Thanks again to The Dressage Foundation for support to attend the USDF Instructor/Trainer Certification Workshops. You can read my report on my experience by clicking here.
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I had such a great time soaking up sun and playing dressage tourist in Wellington, FL! I met up with good friend Brigid to spectate a couple of days of competition at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival, including the CDI5* Freestyle night. It was pretty fantastic to also witness the Olympian Salute, a short ceremony to honor all the (40 something) former Olympians who were on the grounds that day from different countries. Special thanks to Jen Baumert who let me crash at her place while I was there!
Rhumba and I qualified for US Dressage Finals in Lexington, Kentucky! Unfortunately, my travel for the USDF Instructor/Trainer Certification workshops interferes too much with the training and travel schedule necessary to get to Nationals so we're declining our invitation this year. You better believe we'll shoot to be there next year! Nonetheless, it's so exciting to have qualified to compete against some of the nation's best professionals and Grand Prix! My goal this year was to break 65% at Grand Prix and we did it at the right time - on a 66% in our Regional Championship, earning us 3rd Place in the class and a invitation to US Dressage Finals by Wildcard score. Go Rhumba! I just returned from an absolutely fabulous trip out west where I began the process to become a USDF Certified Instructor/Trainer. The workshops were held at Shaman's Circle Ranch in Midway, Utah by the Utah Dressage Society. I have to admit that when I left, I thought that certification was important, I believed in it and I hoped that our country would continue to head to a place where certification was considered more of a requirement. After attending the first two workshops, I believe that even more strongly and am proud to be taking part in the program. Though the program allowed for some variety of style and approaches, the main points were driven home very clearly and I think we all left with improvements to how we think through our lessons, prioritize and set our standards! It was an honor to be learning alongside some other talented, motivated and successful young trainers. Thank you to The Dressage Foundation for the grant that made this trip possible for me! I spent a little extra time hiking in Utah, and then met a friend in Sun Valley, Idaho where we were lucky to observe a couple of schooling days at River Grove Farm with Debbie McDonald and company. Soaking up that kind of education after an intense four days in Utah was a total treat. Thanks to UDS and Shaman's Circle Ranch for the hospitality - the workshop was super well run and organized and the farm with Mt. Timpanogos in the background was breathtaking! All the demo horses and riders deserve a big thank you as well. Thanks also to the generous folks at River Grove Farm for letting us be flies on the wall - it was wonderful! So over the moon proud of Rhumba for a great showing at the USDF Region 4 Championships in St. Louis, Missouri! We placed 3rd out of 7 in our Open Grand Prix Championship. What a way to finish out our first year at Grand Prix!! He's the kindest, most generous, big hearted horse I know and it's always an absolute pleasure to hang out with this big love of a horse. We even earned a Wildcard Invitation to US Nationals on our score of 66% - however, with a trip to Utah and Idaho coming up to start the USDF Instructor/Trainer Certification workshops, I likely won't be able to swing the trip to Kentucky. Too many awesome things going on - what a wonderful problem to have! It would be amazing to compete with some of the nation's best GP combinations! Thank you so much to Brittany Susienka and Julie Davies Pagels for being awesome road trip buddies, and to Shannon Van Skike and Karen Halpin for the providing the amazing hospitality, food and wine. Thanks to the MVF crew for being such fun stabling neighbors and for loving up my doggie all weekend too! The northern lights lit up the sky as I packed up the night before leaving and we returned to a rainbow over Lake Superior - what a way to wrap up a pretty darn magical weekend! SWE had a great time at the CSDEA Fall Festival! Rhumba and Leah Nelson were Reserve Champ in the Open Intermediate/Grand Prix Championship with a 63% at Grand Prix and Alex LaFleur and Jute were Reserve Champ in the Jr/Yr Training Level Championship on Sunday. Our teams did great, ending up 8th and 9th out of 25 teams on Saturday. Rachel Tomczak did an EXCELLENT job catch riding Natascha Artang's pony, Lightning at Training Level. Natascha's Friesians were gorgeous as usual and Amara Jensen and Rivas made an impressive first outing at First Level after a little hiatus from the show ring! Congrats everyone and thanks to Central States Dressage and Eventing Association for an excellent show!! Of course thanks to Sarah Chiodi for tagging along as super groom once again!! I had two great rides with Emily Juchser Miles over the weekend. Emily has had great success with her stallion WakeUp and just last week was at Lamplight winning the Markel/USEF Developing Horse Grand Prix National Championship. Congrats Emily! I rode Brio and Rhumba and had super productive, intense rides. Emily hit the nail on the head with weak spots with both horses and I'm excited to keep working through those things. My two chestnut boys worked like champs and I'm proud of them! Lots of good homework for the rest of show season and over the winter. Thanks to Jaclyn Fleming for organizing the clinic. We hope to have her return to Spring Hill in the future. Stay tuned! An excellent time was had by all at the NWDA Fall Schooling Show. Lots of really nice scores and beautiful rides. These shows are a wonderful opportunity for horses and riders to get more positive experiences in the ring. Highlights include Leah (showing Eros Ibn Akrotiri owned by Susan Gagne at Training Level) and Sarah Chiodi (showing Sebastian a.k.a. Wooloomooloo owned by Amy Miller at Intro Level) winning both their Championship classes. The unrelenting heat proved challenging, but we all survived and did it with smiles on our sweaty faces! Thank you NWDA for providing yet another fun show. |
AuthorLeah Nelson Archives
January 2021
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