March 2018 YourDressage

YourDressage

March 2018

A father tells the story of how a gift changed his daughter's life

A United States Dressage Federation Publication

Welcome to Your Wonderful World of Dressage YourDressage is compiled by the United States Dressage Federation, written by participants from throughout the dressage community. The articles in this publication are submitted by people like you to share and be shared by all. Experience their stories as they navigate through the wonderful world of dressage and become friends with your dressage community.

It’s YourDressage, be part of it! If you would like to submit your story see the last page of this publication.

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The 2018 USDF Online Stallion Guide is now LIVE!

2018 USDF Online Stallion Guide A Foal of Your Own Dreaming of breeding your mare?

Read our primer on the process first.

A Showcase for the Dressage Sport Horse The 2017 USDF Breeders Championship Series Finals Statistics

Achieving the End Goal The 2017 Great American Insurance Group/USDF Regional Championships Breed Statistics and Information

High Performance The 2017 US Dressage Finals Presented

This annual online stallion guide is released by the United States Dressage Federation for the dressage community.

The guide is available both through the USDF website and the USDF app.

by Adequan® Breed Statistics and Information

This annual online stallion guide is released by the United States Dressage Federation for the dressage community. Available through both the USDF website and the USDF app, the Online Stallion Guide includes: • • •

Featured Breeding Article, Breeding Statistics from USDF competitions, and Index of Progeny of Advertised Stallions.

This guide contains interactive links to give you all the information you need to make a favorable breeding decision. Whether interested in breeding, or looking for a breeder with offspring already on the ground, this is a great way to learn more about dressage breeders throughout North America.

March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

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What to See Inside Departments YOUNG & INSPIRED: Teen with Autism Kaylin Bowman Thrives on Dressage Kaylin Bowman hasn't let autism stop her and continues to triumph through the sport of dressage.

My time to ride: Not Just Any Wrandom Ally Wo tells her story of setting a goal of winning an Adequan®/ USDF Year-End Award with her horse Wrandom.

Horse Tales: Pre-tty Spectacular Meredith Reiff found her not so typical warmblood in a 17.2-hand 10-year-old tabiano Friesian x Saddlebred she calls Pre. Heard ARound the Arena: The Adequan® West Dressage Festival This event on the west coast during the months of January and February was a popular post for social media.

USDF flashback: Karl Mikolka Austrian-born Karl Mikolka introduced thousands of spectators to haute école dressage and the stallions' famed "airs above the ground" at Tempel Farms in Wadsworth, IL.

Cover story The Birthday Gift

Mike and Gina Avery's gift to their four-year-old daughter, Gianna, proved to be a life-changing experience for her.

March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

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YOUNG & INSPIRED

Teen with Autism Kaylin Bowman Thrives in Dressage

By Betsy LaBelle This article orignially appeared on dressageheadlines.com, reprinted by permission.

G

rowing up with autism, 13-year-old Kaylin Bowman continues to triumph through the sport of dressage. Diligently training for the last five years with Allison Stai at Rocking M Stables (RMS) in Dallas, Texas, last fall the remarkable youngster won the South West Dressage Club (SWDC) Region 9 Championships for Intro B. She competed in the Training Level Test 3 and Training Level Freestyle. They also competed in the 2017 USDF Dressage Seat Medal Semi-Finals for ages 13 and under and placed second which will earn them an invitation to go to Chicago next year for the Seat Medal Finals. “She just continues to progress,” Allison acknowledges proudly. “She’s become a really nice little rider.”

Kaylin, at 13, last fall after the Houston Championships with her current horse Robin. Melanie Kaihani photo

Connecting right away with Kaylin, Allison steadily mentors approximately 20 youth riders each year from age 3 to age 18.

Since autism has a spectrum disorder that includes little eye contact, difficulties with language and social interaction, working with Kaylin at first required a particularly mindful approach, “While she had a bubbly personality, she had trouble communicating. If I asked her a question, I wouldn’t get an answer. I realized those first few days that if I grasped her hand and guided her to do something, she’d do it. That was her starting out point. Not long into the program, she made progress like all of the others in the program here.” Since those beginnings in the sport, Kaylin has made enormous strides. “We started with a couple of school ponies. And over the years, Click here to go to dressageheadlines.com March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

YOUNG & INSPIRED

her personality has completely changed. She is totally fearless.

She doesn’t tend to overthink things like many of us do. In some ways, she has an advantage.”

When Kaylin was 8, a friend of her mother’s suggested Rocking M Stables for her daughter.

Lisabeth Bowman, Kaylin’s Mom, had a good friend whose child was training at Rocking M where they have a youth curriculum program that runs in conjunction with the school year. “My friend,” Lisabeth elaborated, “suggested that my husband Hil and I think outside of the box of a special needs equine therapy program.”

She continued, “At that time, we wanted to see if an equine therapy program might be beneficial for her. She’s on the spectrum and so we were naturally thinking special needs riding. My friend suggested we think outside of the box and consider the program at Rocking M Stables. Children with Kaylin, age 10, with her tainer Allison Stai after winning at her first schooling show.

special needs sometimes get stuck in always going to special needs programs. With my friend thinking outside that box she asked us to let Yvonne and Allison at Rocking M tell us what Kaylin could or couldn’t do. And right away they said that she could do it all.”

Lisabeth continued, “I really hadn’t seen her connect with anyone other than close family members or her therapist before starting at Rocking M. It has been great to see her emotions develop. When she started at age eight, her language was just starting to emerge. She had very limited language. She’d regressed to almost zero language like at age 3, so we were working hard to gain it back. She had some sentences, but very limited.” She continued remembering, “They were mostly demands for her wants and not wants. She didn’t have any much emotional language to use effectively yet. Expressing emotions verbally was difficult. When she first got on a horse and started March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

YOUNG & INSPIRED

trotting, she started giggling.

We would ask her what she was thinking, and she would answer that she wanted to go faster. It was great to see her expressing what she wanted. She really wanted to learn the next step.”

Nervous for their daughter at her first show, Kaylin’s parents watched her succeed through all the steps to complete the USDF Intro A class and win first place in a class of 6 riders. Kaylin’s Mom shared, “The hardest part for a person with autism is putting together steps for things like being asked to go from one room to another and placing something on a table or the steps to brushing one’s teeth independently.

So competing in a dressage test has been extraordinary. We were so nervous. And she has had no problems, only progressions.”

Kaylin is the one who pushed for more and told them that she wanted to do more showing.

Seeing her enthusiasm for wantKaylin, age 11, and Robin dressed up for Christmas

ing to do more, they bought her a horse she’s owned now for two years now. The horse they bought is a registered paint mare named Wannabea Painted Robin, which they call Robin. “For the Region 9 Championships this year,” Allison shared, “Kaylin competed in Intro B and won the class whereas last year in that same class, they were in ninth place. They also competed in the 2017 USDF Dressage Seat Medal Semi-Finals for ages 13&under and placed second earning them a ticket to be invited to go to Chicago next year for the Finals.”

Lisabeth said, “At Rocking M they are about the entire riding experience. She learned to do it all from grooming to tacking up to picking the hooves, everything.

She takes complete responsibility for taking care of the horse. The whole experience has blown us away. It’s been amazing to see her invest all the time into her riding.

She has become very sympathetic and empathetic to the horse, her partner in riding.” She continued, March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

YOUNG & INSPIRED

Kaylin on Robin along with RMS teammates during the Region 9 Championships in October 2017. Melanie Kaihani photo.

“We started really slow. She had been consistently moving forward in her progression. We’ve never witnessed any regression.

And since we started with the horses,” Lisabeth emphasized, “it’s only been positive progress. It’s

just amazing to watch her. Every year we talk about the progress.

Whatever is happening with the horse, the kinetic movement, she is tuned in. The connection and the movement of the horse does something to her.”

Allison works with Kaylin in lessons twice a week on Monday and in a group lesson on Saturday. Allison said, “She has a private lesson on Monday and a group lesson on Saturday. She rides on her own three days a

week and on the other days, she comes to groom, hand grazes and spends time with Robin. She’s at the barn every day. We have several kids her age here, and she’s become friends with all of them.

Always supportive and positive, she’s very connected. It’s exactly what her parents wanted for her.”

Lisabeth shared, “Now, she is indistinguishable from her peers when on her horse. When Allison has her in a group lesson with four other girls, she can ask them all to do the same thing. Allison doesn’t need to say, ‘Kaylin, I need you to do something.’ You used to have to say her name to get her to do something, but she has generalized out of that. It’s been amazing to see her grow that way. She can take directions, and she controls her emotions better. The horse we purchased two years ago is awesome. Of course, there have been things she has had to work through. Robin tested her a few weeks after we purchased her by halting and refusing to go forward. A year before, Kaylin would March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

YOUNG & INSPIRED

The Rocking M Stables show team from last season. Yvonne Kusserow and Allison Stai are the trainers. Carlos Lugo photo.

have pitched a real fit, but she’s learned to process what is going on. She remembers experiences with other horses, and she will listen to Allison on what to do when she questions something. Allison has been amazing in telling her to keep going and not to give up.”

The Program - Rocking M Stables

German board certified Pferdewirtschaftsmeisterin Yvonne Kusserow became head trainer at Rocking M Stables in 2008 after working at the State Equestrian College in Vechta and studying the complicated USDF/USEF

Dressage Tests. After moving to the U.S., Yvonne noticed that young riders were not progressing up the dressage levels with the same understanding as Germany’s youth riders whose training emphasized a more comprehensive foundation of classical

horsemanship. www.rockingmstables.com Merging Germany’s testing structure with America’s USDF/ USEF rules for dressage level test requirements, Yvonne and Allison created a highly effective, understandable, and enjoyable annual training program for around 20 young riders between the ages of 3 and 18 that coincides with the fall to spring school year.

The Rocking M Stables’ successful riding program also involves grooming, horse care and safety, a systematic structure that follows each horse’s biomechanics to include rhythm, relaxation, contact, impulsion, straightness, collection, and the German method of testing to teach young riders up the dressage levels.

Kaylin’s Journey through the RMS Program

“She’s completed the highest level of the level testings,” Allison explained. “The levels are a pre-showing preparedness curriculum. The highest level is the March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

YOUNG & INSPIRED

3+ and now she’s moved on to the show team.”

Allison shared, “When Kaylin started advancing and expressing an interest in showing, I did look into Special Olympic type options, just to explore what types of opportunities might be out there for her. In the end, we all decided that we see no reason why she can’t do the same shows that the rest of us do, so we decided to give it a shot. It turns out she definitely can hold her own out there.”

Allison said, “There are two main components we feel that have influenced Kaylin. One is that she has the social connection that she and the other kids share the same ups and downs in their riding journey and the second is the horsemanship skills that have been combined with riding. From day one, she went into a step-bystep routine of having to groom her assigned pony. She learned how to catch the horse, tie it up properly and safely, and how to pick the horses hooves, groom

the horse, and more. She learned how to connect with a horse and develop a relationship on the ground before getting on it. There have been times when I started to help with something, and she will say to me, ‘no, that’s my job,’ and I step back and let her do it. ” Lisabeth confirmed, “Her horse has become her partner.”

Although one of the most difficult aspects of autism is putting steps in their proper working order, Kaylin will correctly guide her horse into an arena, circle the ring, say hello to the judge, and announce her name and riding number and then wait for the bell to begin. “She has nailed all of the steps to participate in a show,” Lisabeth excitedly describes.

“She’s very proud of herself that she’s learned and doing it well.”

Kaylin’s Regular school

Kaylin is in a small therapy school called Spectrum Academy directed by Nikki Moses who Lisabeth calls the Autism Whisperer. Nikki said she contributes

the riding and Kaylin’s work with the horses in helping her with connecting to others and showing empathy and affection. She also said that this stands out the most because this connecting is one area of autism is often difficult for learners to acquire and it takes a very long time to teach. Horses have also attributed to Kaylin being more disciplined and encouraged responsibility.

Lisabeth shared, “All parts of Kaylin’s life have been affected by the riding, the physical, the social and the learning. She is always making progress. Her comprehension skills continue to move forward at a rapid pace. I truly believe that the kinetic movement does something in sending messages up to the brain. Things really connect. Her cognitive skills have improved dramatically since starting riding.”

Kaylin’s family acknowledges that Rocking M Stables has helped Kaylin so much. “I cannot say enough thanks to Allison for all the kids she works with,”

Lisabeth says admiringly. “Kaylin may have autism, but everyone has their stuff, their hiccups, and their hurdles to get over. She’s patient with every single one of them. Whether anyone has a fear, frustration or a learning block, she walks all the way through it with them, and they all come out the other side with success. It’s amazing to see someone with so much love for these kids.”

Click here to go to the Rocking M Stables website March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

my time to ride

Not Just Any Wrandom

By Ally Wo

W

random Star is a beautiful, black, 13-year-old mare, with a distinctive white star on her forehead and deep caring eyes. She is the only horse that I have ever owned or competed with, and she is my best friend.

When Wrandom first came to us, she was skittish because of the new surroundings and faces. She didn’t trust anyone, or let anyone pet her, because she was abused and neglected when she was very young. It took many, many weeks of calmly talking to Wrandom and showing her my affection and love.

She needed to understand that she was in a safe and friendly environment. The day that I gained her trust meant the world to me. When she finally let me pet her soft, raven-black face, with the little white star between her eyes, for the first time, it felt like the beginning of a new chapter for us. I can always rely on her to brighten my day.

Ally and Wrandom

Our goal for this year was to win an Adequan®/USDF YearEnd Award and to attend the Salute Gala and Annual Awards Banquet at the Adequan®/USDF Annual Convention in Lexington, Kentucky. I declared Wrandom for the Rheinland Pfalz-Saar International all-breeds category, and wanted Wrandom to know that I thought she was a special and talented horse, far removed from the abuse and neglect of her youth. We wanted to achieve our goal so badly, that it motivated us to work hard as a team and put in our best effort.

Though growing up in Hawaii is such a blessing, with it’s beautiful beaches, hiking trails, and scenic views, there are few options and opportunities for competitive English riding. Hawaii has a very strong Paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy) community, but our dressage season consists of only four competition weekends, with eight one-day shows in total. Along with that, dressage season in Hawaii starts in April and conMarch 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

my time to ride

tinues with shows in June, August, and September—the hottest months of the year. This meant that Wrandom and I need to be healthy and ready to perform our best at each show, because there is a very small margin of error for success.

I have currently been riding for about three years. I began with hunter/jumper for a year, and then switched to dressage for the past two. Last year, I competed in Introductory Level, and this year, I rode in Training Level with Wrandom.

Showing is really stressful to me because the Aloha State Dressage Society (ASDS) brings in national judges from the mainland, that each have their own preferences and particularities. I worry that, if I perform poorly on one of my show weekends, it will be difficult to wait another month, for the next show, in order to pull up my scores.

For example, this year we got off to a strong start in April, but had two mediocre show days in June. It was hard for me to wait so long for another chance to redeem myself, March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

my time to ride

and finish strong, in August and September. With so few opportunities to show, each competition takes on a magnified significance to your overall score. Therefore, when show season is over, Wrandom and I work really hard to prepare for our next challenge. But I know that, in the end, showing is all about bonding and spending quality time with my horse and the people who love me. I am so proud of Wrandom because she always tries her very best.

With only a few days each week purely dedicated to riding, it can be challenging to put in the practice necessary to improve.

I ride after school and on the weekends, returning home in the dark at around 7 o’clock, in time to have dinner with my family and finish my homework. And not only do I horseback ride, but I also dance ballet four times a week, and have danced with the same studio since I was three years old. With school, horseback riding, and ballet, it can be very tough to stay organized and manMarch 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

my time to ride

age my time. Thank goodness my parents, sister, and brother are always there for me, making sure I stay focused and on task.

Without them I would not be able to train and spend time with Wrandom, and for that I am truly grateful. My life is certainly very packed, but, when you are doing what you love, it doesn›t matter.

I was so happy to hear that Wrandom won her AdequanÂŽ/ USDF All-Breeds award, and that we won Reserve Champion for Junior/Young Rider Training Level, achieving our goal and making it possible to attend the USDF Salute Gala and Annual Awards Banquet.

It was such a great experience to be in the same room as Grand Prix winners and living legends of the dressage world. I have never been around so many horse lovers and English riders, and meeting so many national winners from all around the country was truly amazing. It was an experience that I will never forget.

I wish Wrandom could have come to Kentucky and gone up

on stage with me, to accept our awards together and experience that special moment. She is the most gentle, loving, and caring horse. We have faced everything together, from injuries and disappointments, to accomplishments and reaching our goals, but most importantly, we have created a lifelong friendship and trust.

eTRAK Extra

Read "Desensitizing the Dressage Horse" from the April 2016 issue of USDF Connection.

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Horse tales

Pre-tty Spectacular

By Meredith Reiff

W

e aren’t your typical pair, heading down centerline.

I’m an Adult Amateur aboard Flying W Farm’s Prince Prefontaine (just Pre to us). Pre’s not your typical warmblood, as he doesn’t have those classic bloodlines we all covet, nor does he look or move like them. Horses regularly spook and scatter from us in the warmup arena. You see, Pre is a 17.2h, 10-year-old tobiano Friesian x Saddlebred (Georgian Grande), and I think the ground vibrates when he moves. Picture an old sturdy work truck, surrounded by a bunch of Teslas.

When I got Pre, as a 2-yearold, I hadn’t ridden in 25 years.

My last time in a saddle was as a child, up in the mountains of Boulder, CO, bareback in a hackamore. I tracked down my childhood riding teacher who found Pre for me because she thought he was special and that Meredith and Pre

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Horse tales

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he could do Third Level. Since I had no idea what dressage (or Third Level) was at the time, that sounded like a great goal!

You know that old saying “Green on Green equals Black and Blue?” When we started out, we both knew next to nothing. I hadn’t ridden since I was a child, and Pre was unhandled – pulled out of a pasture in Ohio and about to turn two. I had no business with a baby. We started with a year of ground work – not lunging or long-lining, but sending him over obstacles, taking hikes with him, and teaching him to move, off pressure, like a gentleman. When he was three, I climbed aboard.

Ever since that first time on his back, I’ve felt like he is my Avatar… moving his massive body seems as easy as moving my own.

One great challenge is that Pre isn’t a brave fellow. He gets his confidence from me; a responsibility that I don’t take lightly. His own winter blanket can make him snort, stiffen, and spook. He is sworn enemies with our trash can.

For no reason, be it under saddle or on the ground, he’ll find horseeating obstacles everywhere. One of my trainers once said that she thought he was an adrenaline junkie and he liked to spook himself. I think she was right.

At four years old, we did our first little schooling show. We rode Training Level and scored a 70 percent. As we would only get occasional lessons, and go to shows with friends that were also beginners, I had no idea what scores meant. In my world, 70 percent is a school-grade C, which seemed fair for our first go.

Interspersed with his dressage work were bareback hacks, trail rides, and jumping sessions. He even packs around my beginner husband. He comes running like a puppy when I call him from a hundred yards away. My husband says it’s because he’ll do anything for me… but the truth is, I’ll do anything for him. So we bought a little horse property, and named it PreView Farm, so we could have him in our backyard.

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Horse tales

Pre spooked when receiving his neck ribbon at the GAIG/USDF Regional Dressage Championships.

Having our own horse property in Colorado is wonderful, but poses training challenges: no indoor, no program, and a lot of barn work. I have my partner in crime, Amy, who keeps her horse at PreView and is the reason we continue to improve. She and I have been lucky enough to get help from top notch clinicians and excellent trainers, but these are occasional luxuries, not weekly rituals.

Additionally, we have a group of other adult amateurs who

support each other with what we call “Eyes On The Ground.” We don’t have the big barn budgets or resources, so the help we give each other, be it advice, observation, or just plain support, is critical. We warm each other up at shows, go to each other’s barns to help out, share relevant videos, and download over cocktails after clinics or lessons. We all need a riding buddy…or ten.

We worked as much as we could over the winter, and felt we could try our hand at First

Level. Pre, then only five, did just fine. That year we qualified for the Great American Insurance Group/ USDF Regional Dressage Championships. Somehow, that big spotted hunk, with the hugest heart, took reserve champion! In true Pre fashion, when they presented us with the neck ribbon, he spooked. Fortunately, he got away cleanly so they couldn’t take our award back!

Pre soldiered on to Second Level the following year.

Once again, we had no idea if

we belonged in that arena with those talented horses and riders, but I think Pre enjoys the show environment. Extra adrenaline?

He earned a 69 percent his first weekend at Second Level, at a CDI. We definitely did not see that coming. We also got quite a few Dover Medals, which was very exciting. Well heck, we decided…let’s go for Third Level!

This is where things get sketchy, when you are riding a Friesian cross with a rider that has never schooled changes, March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

Horse tales

much less trained them. We worked relentlessly on the canter, to try and set ourselves up for success. We tried changing over a jump, we tried different exercises found in any article I could dig up, but his flying lead changes were a challenge. Even out in the pasture, he doesn’t change leads.

So our precious Pre had to put on his big boy pants and go away for a month of training with a wonderful local trainer, who had successfully trained a Friesian to Grand Prix.

This was the first time in his life in a program, never mind he was an hour and a half away, and not in my backyard. Nicole did a wonderful job with Pre, but no one expects miracles in a month. I heard somewhere that you need 100 clean changes at home before they are ready to be shown. Well… oh well, because this year we just went for it! We knew the changes would be a question mark, but what about the other 21 movements? So get this… even though I went off Their Bronze Medal ride.

course, Pre earned a 66.3 percent! I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Eight years and countless hours under saddle, this year we earned our USDF Bronze Medal–a goal that seemed a lifetime away.

Bringing him up through the levels has been both extremely frustrating and rewarding. My philosophy is to reward the slightest try. I think Pre appreciates it because he’s not a natural; he has to work extremely hard to hold his own against the horses built for the job. Pre has surprised me at every level, and that’s what makes our achievements all the more fulfilling.

Learning Fourth Level, and then onto Pre St. Georges, to get our Silver medal is the next pie in the sky. Once again, it looks like a mirage, murky lines on a very distant horizon. But Pre, the ‘Eyes on the Ground’ legion, and I are geared up for the challenge. T.S. Eliot succinctly wrote, “The journey, not the destination matters”.

They’re both pretty spectacular when viewed through the ears of your horse.

March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

The Birthday Gift

by Mike Avery

Gianna Avery with Reba

March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

F

or our daughter Gianna’s fourth birthday, her mother Gina and I surprised her with a miniature pony visit, from a local party company. The real surprise ended up being that Gianna was totally petrified of the little pony, and hid in the house until it was trailered away, back to the farm.

Sadly, two years later, her mother Gina was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.

Gina had her own horse as a teenager and, a year into her battle with cancer, received a gift certificate for a family trail ride at a local therapeutic riding center. With the center’s riding instructor leading the way, Gina rode ahead, close behind the instructor and wanting to canter, but restricted by the center’s trail rule of walking only. Gianna was next in the line, and I took up the rear, thankful to be on a horse trained for “auto-pilot.”

That ride eventually became one of the most impacting moMarch 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

ments on all three of our lives.

Many special things came from that ride. Though she was only allowed to walk with her horse, Gina relished in the ride, which brought her back to happier times. I hoped that, for that entire hour, she was not reminded once of her terminal prognosis. Then there was Gianna. Feeling safe, surrounded by her parents, a new love blossomed that day, and has only grown since...horses.

I was merely a spectator, watching as the two most important people in my life had their special moment.

Gina passed away on August 31, 2009, which was the first day of first grade for Gianna. The shared love of horses between Gianna and Gina carried on after her passing, with the unending support of family and friends, and the talents of stable staff, trainers, and clinicians.

Starting at six years old, with a beautiful white pony named Gianna and first pony, Misty.

March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

Taking a lesson

March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

Misty, Gianna joined an incredible, introductory, local, afterschool riding program, for three years. Then, aspiring to Third Level with her Quarter Horse mare Reba, she started seriously training with her trainer.

Now, at 14 years old, working with her trainer of almost nine years, Gianna started training with her 11-year-old Thoroughbred named Tie. She started out in eventing, but now primarily trains and shows in dressage.

However, it’s rare that a month of lessons go by without sneaking in some jumping! The majority of her training, clinics, and shows take place in Maine, yet she has traveled to New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York for events, too. Gianna is a Dressage 4 Kids attendee, a USDF Youth Participating and Group Member, and a USEF member, as well as having received her US Equestrian High School Athlete Letter.

Gianna is on a passionate Gianna today with Tie

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mission to be the best rider she can be. Her bedroom walls and ceiling are streamed with awards and ribbons, many blue, and her horse scrapbook is overflowing.

She’s an incredible young lady, who trains and shows with intensity, yet equally enjoys just being at her stable, grooming her horse, or simply trading horse treats for horse kisses. From minis, to ponies, to horses, she loves them all.

On the wall in Gianna’s bedroom, above pictures of her jumping with her then pony Misty, are the words: “Because when I ride all I feel is free.”

In Gianna’s words, “Horses are my life.” Any optional reading in school consists of horse books, her ever-improving drawing talents are honed in on horses, and the majority of play-date activities, when she was younger, were horse-related. She’s been a working student at her stable for the past three summers, as well. For her 11th birthday, Gianna hosted a huge party for her friends; in lieu of birthday gifts, she asked that

attendees donate $5 to the local horse rescue’s “Buy a Bale of Hay” program. The rescue’s director was in attendance, and with tears in her eyes, thanked Gianna and her guests for their kindness and unselfishness. For her last birthday, she organized a similar event for the local nonprofit mustang rescue.

As a single parent, with no horse background, I know our lives have been blessed. Gianna was given a gift filled with love, responsibility, and opportunity, all because of her mother, her love for horses, and the incredible people that surround them.

eTRAK Extra

Read "The Greatest Gift" about a young rider that learns important lessons from her schoolmaster horse in the February 2014 issue of USDF Connection.

March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

Heard around the arena

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The AdequanÂŽ West Coast Dressage Festival was held January 3 - February 17 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in California

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USDF FLASHBACK

Karl Mikolka Reprinted from the May 2014 USDF Connection magazine.

A

lthough a number of European dressage masters played important roles in developing the sport in this country, relatively few actually got their dressage educations in the cradle of the classical art.

One who did was the Austrian-born Karl Mikolka, a former Oberbereiter (chief rider) at the Spanish Riding School of Vienna.

In the US, Mikolka’s name became synonymous with Tempel Farms in Wadsworth, IL, where he helped owners Tempel and Esther Smith realize their dream of creating an American version of the Spanish Riding School.

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the Tempel Lipizzans, Mikolka introduced thousands of spectators to haute école dressage and the stallions’ famed “airs above the ground.”

Now 78, Mikolka was just 19 when he entered the Spanish Riding School, where he spent the next 14 years learning the art of dressage and participating in the school’s legendary performances, including its landmark tour of the US in 1964. With his then wife, Cindy (now Cindy Sydnor), Mikolka left the SRS in 1968 for Brazil, where he strove to develop the first Brazilian Olympic dressage team. The endeavor was nearly successful, but the untimely death of a horse coupled with politics caused the Mikolkas to leave Brazil in 1972 for the United States.

Mikolka established the Massachusetts Dressage Academy at Friar’s Gate Farm in Pembroke, MA. He became active in pioneering efforts to advance dressage in this country, including serving as a founding member of March 2018 Z YOURDRESSAGE

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the USDF in 1973. He became an American Horse Shows Association (now United States Equestrian Federation) dressage judge in the mid-1970s and went on to judge at several Olympic dressage selection trials.

In 1980, Mikolka accepted Tempel Smith’s job offer to become a trainer at Tempel Farms, which at the time housed more than 400 Lipizzan horses. Mikolka trained numerous Lipizzans to Grand Prix and in the airs above the ground. As an instructor, arguably his best-known student is another former Tempel Farms trainer and rider, George Williams, who today is a successful international dressage competitor and trainer and the current USDF president. Other notable Mikolka students include the top rider/trainers Cindy Sydnor, Carole Grant, and Belinda NairnWertman.

With his wife, Lynn, Mikolka left Tempel Farms in 1996 and Karl Mikolka and Belvedera in 1990

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relocated to Gloucester, MA, where the couple lives today. He has taught hundreds of students in clinics throughout the US, and he has been a prolific writer of articles on dressage, some of which are available on his website, MikolkaDressage.com. For his contributions to the development of dressage in the US, Mikolka was inducted into the Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame in 2003.

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Karl Mikolka rides a levade aboard Neapolitano Strana at the Spanish Riding School of Vienna in an undated photo

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