UDS Newsletter: April 2026
- Apr 1
- 7 min read
Stephen Peters Symposium
It started with a message from one of our members. Sarah Simmons had been in contact with six-time Olympian Steffen Peters, and she reached out to see if we would be interested in hosting him for a clinic. Our answer was immediate: “Heck yes!”
Our Education Director, Katie Lorens, took the ball and carried it from there, finding a venue, booking flights and hotels and lunch catering, renting bleachers and tables and chairs, organizing sponsors, contacting our riders, buying shavings, and so much more, putting in countless hours to make sure we hosted a world-class event. Her hard work paid off in an incredible weekend of learning, for which we owe Katie an enormous debt of gratitude.
Peters’s teaching was marked by his patient, kind approach, and his focus on softness, relaxation, and rewarding the horse when he does well. He guided the horse-and-rider teams through a number of exercises designed to build strength and suppleness, and it was amazing to watch each pair bloom before our eyes. The event was nothing short of inspiring.
A number of sponsors came through to help support the event. SkyRidge Equestrian donated their beautiful facility for the weekend, Premier Equestrian and JAAW Equine paid for a fantastic catered lunch–and JAAW Equine went the extra mile and covered the costs of the participating horses’ stabling, Uinta Sport Horses provided snacks, tables, and chairs, and last but not least, Impulsion Images donated photography, including the photos you see here. We hope you will help support the businesses who continue to support our sport.
From start to finish, this clinic showed the truth of the old adage that “team work makes the dream work.”
L Program
Bridging between the end of February and the beginning of March, we hosted the second weekend of the L Program with Dolly Hannon, who continued our education on judging criteria for gaits, movements and figures. Classroom sessions at the Heber Best Western were followed by live demonstration rides at Sage Creek Equestrian, who graciously hosted us at their beautiful facility. HUGE thanks to our demo riders for showing us how it’s done!
The third and final weekend is right around the corner and will focus on collective marks, equitation, rider biomechanics and basics. The lecture portions will be at Southern Belle with riding demos to follow at Rock ‘N’ Horse. If you would like to sign up to audit on April 25-26, you can do so on our website.
First Eva Adolphi Clinic Grant Awarded!
In February, the UDS board voted to approve our first ever clinic grant to Ashley Adams, supporting her efforts to bring clinician Stacy Williams to southern Utah. The clinic was full, with nine riders schooling at a variety of levels from Training to Prix St. George across three days and an arena-side filled with auditors. Williams made sure to adjust times so Adams could add everyone who wanted to participate.
Participant Bonnie East wrote in to express her gratitude, adding “I gained a wealth of knowledge (feel like my head is going to explode) and saw some significant changes in the way my horses are going. Stacy is obviously very knowledgeable, but it is her positive and encouraging way of presenting information that made this educational experience so valuable to me. I have been given homework with a toolkit and some very clear goals to strive for.”
We are beyond excited to help Ashley and to open more educational opportunities to our friends and members in southern Utah. This grant is designed to give financial support to clinic organizers hoping to bring in top tier clinicians to all corners of our state, and we are thrilled to see it at work.
Stepping Up to Second with Gary Lawrence
Nina Halvorson
Over the fall and winter I have had the fantastic opportunity to utilize my Fall Scholarship Grant received from the Utah Dressage Society to further my own personal development in dressage, as well as gaining information I can disseminate to my students across different disciplines!
If you don't know me, I'm Nina Halvorson. I moved to Utah in the summer of 2024 from western Washington, where I was an active member of my local GMO and actively rode Western Dressage, Reining, and other western performance disciplines. Since coming to Utah, I found very little opportunity to ride Western Dressage and because of this I decided it must mean it's time for me to dip my toes into traditional dressage. Scared but eager, I entered Short Tour shows and bought a whole new wardrobe. Navigating into recognized shows, my horse and I competed well in First Level and gained confidence. But I knew that to continue to go up the levels I would need guidance from someone more knowledgeable in the sport.
After applying for and receiving the Fall Scholarship from UDS, I started lessons with Gary Lawrence at Millbrook Farms, focusing on second level movement and development. After attending the USDF Shows at their beautiful facility over the summer, the community I felt there secured the knowledge that I wanted to further my education with them! After my first lesson, I knew that the pairing of instructor and student was going to be a good one. I was greeted on my Palomino Quarter Horse with acceptance, respect, and genuine interest to help us grow and succeed. Both Gary and Jan have been warm and welcoming for me and my horse, coming from a strong background competitively in NRHA reining competitions.
Throughout the seasons now attending monthly lessons (when able!), I have learned so much about my position (second level fitness is a real hurdle!), my horse's strengths and positioning, as well as in depth knowledge gained about dressage basics, figures, and scoring. The extensive notes I have taken after each lesson is evidence of the wealth of information I have gained! And equally rewarding is being able to return to my next lesson and show my instructor the growth we've made after going home and working hard at what we learned.
I am so excited for the upcoming show season with UDS and USDF. Especially going into our first season at second level which is well known to be a big jump and often looked at with anxiety, disdain, or concern. I am going into this season with confidence. Confidence in myself and my horse, and moreover, confidence that I have an instructor and community that believe we are capable and are also eager to see us succeed. What a valuable thing to gain from a GMO grant! That's the kind of feeling that is gained only through people and community that is greater than money - though I'm grateful for the financial help!!
Thank you to the Utah Dressage Society, Millbrook Farms including Gary and Jan Lawrence, and the Utah Dressage Community, for the grant, opportunity, and acceptance!
Preparing Flying Changes with Justin Giles and Brooke Voldbaek
Alex Chase
Over the past couple of months I have had several learning opportunities that I feel have helped better prepare me and my pony, Ella, to show third level this summer to earn our scores.
We had three clinic rides with Justin, in which we worked on several things. In the first session we practiced making my seat lighter and modifying my seat to modify Ella. We polished our trot to canter transitions as well as our walk to trot transitions since Ella tends to pop her head up in those. Ella tends to get very strong, so we worked on finding the sweet spot between her lazy side and strong side.
In our second ride we worked a lot on bed and not letting Ella fall towards the inside, which compromises my balance. Justin pointed out that I need to sit more in the center of the saddle when I ride, and we figured out that is why Ella and I were struggling with our lateral movements. We did a lot of leg yields and shoulder-in to haunches-in transitions.
In our third lesson Justin taught me the “punching method”, which is essentially pushing your arms back and forth to the pace of her strides in the walk, trot, and canter. The purpose of this exercise was to get Ella to relax by separating the different parts of my upper body. We worked more on getting Ella off my leg in the leg yields and not seeing coming down the quarter line as a trigger to get stronger. We worked on getting Ella to stay between my aids and not drop everything and run through my hands.
I also had the chance to do a clinic with Brooke Voldbaek. In this lesson we worked a lot on our flying lead changes, since that is something that I am teaching Ella currently. We practiced getting Ella more responsive between my legs. We worked on keeping my seat light, but also in tempo with her. Brooke taught me a technique that we are still implementing in our training currently. It was basically a two loop serpentine with asking for the flying lead change across X (centerline). If Ella got too strong, I wouldn’t ask her for the change but simply ask her to halt before she reached the wall. Something else we worked on was separating my upper body from my lower body and using my seat to adjust her speed, which is something that we have been working at very hard these past few months.
Overall, I am really grateful for these experiences and the knowledge that I have gained. I will continue to work and implement the techniques and exercises that I have learned, in the hopes of earning my bronze medal this summer!
