Equestre Internationale’s (FEI) seven disciplines. Although paraequestrian driving is also an FEI discipline, para-dressage is the only equestrian sport on the program of the Paralympic Games, where it’s been a regular fixture since Atlanta 1996.

TOP SPORT: US Equestrian head of paraequestrian coach development Michel Assouline high-fives Roxanne Trunnell on Dolton after her gold-medal-winning performance at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics

• “Para” refers to “parallel” to able-bodied sports and is designed for independent athletes with permanent physical or visual disabilities seeking a competitive track.

• Para-dressage competition is conducted in a similar fashion to able-bodied dressage, but with athletes classified into five grades based on their functional abilities.

• Judges look only at the performance of the horse in any given test. Even if an aid is given in a nontraditional way, the quality achieved is the most important consideration.

• In the early days of para-dressage competition, athletes rode borrowed horses.

As of the 2003 World Championships in Belgium, para-dressage athletes compete aboard their regular mounts. As the sport has grown, the price of top horses has increased. Today, as in able-bodied dressage, it can take considerable resources to put an international-quality horse under a para-dressage rider with big goals.

• The sport continues to grow in the US. Currently there are more than 150 registered, classified para-dressage athletes.

(Source: US Equestrian)

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

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Special Travel Feature

DRESSAGE PARAÍSO World-class dressage awaits at Portugal’s Monte Velho Equo-Resort and Lusitano Stud Farm

BY L.A. SOKOLOWSKI

\DREAM DRESSAGE: A guest at Portugal’s Monte Velho EquoResort pirouettes on a Lusitano schoolmaster under the tutelage of head trainer and Saumur graduate Coralie Baldrey

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B

efore planning your next (or first!) riding vacation, try an online search for the keywords horse lover’s paradise. You will get more than 17 million results. Like asking 10 people for an opinion and getting 11 replies, paradise means something different to every rider.

But since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Monte Velho Equo-Resort, a boutique hotel on a Lusitano breeding farm in Arraiolos, in the Alentejo region of southern Portugal, might be that one in 17 million.

Its dressage program, based on the principles of the famed Cadre Noir in Saumur, France, produced Tokyo’s most talked-about rookie duo: João Miguel Torrão, who at 25 became the youngest dressage rider ever to represent Portugal in Olympic competition; and the farm’s homebred then 10-year-old Lusitano stallion Equador MVL (Quo Vadis – Que Ha, Hostil), whom Torrão had met six years earlier while interning at the farm and trained through the levels. The pair finished 29th individually (70.186%) and were eighth with the Portuguese Olympic squad.

If your idea of paradise includes riding with classically trained, Olympic-caliber instructors; experiencing upper-level movements on Portuguese Lusitanos; and luxuriating in farm-to-table dining and historic accommodations dating back to the Roman Equitatus (cavalry), then welcome to the Monte Velho (“Old Home”) Equo-Resort or, as they say in Portugal, “Bem-vindo.”

COURTESY OF THE MONTE VELHO EQUO-RESORT

Fluent Instruction A reputation for fine instruction is one reason that guests keep coming back to Monte Velho. Coralie Baldrey, a graduate of the French National Riding School at Saumur, has been head trainer since 2015, and Torrão has described her as one of the most influential people in his career.

“All our instructors are engaged in dressage competition with our stud-farm horses, and regularly train with the world’s most renowned trainers,” says Diogo Lima Mayer Jr., who had a managerial career with L’Oréal Paris prior to becoming the director of the farm still owned by his father, Diogo Mayer Sr. Dressage lessons here are taught in Portuguese, English, French, or Spanish, depending on the student’s preference.

In 2019, one such world-class horseman was British Olympic dressage team gold medalist Carl Hester, who was brought in to work with Torrão and Equador before the British CDIs and the FEI European Dressage ChamUSDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

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COVERED CLASSROOM: Monte Velho’s facilities include two 50 x 100-meter covered arenas, plus an Olympic-sized outdoor arena used for advanced-level lessons

pionships (where Team Portugal saw its first-ever win in the FEI Dressage Nations Cup Portugal).

Hester commended Baldrey for instilling a correct classical foundation and noted, “I find Lusitanos kind and willing to work with.

Equador transformed from a cuddly

pony into a real showman. They have the potential to achieve a place in the top-ten world rankings.”

An Itinerary for Every Rider Active Riding Trips, Equitours, and In the Saddle are among the trip organizers serving the US (plus Epona

50 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

ARND.NL; COURTESY OF THE MONTE VELHO EQUO-RESORT

ON THE MAP: Monte Velho’s star Lusitano stallion, Equador MVF, took Portugal’s João Miguel Torrão to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and achieved record scores for an Iberian horse during his dressage career

in Spain) that work with Monte Velho to offer curated, year-round program packages—or, new in 2022, yoga-and-horses getaways. Dressage Lessons and Trail Riding includes daily morning dressage lessons and 90-minute afternoon trail rides.

Those who choose the Intensive Dressage Lessons package receive two lessons daily, with one afternoon lesson swapped out for a trail ride.

The Dressage Light option features a daily hour-long dressage lesson.

If you and your travel companions just want to get out of the sandbox, the Trail Riding program includes twice-daily trail rides.

“One of the reasons I like this program,” says Active Riding Trips president Stacey Adams, “is the chance to experience the Lusitano in the arena and on a trail. They are gentle, willing, expressive in their movement, and drop-dead gorgeous! It’s easy to see how people fall in love with them and why we have an 85% repeat ratio from our guests.

They go back every year.”

Prior to arrival, Mayer says, each guest is given a questionnaire. “We ask: How many years have they been riding? What kind of horse do they want to ride? What kind of exercises do they want to improve? We get a complete overview of each client, and every week we have an instructors’ meeting where we review the riding résumés before preparing the week ahead.”

“The first lesson is always an assessment,” says Mayer. “From that moment on, we structure the week for each guest, depending on the number of lessons in the program they’ve chosen. Our goal is to tailor the experience of each guest so when they leave, they take home techniques and lessons they can apply on their horse. We want an interactive

experience, where guests try exercises they’ve not done with their horse.”

With 19 schoolmasters, “I like to say we have a horse for every type of guest, and try to apply our experience to give each guest the best match,” Mayer says. “Some stay with the same horse all week. Some like to change and find different rides on a variety of horses.” There are lowerlevel specialists, six small-tour-level horses, and five Grand Prix-level horses, he says.

Most guests are active dressage riders, says Adams, but their experience levels vary greatly. “Some are competing at Prix St. Georges and Grand Prix. Others are just getting into the study of the movements.”

COURTESY OF THE MONTE VELHO EQUO-RESORT

Trees of Life Monte Velho is also an active Lusitano breeding facility, and guests enjoy watching staffers handle the season’s foal crop.

The stud farm is a boutique operation with just five broodmares, and “each year we carefully select Lusitano stallions that will best complement each mare and their potential to produce a competitive dressage prospect,” Mayer says.

That strategy began in 1994, when the breeding program launched with five Alter Real (royal) broodmares of Berber and Andalusian descent, crossed with one of the most influential and expressive Lusitano stallions of his day, Xaquiro (1980-2007). The resulting offspring have earned Monte Velho four Champion of Champions titles at The International Festival of the Lusitano Horse.

But star stallion Equador MVL “is the biggest ambassador Monte Velho has ever had,” says Mayer. “He has broken all records for a Lusitano and Iberian horse. He holds the

HAPPY TRAILS: Exploring the great outdoors around Monte Velho

THE NURSERY: An outrider checks on Monte Velho’s Lusitano broodmare band and foals

dressage records for an Iberian horse in Grand Prix (77%), Grand Prix Special (79%) and Grand Prix Freestyle (84%). All the guests that come to Monte Velho want a photo

with him and to visit him in the stable!”

Mares and foals enjoy a lush expanse of rolling hills and open fields, a lake for cooling off, and evergreen

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VIEWS GALORE: Both the rooftop pool and the guest rooms feature stunning countryside vistas

Luxo Paraíso The boutique hotel’s grounds date to the Romans (400 AD), and like the cork trees in its horse fields, Monte Velho keeps finding renewal through

careful additions to its accommodations and facilities.

“Since I was a child, I remember coming almost every weekend to Monte Velho,” Mayer recalls. “Our property was dedicated to the family and to Lusitano breeding until 2013, when we decided it was time to share our treasure.”

Mayer’s father designed the buildings, and his mother, Margarida, created their sleek, airy interiors.

The property blends into the natural elements of its surroundings. Each guest room opens to a furnished balcony with views of the Alentejo countryside and is appointed with air conditioning, wireless internet, TV, a coffee machine, and a private outdoor shower overlooking the pastures and cork oaks. There’s also a rooftop pool with “amazing views,” Mayer says.

All that riding works up an appetite. “Monte Velho can organize themed meals, picnics, or canoeing on the lake,” Mayer says. “Our meals are made and served on the premises.”

Guests John and Annie Pearson, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, say their 2015 trip to Monte Velho was a great experience. “The cuisine was based on local ingredients and calibrated to suit busy days riding. The family’s red and rosé wines were offered with meals. The staff, led by Diogo, are

52 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

helpful, and language was rarely, if ever, a problem. Coralie is very much about competitive dressage and the German method, and João is an amazing, thoughtful guide to classical (and competitive) dressage, so it all worked out really well for us.”

The creature comforts may be exemplary, but that’s not the main attraction for most guests.

“The one thing that does set these programs apart from others,” Adams says, “is how riders of all levels meet here, become friends, encourage each other, and bond over their love of dressage.”

Editor’s note: Shortly before this issue went to press, we received the sad news that the Lusitano stallion Equador MVL died May 2 at the age of 13. According to published reports, the horse did not survive an emergency surgery following a cervical injury.

L.A. Sokolowski is a New York-based award-winning multi-platform journalist, publicist, and nonprofitdevelopment consultant and grant writer to the international equestrian sport and accredited zoological industries.

COURTESY OF THE MONTE VELHO EQUO-RESORT

cork oak (Quercus suber) trees for shade. The farm is classified as a National Ecological Reserve, with a commitment to sustainability that includes its cork oak, a highly sustainable and biodiverse resource whose bark is harvested once a decade as raw material not only to stop wine bottles, but for everything from roofing to floors to baseballs.

Monte Velho’s last cork harvest, in 2013, yielded more than 70 tons.

Between harvests, as trees regrow their bark, they absorb five times more carbon while helping to fuel the photosynthesis necessary for regrowth.

This summer, the Mayer family will again harvest cork. Roughly a month beforehand, the trees turn a deep, almost blood, red. “The landscape is different when the trees are without their cork,” Mayer says. “It gives everything a special tone and color.” The harvest is also important to development at the farm, as the proceeds are used to underwrite new projects. “This year’s funds will go to making a new lake. A new dam is important, due to a problem with a lack of water in the region.”

Grant Recipient Leah Majkrzak

By Red Pony Photography

Here to Help Have you set your dressage goals, made a plan, but need financial help?

Thanks to many generous donors, financial support may be available for your dressage education.

Grants are available for: Adult Amateurs Youth Instructors Judges FEI Riders Western Dressage Riders Breeders Show Management Technical Delegates USDF GMOs Nonprofit Groups And More!

Visit www.dressagefoundation.org for grant information and to make a donation to help the sport you love!

NEW HOPE FOR LAMINITIS The most common form of this dreaded disease is largely preventable.

The keys: diet and exercise.

BY KARA L. STEWART

SUSANSTICKLE.COM

NOT THE END: Angela Thayer’s 23-year-old Morgan mare, Highover French Krystle, is insulinresistant and has suffered several bouts of laminitis related to her condition.

Strict management protocols restored her health and soundness, and Thayer has earned her USDF bronze and silver medals aboard her partner.

54 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

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aminitis. This single word strikes fear in every dressage rider.

Seeing your equine partner crippled by pain in one or more feet is heart-wrenching and stressful. Will he recover?

Will you ever be able to ride him again, much less compete? Will he now be prone to future episodes?

Laminitis can have multiple causes, which means multiple types of treatment. Outcomes can vary drastically, from full recovery to permanent hoof damage and chronic lameness, and, sadly, sometimes even euthanasia.

But there is hope. Modern veterinary medicine continues to find answers and new approaches to this age-old equine malady. Better yet, the most common type of laminitis may be the most treatable, and possibly even preventable.

In this article, two sport-horse veterinarians explain the major types of laminitis, outline treatment approaches in the emergency and recovery phases, and discuss long-term management strategies. You’ll also hear from fellow dressage riders who share their experiences battling laminitis in their equine partners.

What Is Laminitis?

Laminitis is a disorder of the laminae, which are thin layers of soft tissue (laminae means layers in Latin) inside the hoof capsule that secure the coffin bone to the hoof wall. According to the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), if blood flow to the laminae is disrupted, laminitis results (Figure 1).

Common signs of laminitis are an increase in the horse’s digital pulse, which is analogous to a throbbing sensation; heat in the affected foot or feet; and, most of all, lameness. Laminitis most commonly affects the front feet, and both feet at the same time.

A case of laminitis may present similar to a hoof abscess, but “the fact that laminitis affects both front feet is often the first reason to suspect it” if both feet are involved, says Eleanor Kellon, VMD, veterinary specialist for Uckele Health and Nutrition and the owner of Equine Nutritional Solutions, Robesonia, Pennsylvania.

Horses whose front feet are both painful may stand with their weight shifted rearward and their front legs outstretched in an attempt to relieve the pressure.

If inflammation occurs, the laminae may be permanently weakened and the bond between the coffin bone and the hoof wall may be compromised. According to the AAEP, “In severe cases, the bone and the hoof wall can separate. In these situations, the coffin bone may rotate

within the foot, be displaced downward (‘sink’), and eventually penetrate the sole. Laminitis can affect one or all feet, but it is most often seen in the front feet concurrently.” (See Figure 2.)

Main Types of Laminitis There are three main types of laminitis, and each presents a bit differently.

Sepsis-related laminitis “is caused by bacterial products circulating in the blood and often refers to pathogenic overgrowth of gut organisms,” says Kellon.

“It can occur from a salmonella infection, grain overload, strangles, Lyme disease, Potomac Horse Fever, and infection following colic surgery, as well as from retained placenta after foaling.”

“Other infections, like pneumonia or colitis—a severe bacterial infection of the colon—are additional causes,” adds Mark T. Donaldson, VMD, a partner at Unionville Equine Associates, Oxford, Pennsylvania, with a specialty in equine sports medicine. “The toxins that are released by those bacteria have a direct effect on the laminae that cause the coffin bone to separate from the hoof wall.”

Standing-limb laminitis (SLL) is a mechanical form of laminitis that occurs when a horse overloads one or more limbs because of pain in another. Some horses with extreme club foot or with excessively long toes also develop mechanical laminitis. Although a horse can experience limb or foot pain for a short time without developing SLL, as in the case of lameness caused by a hoof abscess, the risk for SLL rises drastically with ongoing pain, such as with a fracture. (A famous, tragic example is 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, who broke his right hind leg in the Preakness Stakes. Extensive efforts to save the horse ultimately proved futile when Barbaro subsequently developed laminitis first in his left hind foot, then later in both front feet. He was euthanized in January 2007.)

Endocrinopathic laminitis is the most common cause of laminitis. It’s caused by hyperinsulinemia, a metabolic condition in which there is too much insulin in the blood, explains Kellon, who is also the veterinary advisor to the Equine Cushing’s and Insulin Resistance (ECIR) Group Inc., an outreach group and field-trial database providing information and resources to owners of equines with metabolic syndrome and pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), commonly known as Cushing’s disease.

Mares in the last half of pregnancy can also become insulin-resistant and have high insulin levels, Kellon says.

Donaldson uses the comparison of a heart attack in USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

55

humans to help explain what happens in a case of endocrinopathic laminitis.

“I think of it as a ‘foot attack,’” he says. “While the target organ is different—it’s the foot, not the heart— some of the predisposing factors are Images in Figures 1 and 2 from The Essential Hoof Book by Susan Kauffmann and Christina Cline. Used by permission of the publisher, Trafalgar Square Books, HorseAndRiderBooks.com.

similar in humans and horses. These include obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, an unhealthy diet, and age.”

Laminitis Is an Emergency When a horse is diagnosed with laminitis, it’s vital to begin treatment quickly to minimize further damage to the hoof. Common measures include: • Stall rest and pain relief. Re-

56 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

COURTESY OF TRAFALGAR SQUARE BOOKS

Figure 1. Healthy laminae are interlocked and tightly bonded (A), but when laminitis strikes, they can become extremely damaged and separate (B). The red and blue colors in the images are stains used to differentiate the dermal (blue) from the epidermal (red) laminae.

strict the horse’s movement in a deeply bedded stall and give nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for pain relief and inflammation reduction, such as phenylbutazone (“bute”), flunixin meglumine (Banamine), or firocoxib (Equioxx). Unfortunately, NSAIDs are often of little help in cases of endocrinopathic laminitis because the cause is not related to inflammation, Kellon says.

• Intensive cold therapy. Packing the affected feet in ice is beneficial. There are some good scientific studies to support this therapy, which suggest continuous icing for 48 to 72 hours, Donaldson says. (Horse owners have traditionally also made use of such natural resources as snow on the ground or a nearby creek or even the ocean, if the water is cold.)

“Icing can minimize the damage done in all types of laminitis,” says Kellon, “but it has to be started before the horse becomes lame. Once they are lame, the damage is there.

At that point, icing can help block pain, but it doesn’t really ‘treat’ anything.”

• Realigning hoof trim. “Preferably guided by radiographs, this trim should be done as soon as possible to remove mechanical factors stressing the laminae or putting pressure on the solar corium” (a system of hair-like laminae that supply nutrients to the sole and frog), says Kellon.

The trim, which can be done with the horse lying down if necessary, backs up the toe from above (using no nippers and not touching the sole) until the hoof-wall breakover is aligned

with the normal hoof-pastern axis and heels are lowered to achieve a palmar angle of 0 to 5 degrees.

• Hoof support. “Following the trim, we reduce pressure to the hoof wall by providing palmar support to the bottom of the hoof with boots or Styrofoam,” says Donaldson.

COURTESY OF TRAFALGAR SQUARE BOOKS

A Comprehensive Approach: Treating Endocrinopathic Laminitis Lowering the insulin level in a horse with metabolic laminitis will relieve the pain. Kellon usually starts by administering metformin, a drug used to lower blood sugar (in humans with diabetes as well as in equines), noting that “metformin works quickly but loses effectiveness over time.”

That’s why medication alone isn’t enough. The horse’s diet must be altered to reduce its intake of sugars and starches. “It’s vital to prevent access to grass or pasture,” says Donaldson, who adds that even brown, dead-looking grass typically is high in sugar.

Here’s an overview of the “emergency diet” that Kellon recommends to the ECIR Group: • Choose grass hay that’s low in sugar and starch. Timothy, orchard grass, and Bermuda grasses typically are lower in sugar and starch than grain hays, but all hays should be analyzed. Grass hay with combined values for ethanol-soluble carbohydrates (ESC) and starch of below 10% is the goal for most horses.

• Soak hay to reduce sugars.

Soaking in water pulls sugars out of the hay. (Note: Steaming does not accomplish the same thing.) Soak in hot water for

Figure 2. Radiographs of a normal foot (top) and a foot with laminitis (above). In the normal foot, the space between the red and blue lines is fairly consistent, as the wall is strongly attached.

In the laminitic foot, the space is much wider at the bottom as the result of rotation of the coffin bone. The normal foot has a reasonable amount of sole under the tip of the coffin bone (green line), while the laminitic foot has none, as the bone is actually penetrating the sole.

30 minutes or in cold water for one hour. After soaking, allow the hay to drain for 10 minutes before feeding. Kellon recommends feeding a hay ration of about 1.5-2% of the horse’s ideal body weight (e.g., 15 to 20 pounds of hay per day for a 1,000-pound horse).

• Feed specific supplements. Kellon suggests supplementing the

·

metabolic horse with iodized salt (1 to 2 ounces/day), magnesium (1.5 grams/day per 500 pounds body weight, until hay is analyzed), vitamin E (1,000 IU/day per 500 pounds body weight), and ground flax (3 ounces fresh ground or stabilized flax).

Remove from the diet: Grain; pelleted or senior feeds that contain grain products or mo-

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

57

What About Prevention?

POTENTIALLY AT RISK: Horses predisposed to equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) may gain weight easily and develop cresty necks if they are not kept in regular work. Weight control and other steps are key in keeping EMS at bay.

lasses (read labels carefully); ration “balancers”; carrots, apples, and sugar-containing treats; and beet pulp with molasses.

First Steps in Recovery When the horse is comfortable and the foot has been stabilized, you can begin light hand-walking and provide access to a small paddock.

“It’s a judgment call as to when this is appropriate for each horse, based on response to treatment and radiographic abnormalities,” says Donaldson. “Getting the horse moving gently, even with 20 minutes of very light exercise daily, can start to improve a horse’s metabolism and some biochemical parameters.”

Except for very mild cases with no radiographic changes, riding is unfortunately out of the picture until the horse has had a complete

beyond are at risk of developing pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID, or “Cushing’s disease”). Breeds predisposed to equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) may start to show warning signs, such as easy weight gain and a cresty neck, as soon as they stop growing if they are not in regular work.

Overweight: A body-condition score above 5 or 6 Sedentary: On 24/7 turnout, or retired with little vigorous exercise Unhealthful diet: Fed hay and feeds high in sugar and starch; access to pasture Unbalanced feet: Feet with long toes and low heels—or hooves trimmed in this manner in order to produce longer strides and less knee action—can cause mechanical damage to the laminae (and the navicular area, as well).

The more risk factors your horse has, the higher his risk of developing endocrinopathic laminitis. It’s much easier to prevent the disease than to manage it, so early detection and modifications are key.

Blood tests are available that can help to identify some metabolic risk factors and biochemical abnormalities, such as high insulin or high leptin levels, as well as to test for Cushing’s disease (PPID) and pituitary dysfunction.

hoof-growth cycle, which takes nine to 12 months, Kellon says. Ground driving is OK, but don’t lunge because the circling and turning are too stressful on the feet, she adds.

Hoof care during recovery is aimed at keeping the feet trimmed to maintain correct angles and to help reduce the forces in the foot that promote separation of the hoof from the underlying bone. Donaldson prefers to manage a laminitic horse unshod and in a boot with a cushioned bottom, which allows the horse to find a comfortable stance.

The type of boot can be changed to address the horse’s needs during healing.

Ongoing Care and Management Although laminitis is a stressful and potentially life-threatening

58 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

condition, there can be hope and full recovery.

“In terms of SSL and sepsis-related laminitis, once the underlying causes are resolved and there is no irreversible damage, the horse can eventually return to full work and is not at risk for future episodes,” says Kellon.

PPID cannot be cured, but it can be managed and treated with pergolide (Prascend).

Similarly, with endocrinopathic laminitis, the genetic predispositions that lead to metabolic syndrome won’t be cured, but lifetime management changes can dramatically reduce the occurrence of future laminitis episodes.

“We’d all love to take a pill to keep us fit and healthy,” says Donaldson, “but we know that we need to make lifestyle changes in

SHUTTERSTOCK

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ust as lifestyle changes can help people guard against developing type 2 diabetes, similar changes in your horse’s management may prevent him from developing endocrinopathic laminitis, which is related to metabolic syndrome. Discuss the following risk factors with your veterinarian.

Age: Horses approaching their teen years and

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Real-Life Case Studies

ome cases of laminitis have a happy outcome…and others don’t. Several dressage enthusiasts agreed to share their stories with USDF Connection.

COURTESY OF NIC FINK, NORM JOHNSON , BARBRA REIS , TONI WILLIAMSON

Quick intervention saves the day. In 2021, Nic Fink’s 2015 Arabian/Friesian mare, FVF Seakhret Always, developed insulin-resistant laminitis. “She had rotation and was instantly put on an emergency diet,” says the Wisconsinbased owner/rider. “The summer prior, we had already heavily modified her diet, and we were shocked when she started showing classic symptoms.”

Intensive management and medication produced improvement, and “Lola” Nic Fink and FVF returned to soundness within four weeks.

Seakhret Always Then “we were able to introduce turnout in a small paddock. Weeks turned into months, and eventually Lola was slowly brought back into work, as exercise reduces insulin levels. We’ll always be monitoring her diet.”

Fink reports that Lola is now schooling Training and First Level dressage, and she shows aptitude for upper-level work.

A lifetime membership in Weight Watchers. “Summer 2021 was the summer from hell for my mare, GG Marquez, an Andalusian/Swedish Warmblood I bred myself,” says Norm Johnson, of Newfield, New York.

“We were going gangbusters in our training, and I was excited to start showing.”

In May 2021, shortly before her seventh birthday, GG Marquez went lame in her left front limb. An abscess was suspected, but several days later “she was suddenly lame on the other leg. We hauled her to the Cornell University Equine Hospital, and laminitis Norm Johnson was discovered. That began the summer of and GG Marquez soaking hay, weight loss, padded boots, no pasture, and no work.”

GG Marquez was subsequently diagnosed with equine metabolic syndrome, and “my farrier says she will wear heartbar shoes forever,” Johnson says.

“We started light work in October and have been going slowly. My trainer says she is moving better than she ever did before, and we speculate it could be due to the weight loss. She’s doing really well now, and we are working full-time together.

Chronic laminitis gets the last word. “I had to put down Brilliant Reflection, my 23-year-old Paint/Thoroughbred, last year due to laminitis,” says Barbra Reis, a USDF bronze and silver medalist and dressage trainer at Brilliant Reflection Farm, Ortonville, Michigan. “‘Blake’ was a fantastic dressage horse that showed through Second Level. The last few years he developed seasonal laminitis, and in 2021 he had a horrible bout with it. Despite trying numerous medical and management

treatments, it didn’t help much. In the end, we did the hardest, kindest thing to end his misery.

“About eight years ago, a client’s National Show Horse went through the same thing,” Reis continues. “We extended his life by two years, but we finally made the decision to put him down because he did not have quality of life.”

Barbra Reis and Brilliant Reflection

Strict management keeps PPID in check. Adult-amateur rider Angela Thayer, of Tiverton, Rhode Island, has earned her USDF bronze and silver medals aboard her self-trained Morgan mare, Highover French Krystle (pictured on page 54).

“Krystle,” now 23, is insulin-resistant, has PPID, “and has had several bouts of laminitis in the past,” Thayer says. The owner/rider has learned that “two things are really important to keep my mare healthy, sound, and ridable: I have to be really strict with diet and exercise.

“A low-sugar and -starch diet and a regular exercise program are key for her insulin resistance,” Thayer explains.

“She gets her hay soaked because I buy hay in small quantities, so I don’t test to know the NSC [nonstructural carbohydrates; a low number is considered important in managing equines with metabolic issues], and she gets a ration balancer with her supplements.” And “keeping her fit with a consistent exercise program helps keep her young and manages the insulin resistance.”

Krystle also gets the medication pergolide (Prascend) to help control her PPID, says Thayer.

Round-the-clock ice helps check sudden laminitis bout. “A year ago, my healthy, fit Oldenburg, Beaujolais, got laminitis after a steroid injection,” says Toni Williamson, of Acton, Massachusetts. “He was about to turn 12 years old and was getting ready to compete at Prix St. Georges with me and I-I with my trainer.

“After I got the call and saw from a video that it was clearly laminitis, I drove immediately to the barn, picking up bags of ice on the way,” Williamson continues. “For 48 hours, we kept ‘Beau’s’ front feet in bags of ice, changing them every hour. I slept at the barn for two nights. Our barn staff put 20 bags of shavings in his stall, so he was on a soft surface.”

Toni Williamson and Beaujolais Williamson credits her regular veterinarian and others at his practice for helping to save her horse. “Beau’s amazing temperament also helped, and he was totally happy on box rest. Thanks to rapid, intensive treatment, he had very little rotation and with slow, careful rehab has come back to full work. We’re getting ready to show this year.”

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

59

A

The PPID-Laminitis Link

ny breed of horse from mid-teens on can develop pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), also known as Cushing’s disease.

Many horse people know that an unusually thick, wavy haircoat is a classic symptom of PPID, but they may not be aware that a firsttime, unexplained laminitis episode in the fall can be a first sign of PPID, according to veterinarians Dr. Mark Donaldson and Dr. Eleanor Kellon.

Unexplained tendon or ligament issues may also be an early sign of PPID, as can an increase in drinking and urinating in the late summer or early fall, they say.

Test for PPID with a thyrotropin stimulating hormone (TRH) test to catch and treat it early before insulin is dangerously high, Donaldson advises. It’s the most sensitive test for PPID and is indicated when the cause of laminitis is unclear, but “in my opinion, it is not a good test to monitor response to treatment for PPID,” he says.

Kellon recommends testing all horses over the age of 20 annually.

“Otherwise, test if there are signs suspicious for PPID,” even if a baseline test of the horse’s levels of the hormone adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) appears normal, she advises.

nutrition, exercise, and environment to feel our best. It’s the same with caring for our horses.”

Our experts recommend keeping a tight rein on the following four pillars of a PPID horse’s management regimen:

Resources

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tart your search for more information about laminitis and its management here.

American Association of Equine Practitioners: aaep.org Emergency diet for horses with equine metabolic syndrome or PPID: ecirhorse.org/DDT+E-diet.php Advice for farriers on trimming the laminitic foot: ecirhorse.org/DDT+E-trim.php.

Feed. In transitioning from Kellon’s emergency diet to a more regular maintenance nutrition regimen, continue to feed a diet low in sugar, starch, and fat to help keep insulin levels in check. Using the results of your hay analysis and your horse’s body condition and energy requirements, work with your veterinarian to come up with a program of balanced mineral supplementation.

For optimum health going forward, you’ll want your horse to be trim, so feed only enough to keep his bodycondition score between 4.5 and 5 (ribs slightly visible to easily felt).

Hoof care. Keep a tight, physiologically correct trim on the hoof, whether shod or not, to help minimize coffin-bone displacement.

Exercise. Regular vigorous exercise is vital to improving metabolic conditions.

Environment. Restrict access to pasture, or use a grazing muzzle.

Hope for the Future While laminitis is one of the most common serious diseases facing our

60 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

horses today, the good news is that endocrinopathic laminitis is also one of the most treatable—and potentially preventable—conditions.

We can’t change our horses’ genetic makeup or metabolism, but we can reduce some of the other risk factors by controlling their diet, exercise, and environment.

And that’s a journey worth taking.

Kara L. Stewart is a freelance writer and lifelong horsewoman living along California’s central coast. The companion donkey to her two Arabian geldings lived with laminitis for many years, during which time Stewart experienced the challenges of and treatment options for this dreaded disease.

SHUTTERSTOCK

WHOA THERE: A grazing muzzle, which restricts a horse’s grass consumption, is an important accessory for the horse with metabolic syndrome that’s turned out on pasture

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www.yourdressage.org

Reviews Pass It Down The arts of riding and horsemanship are taught, generation to generation.

Here are some teachings worth a read.

By Jennifer O. Bryant

Words from the Wise Event riders tend to be down-toearth, “old school” horse people.

Former international eventing competitor and US Eventing Association Hall of Famer Denny Emerson epitomizes this no-shortcuts ethos, as his many Facebook fans can attest.

Emerson concludes his selfdescribed “backwards trilogy” of books (How Good Riders Get Good; Know Better to Do Better) with Begin and Begin Again (Trafalgar Square, 211 pp.). Subtitled The Bright Optimism of Reinventing Life with Horses, Begin and Begin Again is a collection of Emerson’s (and others’) wisdom on getting started with horses, and especially on starting over, whether that means becoming a midlife “re-rider,” changing disciplines, rebooting one’s approach to horses and equine involvement, or deciding to dust off that long-lost equestrian dream.

Begin and Begin Again is an

inspiring master class from Emerson and other standouts representing many facets of the equine industry.

Namaste Your Ride The models in Equestrian Yoga (Mendik Media LLC, 95 pp.) may be in Western garb, but this book of simple unmounted and mounted yoga poses (plus some companion moves for your horse) is useful to all disciplines.

Author Danny Chapparo is a rider and owner of Ashva Yoga.

Co-author Natalie DeFee Mendik is a dressage rider and an award-winning freelance writer who contributes regularly to USDF Connection.

Together they have assembled an easy-to-follow guide to introductory yoga poses designed to improve mobility in the saddle (and on the part of the horse), as well as a sense of peaceful calm while with your horse. Clear color photographs illustrate each pose.

A Horse Parent’s Crash Course If you’re the parent of a horse-crazy kid—or if you’re the horse-crazy kid, and you’re lucky enough to have a

62 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

parent who encourages your equestrian involvement—get a copy of A Man Walks into a Barn (Trafalgar Square, 325 pp.).

The author, a “horse dad” with the delightfully apropos name of Chad Oldfather, is a law professor and Chronicle of the Horse blogger who retraces his steps, as the subtitle explains, Navigating Fatherhood in the Flawed and Fascinating World of Horses. From the up-down lesson stage to showing at major competitions, Oldfather is ringside as his daughters become increasingly involved in the sport, for better and sometimes for worse.

More than just a memoir, A Man Walks into a Barn also takes a hard look at some of the practices in youth sports, and the horse world in particular, that are questionable at best. Although dressage is a minor player in the book—the Oldfather

girls are primarily hunter/jumper riders—the scenes, themes, and sentiments are universal.

Sharing Her Teachings Dressage instructor/trainer and judge Sue Hughes has been a fixture in our sport for many years. She’s a former USDF Region 2 director and a USDF Member of Distinction honoree, among others. She’s also lucky enough to 1) live in Michigan

and 2) have been around when the USDF/Violet Hopkins Instructor Symposiums were held in that state in the 1980s. Suffice it to say that she’s acquired a lot of dressage knowledge over the years, from some of the past and present legends in our sport.

Urged to set down some of her teachings, Hughes has self-published a how-to dressage manual entitled In the Beginning: Lessons from the Toolbox of Sue Hughes (69 pp.; tinyurl.com/2p92k29c). The packaging isn’t fancy, but suffice it to say that anyone who’s learned from such stars as Maj. Anders Lindgren, Kyra Kyrklund, Sally Swift, and Dr. Hilary Clayton has a lot to impart.

There’s a lot to be gleaned from this unassuming volume, especially if you’re new-ish to the sport of dressage.

Just for Fun

Horses Is Never Orderly (Trafalgar Square, 199 pp.) might give you a much-needed lift.

The book is a collection of comics by dressage rider Morgane Schmidt, and our sport figures prominently in many of the panels. Horse lovers in general, and dressage enthusiasts in particular, will get a chuckle from Schmidt’s wry observations of rider foibles, dressage peculiarities, and equine shenanigans.

In today’s world, sometimes we all just need a reason to smile. If you’ve had it with global strife, domestic strife, and maybe even your horse, the cartoon collection Life with

Jennifer Bryant is the editor of USDF Connection.

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Unlike electronic devices, our books are laminated, always reliable, readable in bright sun or rain, with directional arena diagrams and formatted in big print for callers .

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www.usdf.org/store USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

65

USDF OFFICE CONTACT DIRECTORY

Phone: (859) 971-2277, Fax: (859) 971-7722, E-mail: usdressage@usdf.org Accounting...................................................................................... (859) 271-7891......................... accounting@usdf.org

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Address and E-mail Updates...................................................... (859) 971-2277.............................changes@usdf.org

July/August 2021

Adult Education Programs ......................................................... (859) 271-7882.......................... education@usdf.org All-Breeds Awards ........................................................................ (859) 971-7361.............................allbreeds@usdf.org Applications Submitted at Competitions................................. (859) 271-7880........................... affidavits@usdf.org Breeder Championship Series................................................... (859) 271-7878.........................sporthorse@usdf.org

Official Publication of the United States Dressage Federation

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HORSE HEALTH

Buyer’s Guide to the Prepurchase Exam (p. 44)

Demographics and Statistics...................................................... (859) 271-7083.................................... stats@usdf.org

Handling GMO Conflict (p. 20) Raise Your Training Standards with Sue Blinks (p. 30)

Donations........................................................................................ (859) 971-7826................................donate@usdf.org GMO Education Initiative............................................................. (859) 271-7882.......................... education@usdf.org

Dr. Hilary Clayton on Donzi MC

Group Membership....................................................................... (859) 971-7048.....................................gmo@usdf.org Hall of Fame and Lifetime Achievement Awards.................. (859) 271-7873......................... halloffame@usdf.org Horse Performance Certificates................................................ (859) 971-7361........... horseperformance@usdf.org Horse Registration......................................................................... (859) 271-7880............horseregistration@usdf.org Human Resources/Career Opportunities................................ (859) 271-7885......................................... hr@usdf.org

L Education and Continuing Education................................... (859) 971-7039............................ lprogram@usdf.org Licensed Official Education........................................................ (859)-271-7877.......................loeducation@usdf.org Mailing Lists.................................................................................... (859) 971-7038.......................... mailinglist@usdf.org Musical Freestyle........................................................................... (859) 971-7039...............musicalfreestyle@usdf.org NAYC Criteria and Procedures.................................................. (859) 971-7317..................................... nayc@usdf.org Nominations – Delegates, Regional Directors...................... (859) 271-7897......................nominations@usdf.org Participating and Business Memberships............................... (859) 271-7871.......................membership@usdf.org Prize List Questions...................................................................... (859) 271-7896...............................prizelist@usdf.org Regional Championships Program........................................... (859) 271-7886........................regchamps@usdf.org Rider Awards.................................................................................. (859) 971-7361........................riderawards@usdf.org Safe Sport........................................................................................ (859)-271-7877............................safesport@usdf.org Score Corrections......................................................................... (859) 271-7895............. scorecorrections@usdf.org Secretary/Manager Services ..................................................... (859) 271-7895.....................competitions@usdf.org Show Results.................................................................................. (859) 271-7895.................................results@usdf.org Sponsorship Opportunities......................................................... (859) 271-7887......................sponsorship@usdf.org Sport Horse Education and Programs..................................... (859) 271-7877.........................sporthorse@usdf.org Store Merchandise........................................................................ (859) 971-7828.....................merchandise@usdf.org University Accreditation and Credit Check............................ (859) 271-7882...........................university@usdf.org USDFScores.com.......................................................................... (859) 271-7878................................reports@usdf.org USEF/USDF Dressage Seat Medal Program & Semi-Finals....(859)-971-7886....................................... youth@usdf.org Year-End Awards........................................................................... (859) 971-7361.................................awards@usdf.org Young Rider Graduate Program................................................ (859) 971-7317....................................youth@usdf.org Youth Education and Programs................................................. (859) 971-7317....................................youth@usdf.org

For specific staff contacts visit the USDF Web site.

66 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

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Junior/Young Rider Clinics.......................................................... (859) 971-7317.............................jryrclinics@usdf.org

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. Postage

Insurance Certificates for Competitions.................................. (859) 271-7886............................. compins@usdf.org

Lebanon Junction, KY Permit # 559

Instructor Certification.................................................................. (859) 271-7877..... instructorcertification@usdf.org

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USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2022

67

My Dressage Human Resources For veteran NEDA competitions coordinator Beth Jenkins, finding and keeping volunteers is a perennial challenge

A VOLUNTEER’S VOLUNTEER: Jenkins

Jenkins, of Sherborn, Massachusetts, has been a NEDA board member since the early 1970s.

NEDA is the largest single-chapter group-member organization (GMO) within USDF, so naturally it’s put on some pretty big shows. Its flagship event was the NEDA Fall Festival, which for nearly every year since 2004 doubled as the Great American/USDF Region 8 Championships: a four-day, eight-ring, 1,600-ride circus held at the HITS show grounds in Saugerties, New York.

“We were the biggest dressage show in the country—maybe in the world—in terms of sheer number of rides and rings,” Jenkins says.

All those rides and rings require a lot of volunteer labor: 120 people total over the four days.

Jenkins says that local one- or twoday shows with one or two rings are relatively simple to stage. “You can run this with maybe five or six people. You can pull six people from people you know. It’s much harder when you’re talking a behemoth like a Regional Championships….You’re going to have to go way beyond people you know.”

Location also plays a role.

“Saugerties is 200 miles away from NEDA’s base in the Boston area, so we were pulling volunteers away from home. Every one of them needed a hotel room,” Jenkins explains.

If possible, Jenkins suggests, “Hire the folks who work at the show grounds. They live there. They don’t need hotels.”

NEDA didn’t feel right asking Fall Festival volunteers to pay all of their own expenses, but neither could it foot the entire bill. Its compromise solution was to pay for a hotel room the night before a volunteer’s shift begins. To help keep costs down, volunteers shared rooms; those who wanted a single room were asked to pay half (pre-pandemic, that is). Side benefit: By getting folks into town the night before, the odds increased that volunteers would arrive at the show grounds on time, especially those whose shifts started early.

People’s time is limited, but managing and scheduling many shortterm volunteers can be exhausting, Jenkins says. “Getting a person to work for a whole day or four whole days, or for the duration of the show, is a hundred times easier than trying to put people into four-hour slots or two-hour slots.”

“One critical thing that saved our life,” says Jenkins, “was to go to the schools, the equestrian clubs, the nonprofits, the 4-H’s, the Pony Clubs,

68 July/August 2022 | USDF CONNECTION

the universities that have riding programs, and say, ‘Send us some people for four days to volunteer, and we will make a donation to your program.’”

The University of New Hampshire, for one, “sends us several good people.

They’re cheerful and they’re smart, and they will do anything. They come as a group and have a wonderful time.

They have fun. You’ve got to find some way to make it fun.”

Even with these incentives in place, Jenkins believes, organizers of the biggest shows may need to accept the fact that unpaid labor doesn’t entirely cut it any more. The wave of the future, she thinks, is the so-called professional volunteer, “meaning you’re part of paid staff. That’s what happened in Florida” at the big winter-season competitions, she says.

Over the past decade, NEDA “has had to hire more and more paid staff,” Jenkins says. For instance, “we pay the scorers because we can’t afford mistakes….The show runs much more efficiently if you can get people for four days on a paid basis, rather than using volunteers. Ultimately, it’s cheaper.”

Volunteers will always have their place in our sport, however, and they must be treated (and fed) well. Doing so starts at the top: “It’s critically important that whoever is in charge is a people person,” Jenkins says, “treating them like people, and they’re valued.”

“I was a volunteer, and I think that’s important,” she muses. “I think that when I’m working like a dog, people feel guilty if they bail. I always said I led by guilt, and very few people let us down.”

Katherine Walcott is a freelance writer based in Alabama.

USDF FILE PHOTO

A

s the competitions coordinator (and previously show manager) for the New England Dressage Association (NEDA), Beth Jenkins’ greatest challenge has been recruiting and keeping volunteers.

By Katherine Walcott

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