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!”  Steffen Peters Shares His Wisdom, Photo Credit: Becca Tolman, Impulsion Images 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. Auditors Pack the Sidelines Taking Notes, Photo Credit: Becca Tolman, Impulsion Images 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.”  UDS Board Members with Steffen Peters at the End of a Packed Weekend: Carrie Matteson, Mindy Simmons, Jasmine Beckstead, Steffen Peters, Katie Lorens, Dana Prior, John Maznicki, Siân Griffiths. Photo Credit: Becca Tolman, Impulsion Images 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.   Clinic participant Kamryn with Stacy Williams, Photo credit: Ashley Adams 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!  Nina Halvorson Showing Whizkey at Millbrook Farms, Photo Credit: Becca Tolman, Impulsion Images 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!

~ Updated 01/28/2026~ Review period ends January 25th, 2026. Congratulations on a fantastic show season. We hope to see you at the upcoming awards banquet (featuring Q&A with Steffen Petters!) Discounted tickets when registration for both the banquet and Steffen Peters Symposium. UDS Short Tour YE Award Requirements UDS Year End Award Requirements Perpetual Trophy Requirements The UDS perpetual trophies are awarded based on scores earned only at UDS recognized shows that are physically in Utah and awarded at the UDS Annual Banquet. It is awarded to the highest percentage of that level regardless of the division. Equine Achievement Awards Equine Achievement Awards are awarded to an individual horse. The horse’s owner will receive, as an award, an engraved plaque for the first UDS Achievement Award the horse earns. An engraved notation will be added to the plaque for each subsequent UDS Equine Achievement Award the horse earns. A single horse may be awarded only one (1) UDS Equine Achievement Award at each level; however, a horse may be awarded a UDS Equine Achievement Award at every level. (Scores do not need to be earned with the same rider) There is no time limit for earning qualifying scores. However, because the UDS Equine Achievement Award program began in 2001, only qualifying scores earned during 2001 and later, shall count toward the award. To apply for the equine achievement award, BOTH the horse’s owner and the horse’s rider must be members of UDS at the time the score is earned. The rider must be a UDS member, having a USDF GMO membership number. The owner must be a UDS member, having a USDF GMO membership number. The horse must have a USDF Horse identification (HID) or Lifetime Horse Registration number (LHR). To earn a UDS Equine Achievement Award, the horse must earn five (5) scores at a given level, and each score must be a minimum of: 65% at Training Level 64% at First Level 63% at Second Level 62% at Third Level 61% at Fourth Level 60% at the FEI Levels and Para Scores must come from USDF/USEF recognized shows. Scores from the following classes do not qualify for the Equine Achievement Award: Freestyle, Opportunity, Pas de Deux, & Quadrille. Short Tour scores do not count towards Equine Achievement Awards. 2025 Short Tour YE Results LEVEL RIDER HORSE DIVISION AVERAGE RANKING INTRODUCTORY Brooklyn Frade Pearl Jr/Yr 58.81% CHAMPION TRAINING LEVEL Ila Smith Fit for Duty Jr/YR 65.39% CHAMPION Isabella Querciali Chicken Nugget Jr/YR 61.60% RESERVE Aspen Palmer Swayze Daisy Jr/YR 61.38% 3RD Jasmine Beckstead Maybe Just Maybe AA 57.84% CHAMPION Sara Kirby Roxette O 66.35% CHAMPION FIRST LEVEL Marie Pickett Her Highness AA 59.96% CHAMPION SECOND LEVEL Alex Chase Black Tie Affair Jr/YR 62.41% CHAMPION Brittani Frade Saint AA 61.07% CHAMPION 2025 Year End Results LEVEL RIDER HORSE DIVISION AVERAGE RANKING TRAINING LEVEL Isabella Querciali Chicken Nugget Jr/YR 66.96% CHAMPION Amelia Lords My Oh Maya Jr/YR 65.49% RESERVE Alyna Taylor Maverick Jr/YR 65.08% 3RD Alice Macleod KF Corcoran Jr/YR 63.72% 4TH Niel Kuhner Kary the Crown AA 73.87% CHAMPION Lindi Kopecko Ostentatious AA 70.48% RESERVE Leslie Edison Belialuna RTH AA 70.23% 3RD Lea Leathers Realta AA 68.69% 4TH Marianna Sochanska Fabelhaft Newton AA 66.12% 5TH Eliza Lyons Indy AA 65.51% 6TH Birgit Pulli Balu AA 64.79% 7TH Holly Lewis Drago Do This AA 62.95% 8TH Sydni Cook Pfanfare YF Open 74.53% CHAMPION Sydni Cook Secret Sauce WF Open 71.32% RESERVE Bethany Wilhelmsen Gustavo Open 67.24% 3RD FIRST LEVEL Rhyan Andersen HPB Wradiant Jr/YR 67.97% CHAMPION Alice Macleod Mulligan Jr/YR 67.96% RESERVE Amelia Lords My Oh Maya Jr/YR 64.39% 3RD Katherine Lavender Bravour van Buterheideveld AA 65.39% CHAMPION Jim Hicks Kwendra Open 69.21% CHAMPION Samantha McKay Gamine DDH Open 66.63% RESERVE Bethany Wilhelmsen Gustavo Open 63.47% 3RD SECOND LEVEL Ashley Adams Lopaka AA 68.16% CHAMPION Sian Griffiths Larimer Square AA 63.66% RESERVE Samantha McKay Gamine DDH Open 65.23% CHAMPION THIRD LEVEL Adrian Ward No Doubt AA 63.81% CHAMPION FOURTH LEVEL Cindy Yager JF Blackjackman AA 62.77% CHAMPION Kathryn Blair BA Kamarade AA 60.62% RESERVE Sara Kirby Sakari Open 66.20% CHAMPION Lori Barrett Fendi S Open 65.96% RESERVE Rebecca Harmon Hawk Open 62.94% 3RD PRIX ST GEORGE Sydni Cook Rosa Red Open 67.38% CHAMPION Sarah Simmons Gamarro Font Open 62.75% RESERVE Dana Denison River Shadow Open 60.54% 3RD Ammie Lords Dimora SCF Open 59.26% 4TH INTERMEDIATE I Lori Barrett Emeres Open 65.69% CHAMPION Rachel Ebbens Imposant Van SRF Open 64.90% RESERVE Ammie Lords Dimora SCF Open 64.02% 3RD Bethany Wilhelmsen Great Responsibility Open 62.01% 4TH Stacy Palen Eridani Open 53.24% 5TH GRAND PRIX Lori Barrett Lagerfeld K 62.62% CHAMPION FREESTYLE; 1ST-2ND Amelia McCandless Swiss Exploit Jr/YR 68.10% CHAMPION Brittani Frade Saint AA 68.35% CHAMPION FREESTYLE: 3RD-4TH Sydni Cook Rosa Red Open 72.10% CHAMPION 2025 Perpetual Trophies LEVEL HORSE RIDER OWNER SCORE TRAINING - Charles Bering Perpetual Belialuna RTH Sydni Cook Robin Compagno 78.79% FIRST LEVEL - UDS Perpetual Odin Samantha Mohlman Samantha Mohlman 78.15% SECOND LEVEL - Oquirrh Dressage Perpetual Lopaka Ashley Adams Ashley Adams 70.29% THIRD LEVEL - Anakako Melody Memorial Perpetual Dreamer Jaimie Ringger Debra McGee 70.14% FOURTH LEVEL - Laura Williams Tolman Memorial Perpetual Sakari Sara Kirby Bille Davidson 68.82% PRIX ST GEORGE - Deer Meadow Perpetual Rosa Red Sydni Cook Leslie Edison 68.53% INTERMEDIATE - Johanna Adolphi Perpetual Rosaria Sydni Cook Leslie Edison 65.74% GRAND PRIX - Millbrook Farms Perpetual Lagerfeld K Lori Barrett Lori Barrett 65.98% MUSICAL FREESTYLE - Nick Van Pelt Memorial Perpetual Rosa Red Sydni Cook Leslie Edison 76.93% PONY TOC - Sean Porter Buell Perpetual Maverick Alyna Taylor Katherine Lavender 66.80% 55+ - Sage Creek Master’s Perpetual Kary the Crown Niel Kuhner Niel Kuhner 76.90% PARA - Sage Creek Para Dressage Perpetual No qualified riders 2025 Equine Achievement Awards HORSE LEVEL OWNER Belialuna RTH Training Level Robin Compagno Bravour van Buterheideveld Training Katherine Lavender Dimora SCF Intermediate Ammie Lords Doeke W 3rd Dana Dension Fortius 2nd, 3rd, 4th Whitney Loftus Kary the Crown Training Niel Kuhner Larimer Square Training, 1st, 2nd Sian Griffiths Lopaka Training, 1st, 2nd Ashley Adams Ostentatious Training Level Lindi Kopecko Austin Rosa Red Prix St George Leslie Edison Wap Moonspot Training, 1st Lindi Kopecko Austin Please email competitions@utahdressagesociety.com with discrepancies or questions. Join us at the annual awards banquet and silent auction to accept your prizes! Steffen Peters will also be joining us for a presentation including a Q&A session before we let Steffen go to rest up for the second day of the clinic. Discounted ticket prices are available with registration for both the symposium and the banquet, so be sure to look for this package deal UDS Awards Banquet February 21, 2026 6:00-9:00 PM PUBLIK Coffee/Event Center 975 S W Temple St, Salt Lake City, UT 84101

New Year, New Events: Steffen Peters Clinic, 2025 Awards Banquet, and the Continuation of the L Program It’s the start of a new year, the Utah Dressage Society board has been hard at work preparing educational opportunities for our community, and, boy, do we have some exciting events on the horizon! We’ll kick things off with Steffen Peters, who will be teaching a clinic on the weekend of February 21-22. Though participant spots are full, auditor registration has just opened. We would like to extend a HUGE thank you to Skyridge Equestrian Center for hosting this clinic at their beautiful facility. On the evening of the 21st, Peters will also give a talk at our annual awards banquet. Be sure to strap your learning hats on and be ready to sponge up insights galore! Because these events are happening the same weekend, we are offering a special combo pack that allows you to purchase either an auditing spot at the clinic, a banquet ticket, or  a bundle of the two, which saves on the total cost. You can register for both events here . But–in the words of the infomercials–wait, there’s more! Just as your minds are bursting at the seams with new learning, we will be jumping into the next weekend of the L Program on Feb 28-March 1. Sage Creek will be hosting this session with master instructor Dolly Hannon at the helm. Participant spots are sold out, but we have openings for silent auditors and demo riders. For more information, please visit our website  or contact our Director of Education, Katie Lorens at education@utahdressagesociety.com Before I close this section, I want to add that our board members had an incredibly difficult time sorting through the Steffen Peters clinic applications to decide on our participants. We held a marathon meeting, and though I think we can all admit it was a little emotional knowing that we could not accept all the riders we wanted to, we ended that meeting with a deep felt gratitude for our community and all the amazing horse and rider teams who made our decision such an agonizing one. We wished we had double the number of spots to offer because we had twice the number of deserving riders. Thank you to everyone who applied, and to our amazing community as a whole. We may not be the largest GMO, but we are rich in talent and drive.  Eva Adolphi Clinic Grant Launches The board has long been looking for ways to increase high-end clinic offerings, and with a generous gift from our founder Eva Adolphi, we are thrilled to announce a plan to allow members to host clinics with UDS financial support. Here’s how the grant will work:  A UDS member wanting to host a clinic will complete a clinic grant proposal using our web form. The UDS board will review the proposal, and will award up to three $1,500 grants per year on a rolling basis. These grants are intended to offset the total cost of the clinic, including the travel and lodging costs of the clinician, thereby keeping costs down for its participants. In return for the grant, we ask that UDS members be given priority for participation spots and that at least half of the spots be reserved for UDS members. Needless to say, if the clinic is cancelled for any reason, all funds must be returned to the UDS. This grant is intended to help bring exceptional clinicians to Utah, such as USDF-certified instructors, FEI judges, USDF judges, L Program faculty, and instructors of similar caliber. Our goal is to help support those who seek to bring the best clinicians to our state, and we will reserve funds for those clinicians who fit that description. That is to say, we do not anticipate approving all applications. We also would like to see these grants be equitably distributed between barns and training programs, so if you have been awarded a grant in the last 18 months, we ask you to wait before re-applying. We hope to see these grants continue to deepen the dressage knowledge across our state, serving the membership and, most importantly, the wonderful horses who are our partners. We are deeply indebted to Eva Adolphi for making this grant program possible. If you are interested in giving to the UDS to help us expand opportunities such as these, please contact our treasurer Dana Prior, who will be more than happy to discuss your gift ideas and how you would like to see your contribution put to work. If you are interested in learning more about this exciting new program or in applying for a clinic grant, you can find more information on the clinic grant application . Preliminary Results for Year-End Awards Are Ready for Review Congratulations to all our members on getting out and competing this year! Many of you have qualified for UDS year-end awards, and we would love your help in verifying our numbers. The preliminary results are now available here . If you see any errors in the score tabulation, please let us know by January 25th so we can double-check our numbers. Omnibus Cover Art Contest We are proud that our yearly Omnibus has showcased so much incredible member art and photography. We want to continue that tradition again this year. If you have a piece you would like to send to us for consideration, please email it to Jasmine at competitions@utahdressagesociety.com by January 25th.  Member Articles The following articles were contributed by our members. If you would like to write about your experiences--and earn volunteer hours as you do--please email me at communications@utahdressagesociety.com Lessons from the L Program and Dressage Clinic with Stacy Williams By Debbie Baxter Participating in the United States Dressage Federation’s L Program and attending a clinic with L graduate trainer Stacy Williams provided me with invaluable insights into both the art and science of dressage. These experiences deepened my understanding of what judges look for in competition, refined my riding skills, and broadened my perspective on training by exposing me to new horses and teaching styles. At the L Program, one of the most important lessons I learned was how to truly see bend and straightness in a horse. While these concepts may sound simple, the program emphasized that they are foundational to correct training and judging. A horse that is straight moves with balance and alignment, while proper bend demonstrates suppleness and engagement. Judges are trained to recognize whether these qualities are present and understanding the “why” behind their evaluation helped me appreciate how each movement contributes to the overall harmony of the test. Beyond bend and straightness, the program introduced me to several other areas of judging. First, I learned about biomechanics, which refers to how the horse’s body moves and functions. Judges study biomechanics to evaluate whether a horse is using its body correctly. This knowledge helps riders train with more awareness of how each aid influences the horse’s movement. Second, the program emphasized rider position. Judges are taught to observe whether the rider maintains a balanced, effective seat and quiet hands, since rider position directly impacts the horse’s ability to perform. Finally, I gained insight into the importance of clarity of aids. Judges look for harmony between horse and rider, where the rider’s cues are subtle yet effective, and the horse responds willingly without tension. These three elements—biomechanics, rider position, and clarity of aids—added depth to my understanding of what makes a dressage performance successful. The clinic with Stacy Williams complemented the L Program by allowing me to apply these principles in practice. One of the most eye-opening aspects was riding a horse other than my own. This experience revealed how much I rely on familiarity with my own horse and challenged me to adapt quickly to a new partner.  Stacy helped me refine my seat, particularly in the sitting trot. By encouraging me to pull my shoulders back and sit deeper into the saddle, she showed me how to achieve greater stability and harmony with the horse’s movement. Additionally, Stacy introduced me to different theories on the shoulder-in, a fundamental lateral movement in dressage. Exploring these perspectives broadened my understanding of the exercise. Together, the L Program and Stacy Williams’ clinic provided a holistic learning experience. The program gave me the theoretical framework to understand what judges value, while the clinic offered practical tools to improve my riding.  L Program “A Session”: The Basics  By Annie Sweet I had the honor of being awarded one of the  Spring 2025 UDS scholarships, and I plan to use it to offset the costs of participating in the L program. Thank you to Katie Lorens for making this educational opportunity possible for me and all of Utah!  Our instructor for the A session was the wonderful Joan Darnell, whose expertise and positivity made the whole experience top notch. I was struck throughout the weekend by Joan’s emphasis on being honest in your assessment and scoring, but also kind and empathetic in your comments, and giving riders the benefit of the doubt always. “After all, we want these riders to come back!” she said. Being a guardian of the sport means upholding the standard while also encouraging people to keep trying to be better for their horses. I loved this philosophy and really appreciated Joan for bringing it up over and over throughout the weekend.    Session A focused on the basics, or biomechanics and the pyramid of training as it relates to the judging process. In preparation for this session, participants  were given instructions and links to all the course material, which included a huge amount of information on the basics, judging methodology, the judge’s checklist, the general and dressage sections of the USEF rulebook, glossary of judging terms, video modules about biomechanics, and articles about the elements of the pyramid of training as well as biomechanics. In all, it made for hundreds of pages of reading and many, many hours of study in the months leading up to this session.  Joan started off day 1 by commending our group for being the first in her experience with a 100% homework quiz completion rate! That means that every participant took the quiz a few days before the start of session A and submitted their results. The quiz tested our knowledge of the rules, and it was HARD! Even after reading the rulebook and studying for weeks, I was grateful that it was an open-book quiz.  To start off, there were a lot of questions from participants about handling eliminations and errors, so we had a clarifying discussion  about the rules around that. Then we discussed all the judge’s responsibilities and application of the rules in depth, as well as judging methodology (how a judge arrives at a score), and formulating comments.  After lunch, we went through the first three elements of the pyramid of training: rhythm, suppleness, and contact. Joan showed us short video clips of horses performing test movements of varying quality. She asked us to comment on the quality based on the first three elements of the training scale. Does the horse have good rhythm? Why or why not? What about suppleness, elasticity and bend? Contact and frame? What is the balance like? Is it appropriate to the level? Is the rider effecting these qualities in the horse? What score would you give the gaits based on these elements? What comments would you give about the basics? It was a lot to think about, and I don’t think I’m alone in leaving that day feeling like my brain had melted! I felt like I had a long way to go in developing my eye and being able to make a quick, accurate assessment in just a few seconds of watching a test movement.  Day 2: We started off in the classroom again, now going into depth about the final 3 pieces of the training pyramid: straightness, impulsion and collection. We watched more clips of examples of the gaits. We saw what a “10” free walk looks like, a “9” trot lengthening, an “8” medium canter, and so on, all the way down the scale to gaits and movements that had major problems. These examples were incredibly valuable to see and learn from. Joan also showed us a series of longer clips of horses performing partial or entire tests, and asked us to comment on what we saw, and what score we would give based on all the elements of the training pyramid.  After lunch, we went outside and got to watch horses and riders perform Training, First and Second level test movements live, and again Joan called on the group to comment on what we were seeing as it related to the basics. This was a lot of fun, and Joan was a master at directing the riders in way that maximized the learning for everyone. Her kind, upbeat approach was inspiring to me not only as a future judge, but as a current coach and rider as well! Overall I feel like session A was a huge success, I learned so much and I think everyone else did too!  Thanks to the UDS board members for your hard work in putting on such a big event, Ammie Lords for hosting us at Southern Belle, and the demo riders for the educational value they brought. I’m so looking forward to the B Session in Feb/March. Now time to start studying again!  Confessions of a Mare Whisperer By Lori Barrett    I can’t lie, I have always loved my ladies, as I call both the mares in my training program & my own robust mare herd. I mean, a good gelding is just that, but a good mare? She becomes a great partner in the effort of dressage. A good mare will fight for you in the show ring (and depending on how you approach her, maybe fight with you, for the incautious!) As a dressage trainer, much of my career has been spent riding geldings, but the longer I am in this sport, the more value I find in my mares. I know a lot of people actively avoid them or have rules about some being ok & others being Gorgons, but here's my take on how to get a mare on your side. (And possibly make your gelding more of a volunteer in the work!)   Geldings, you can bully. Stallions sometimes demand to be bullied. Mares: I don’t even really have to finish this thought, do I? Anyone who’s ridden a mare knows that they don’t perform at their best when forced into situations. The consequence of working with a lot of mares is that it makes me a smarter trainer. If I take away “making” a horse do something & instead think of how I can get a horse to want to do something, the training puzzle becomes more interesting to me & can make a far more harmonious feel in the ride, mare, gelding or stallion.   Before we look at training systems, like with any horse, we have to eliminate the possibility of something causing undue discomfort. Seems pretty obvious, but it needs to be said. Saddle fit is important, or course. Is the bit properly fitted & right side up? Curb chain not too-tight? One thing I’ve become recently aware of is that mares apparently go through more magnesium in the spring when they start to cycle. Nothing a little electrolyte added into their diets won’t cure, but if your mare seems skin-sensitive to simple brushing, it can make her more comfortable.   Once you’ve gone through the basics on tack & nutrition, it gets a little more complex. (Come on, I didn’t say it would be easy! These are mares, after all.) I’ll speak in generalities, then try to give some concrete examples as we go along.   First off, as a trainer, it’s important that the horses know that I’m on their side. That’s a strange assessment maybe, but they’re creatures with a strong flight response, so knowing that I am with them in protecting them from ringside monsters or errant beams of sunlight on the sand means they can cease an extended degree of vigilance & allow training to commence. A horse who’s constantly watchful & feeling they must protect themselves cannot take on information. He or she may be able to be goaded through the required work, but it doesn’t culminate in the fabled one-with-our-horse feeling or partnership (albeit guided by the riders, of course,) that dressage purports to pursue. I don’t punish for spooking, I create an incompatible behaviour, e.g. shoulder in instead of looking at the scary door or sunbeam on the floor. I don’t address the spooking, I simply make another task that redirects their attention, which then allows me to reward the horse, with any luck.   I’ve found is that if I refocus the horses like this, it creates the possibility for a positive feedback loop. Meaning, instead of a horse shying, me punishing & the horse subsequently directing the dialogue by virtue of misbehaviour, I create a situation where through directing the horse to a task, I get to tell them they’re a genius for listening to me & trusting the situation. Taking this tactic means I have created an opportunity to build trust & help them understand they are safe with me, which, of course is the first objective.   At first glance, the outcome may not look any different than a system that is more geared toward force, if both are executed subtly. I have a German-instilled seat & leg, a hand that aspires to be forward-acting. I wear a spur. I carry a whip, at times. What’s the difference then? I see my role as trainer to make the behavior I desire the easiest physical response for the horse to perform. Simple, right? Requires a consistent, educated seat, leg & hand that work together to guide the horse toward the decision I am looking for. After that, I am watching for the slightest move toward the desired outcome & I praise it. I do this sequence over & over again. I praise verbally, sometimes; I praise by releasing an aid; I praise with a walk break, or maybe even a quick sugar cube, depending on the degree of accomplishment. In short, I notice when they’re trying.   Why does it matter?   Well, I guess if the only metric is making FEI horses, it actually doesn’t. Or rather, it might not for a lot of horses. For those that it does matter to, however, it matters a lot. It is the difference between a mare that is deemed unrideable & a successful competition horse. It is the difference between a gelding that spooks uncontrollably & one that is amateur-friendly & relaxed. And tell me, if we can make FEI horses with correct training, soft & supple to ride, who trust us in new environments & fight for us in the show ring, why would we not take that route? Seems like a greater percentage of horses could even be FEI mounts with this reasoning.   Horses are creatures of the path of least resistance. Their main goal is to make life easier for themselves, so if we’re smart, we use that tendency to motivate their training. Mares don’t like to be forced, so my job is to figure out how to make what I want them to do the easiest thing for them to do, then let them choose it of their own free will.   In my experience, the main hindrance to getting along with mares is our tendency to attempt to bully them when we’re teaching a new behaviour, or coaching them through something they don’t understand. Mares are generally less phlegmatic than geldings, so when we apply an aid, typically they’d like it to go away, post-haste. That doesn’t mean they’ve offered the correct response, so what can often happen is an escalation: we ask harder or longer for right bend (for example,) leading to irritation on everyone’s part, since we don’t want to work that hard & mares want us to basically quit nagging.   Another approach is to (using right bend again as an example,) apply the aid & if the correct response is not generated, give a small correction. This might be a bump with the leg, a tickle with a whip or a moment of making the aids sterner, a “listen here!” type of moment. Then the aids relax, before going back to the original asking aid. My commitment as a trainer is to be clear, consistent & fair. (More on that later.) It’s pretty rare that a horse chooses not to make its life easier by experimenting with different responses, which then garner different responses from me. If a horse is willing to try different responses, there’s no correction: I simply ask again, in a patient, structured way.   In my experience, the monster in the closet that keeps people from doing well with mares is the attitude that we should be unthinkingly obeyed by the horse & if not, punishment ensues, which leads away from the positive feedback loop & into escalation. I think of this as a conversation on rider ambition & personal drive. I am quite Type A. I want things done, I want them done correctly, & I want it to happen NOW. And I want to feel that collection, experience the lowering of the croup & floaty, elastic feel as the horses dance beneath me. But we’re dealing with animals! Like us, they have good days & bad, days where they come out a little tight on one side or a little kinked in the neck. My point being that they’re bringing their whole lived experience into the arena with them, and yes, they have to get over it & get to work, 100%! But meeting them where they arrive, even for a few minutes of the warmup, seems to let them shimmy out of their tightness as we focus them on the work at hand.   In other words, I may have to take a few minutes away from what I thought I was going to accomplish for the day & reroute, spending more time doing trot-canter transitions, more time in shoulder in/renvers, more walk – canter transitions, than I had planned before getting to the “real” work I envisioned. But those detours are the real work as a trainer; they are when I make choices that hopefully add up to a horse who comes to the arena happier to work & physically more ready for the sometimes-hard tasks at hand. A horse comes in slow to the leg after four months of focused building for show season? Maybe we go for a gallop in the field. While it may not be a day of perfecting half-pass zigzags, I guarantee the work will be there tomorrow & the horse will be fresher, readier to work if we pay attention to what they’re telling us.   Again, I offer the caveat that I’m interpreting this through the lens of a trainer that is determined to come out & have the horses working daily, progressing daily & striving for whatever goals myself & their owners have set for them. So it’s not like all we do is go gallop in the field! But making room for the feel of play or a moment of respite in the schooling work can make a world of difference when you approach the goals from the other side of a small break.   At the end of the day, working well with mares & sensitive horses in general comes down to a degree of listening & attempting to feel our way into working correctly. If we address the horse we are sitting on, rather than the idealized one we schooled two-tempis on in our visualization exercises the previous evening, we have a higher likelihood of success. Additionally, if we set up training exercises geared toward how we can reward the horses, how we can set them up for something they’re doing right, it can create the beginning of a positive feedback loop that allows everyone to have a feeling of success, adding on training elements & increasing difficulty from there.

2026-2027 Term Watch your email for ballots in the next week! Please note that only current UDS members may vote per Policies & Procedures. Also, we welcome Debbie Baxter to the board as our interim Director of Competitions! John Maznicki (Incumbent) President John has been involved with Utah Dressage for 10+ years competing, breeding, coaching and volunteering. He has come to know many of our local members through the UDS, and looks forward to getting to know more of you by being on the board as part of his service to the local community. Carrie Matteson Secretary ... Kim Judd (Incumbent) Director of Membership From the time Kim could say "horse", she has loved horses! When she was a teenager growing up in Sandy, she went down the street to a family's stables, and asked to work in exchange for riding lessons. Unfortunately they usually forgot to give her lessons, but she got very good at mucking out stalls! Kim graduated from BYU with a degree in Ballroom Dance (which was also how she met her husband: they were competition partners). After living out east for 14 years, Kim and her family moved back to Utah, and she finally realized her dream of starting to learn to ride! Dressage feels like a natural switch from ballroom dance: the partnership, the technique, the constant striving to be better, then even better! After riding for 6 years, Kim's husband asked "when are you going to do a dressage show?" Becoming part of the Utah Dressage Society and entering shows has been such an amazing experience, and Kim is excited to use her extensive secretarial skills (developed over 22 years and 5 kids!) to help support the board of the Utah Dressage Society! Mindy Simmons Director of Events Mindy has been the crazy horse girl her entire life! She started riding at 8, (that is the age riding school near my house would accept new riders or would have started earlier). She bought her first rescue horse at 14 and it has been an amazing journey ever since. She fell in love with dressage about 5 years ago and has had some amazing mentors. She is currently working up the levels with her mustang. She is hopeful she can give back to the dressage community as it has changed her life! To vote you must be a current UDS members. Please make sure you are logged into your UDS account to access the ballot webpage.

Dear Fellow Dressage Enthusiasts, As you may have heard, the Utah Dressage Society is going to host the L Program in 2025/2026 for those interested in earning their L Graduate certification or in deepening their dressage knowledge. To give everyone a sense of what the program will be like, we have organized the “Taste of the L Program” for the first weekend in March. This clinic, led by living dressage legends Dolly Hannon and Debbie Riehl-Rodriguez, will have a series of events designed to help enhance your understanding of equine biomechanics, rider biomechanics, the purpose of the movements on USDF tests, and the scoring of those movements.  The first day of the clinic will begin with a three-hour classroom session, in which Dolly and Debbie will educate participants on the horse’s gaits, horse and rider biomechanics, and the principles of scoring. This lecture will be followed by a lunch break (with lunch provided by the UDS), after which we will have three sessions of demo rides. Each of these sessions will include three riders, and Dolly and Debbie will critique the horse and rider’s performance and movement, connecting the theory from the morning session to actual performance. While we hope our riders learn a lot from the critique, those considering demo riding on day one are advised that this session will not be focused on their education but rather on providing a kind of case study for the participants, and we have tried to reflect this in the price difference for day one and day two. For participants who are L graduates, this day will count as eight hours of continuing education. The second day of the Taste of the L will resemble a traditional ride-a-test clinic. We hope to showcase fifteen riders who will ride the test of their choice, from intro to FEI level. Dolly and Debbie will judge each ride from two different locations in the arena, after which they will coach the rider, offering exercises and instruction designed to help them improve. Each rider should have thirty minutes with these two expert judges and coaches, packing as much education as possible into the time allowed. As with day one, we will be providing lunch for riders and participants. The cost of the program is as follows: Non-riding participants, UDS members……$100 for both days or $60 for one day Non-riding participants, non-members…….$150 for both days or $90 for one day Demo riders*, day one (preference given to UDS members)....$75 Demo riders*, day two (preference given to UDS members).....$150 Junior/young rider UDS demo riders*, day two………………….$100 *Demo riders will also have full access to all sessions on both days of the clinic. If you wish to apply to demo ride on either day, please complete the attached form  by Jan 31. Your $50 application fee will be applied to the clinic cost if you are selected and refunded if not. We are extremely excited to be hosting this event in person for the first time, giving participants more opportunities to interact with the instructors and ask questions. Dolly Hannon and Debbie Riehl-Rodriguez will also join us for the UDS banquet on the evening of March 1. We hope the day’s learning will continue in informal chats and reflections that evening, and we are pleased to offer each Taste of the L participant and demo rider a coupon for $10 off their banquet registration. If you have any questions, please contact Katie Lorens at secretary@utahdressagesociety.com Looking forward to learning with you, Your UDS Board

Member Shout Outs Buckle up! Our members have been out there, kicking booty, in any number of venues. Here are a few: Utahns Light Up Lamplight! It may sometimes feel like Utah is a long way from the dressage capitals of the world, but that hasn’t stopped Utahns from competing on the highest levels, and this year’s US Festival of Champions was just one case in point. Justin Giles rode his stunning chestnut Westphalian gelding Templeton’s Milano, in the USEF Five-Year-Old Test and the judges were clearly as impressed as any of us who have had the privilege to witness their partnership. Many of us were watching through the USEF network as the two won the reserve championship, and social media was alive with pride in this pair. We look forward to seeing what further heights they reach. Well done, Justin! Lexi Fairbanks rode her thirteen-year-old, black Holsteiner mare Casara in the Dressage Seat Medal Final 14-18. Her dressage equitation placed a jaw-dropping fifth! Well done, Lexi! You did Utah proud!  Lexi Fairbanks on Casara, photo by Merilee Fairbanks Adrian Ward’s bay Oldenberger mare Quellenperle SL was ridden by Josh Albrecht in the USEF Four-Year-Old Test–and went on to finish in 3rd place in the CDS Four Year Old Futurity in September. Former Utahn and UDS member Charell Garcia had an extremely successful outing representing Maplewood Warmbloods of New York. In the four-year old test, she won the championship on MW Verrazzano and took fourth place on MW Royalty . She also won the championship in the five-year-old test on MW Virtuous . In the six-year-old test, she took third on MW Mastermind and seventh on MW One More Dream, and she took sixth in the FEI seven-year-old test on MW Mercury.  Medal-Qualifying Rides at Millbrook The final Millbrook Show of the season was filled with accomplishments: Lori Barrett showed at the Grand Prix level and earned gold medal-qualifying scores on her chestnut gelding Lagerfeld K. Lori Barrett on Lagerfeld K, photo by Dust-Covered Cowgirl/ Bekka Chappell Fullmer Sarah Simmons earned qualifying scores for her USDF silver medal Sarah Simmons on Gamarro Font, photo by Dust-Covered Cowgirl/  Bekka Chappell Fullmer Amber Russell earned qualifying scores for her USDF silver medal after earning her bronze earlier this season–a rare double in one season!  Farrah Green and Breanne Amsler earned qualifying scores for their USDF Bronze Medals.  Well done, everyone! UDS at USDF Region 5 Championships Utah was well represented at the Region 5 Championships. I’ve listed the UDS competitors below as well as top two finishes, but this only scratches the surface of the good news. Full results are posted at Horse Show Office . Rhyan Andersen (First Level Jr/YR Reserve Champion on Wradiant), Lori Barrett, Cassie Benson (Fourth Level Open Champion on Halegro, Fourth Level Freestyle Open & JrYR Champion on Halegro), Sydni Cook (Fourth Level Open Reserve Champion on Rosa Red), Leslie Dauray Edison, Siân Griffiths, Ammie Lords, Amelia Lords, Sara Kirby, Amelia McCandless(First Level Open and Jr/YR Freestyle Reserve Champion on Swiss Exploit), Samantha McKay, Amber Russel,  Upcoming UDS Election The UDS wishes to extend a ginormous  thank you to Debbie Baxter, Jasmine Beckstead, and Mindy Simmons for serving in interim positions on the board as we come up to our next round of elections. Keep an eye out for a ballot soon! L Program Start This Month  The L Program is just around the corner, with Session A kicking things off on October 18 at Southern Belle Riding. If you haven’t reserved your spot yet, silent auditor tickets are still available here . Purchasing all three weekends is your best value, but you can also now purchase for each weekend individually as they arise. Good news! For those of you who (like me), are daunted by the number of links to click and print before the start of the L Program, the UDS printing study books for all participants. We will have them for you at the first session. We were able to award one participant and one auditor scholarship for the L Program. Carrie Matteson is unanimously selected for the L program participant scholarship due to years of service to UDS. Ashley Adams, another stalwart of the UDS, was awarded the auditor scholarship.  Thank you in advance to our generous hosts: Southern Belle Riding and Sage Creek Equestrian. Without your support, we could not make this program possible. Plans for Next Year: Expanding Clinic Opportunities The board has been eager to extend more options for clinics. In the short term, we are working on plans to bring Steffen Peters this February. This clinic will be limited to six participants, but a large number of auditors. We are currently working on nailing down the details, but we will post more on the community Facebook page as we know it. The board is also working on a plan to provide grants to support more clinic opportunities, so keep an eye out for those details as well in the coming months. End-of-Year Awards and Banquet We are in the early stages of preparation for the End-of-Year Awards and Banquet. That means it’s time to start submitting those volunteer hours you’ve been accumulating! Our volunteer hour submission form is available here . Not sure what counts? A list of possible kinds of volunteer opportunities is available on that same page, and I can always use more articles for this newsletter, so please feel free to pitch me at communications@utahdressagesociety.com   Member Article Someone Had to Lose, and Today It Was Me My Experience at a USDF Regional Championships—and Why I’m Glad I Went   Let’s be real: Driving over ten hours to ride a less-than-five-minute test is not the act of a rational person. For years, I had sat out the USDF Regional Championships, feeling like they were for other riders, better riders, riders on fancier horses. Yet knowing that my gelding and I were both getting older, I decided that this year, I would give it a shot. We earned our second level scores. Who knew when or if we would qualify again? Even in normal times, I am a fairly driven rider, making time between work and family to ride five or six times a week. Regionals added new pressure, and I found myself pushing our training, riding for more impulsion, more cadence, more bend, more collection. I dropped my weekly cocktail, limited my sugar. I wanted to look like a rider who belonged in a championship class, even if I didn’t always feel like one. The weeks leading up to the trip were stressful and sleep deprived. In my nightmares, I was called into the ring only to realize that I hadn’t braided my horse—nor saddled him—nor warmed him up. Thoughts of the drive also kept me up. I would be pulling two other horses besides my own over the Rockies in a longer trailer than I had ever pulled in the longest haul I had ever made. I found myself continually talking myself down: It would all be fine. It was just a test. It didn’t matter. No one was paying attention. No one cared about this at all. No one, that is, except me. I tried to keep my expectations low. In August, a barnmate’s mother looked up the standings on the USDF website, and I was surprised to learn I was sitting six out of the fifteen qualified Second Level Adult Amateurs in the region—better than I had expected. It had been a season of riding tests that were never quite what I thought we were capable of. We had a better ride in us, and I wanted badly to make that ride happen at Regionals. My title here is a plot spoiler: You already know how this is going to go down. Our warm up test was a train wreck. My horse Larry (“Larimer Square”) is nothing if not honest. He tries his guts out for me every time, but he also lets me know when it’s scary, which is often. My trainer put it best when she said, “I love his big feelings.” I do, too, though they don’t always help us score our best. While his bravery has grown enormously since jumping out of the arena in our first Training level test four years ago, confidence is still a work in progress, a fact that was on full display on our first day at the Colorado Horse Park. From the moment I mounted, I could feel Larry quite literally shaking under the saddle. He did his best, but he was intensely aware of the atmosphere, the unfamiliar sights and sounds and smells, the five show rings going at once, the sheer number of horses. In every stride, I felt his tension, and he struggled to find the bravery to go within three feet of the rails. Only a lot of leg and a few judicious taps of the whip kept us from performing the whole test fully on the quarter lines, and we ended up earning the worst scores since stepping up to second level. Tomorrow would be better, I told myself. On our first day there, we had schooled in the Championship arena, and over the course of that hour, he had decided that the sponsorship signs hanging fence-side were mostly non-carnivorous. Unlike the warm up test, there would be no heavy construction machines to catch Larry’s eye in the distance. Chances are, there wouldn’t even be suspicious stray women in red hats. And our warm up for the Championship class was  good. The tension was there, but Larry found moments to relax and stretch. The Grand Prix riders prepping their own tests were inspiring me with their brilliance. I was wearing my new coat. Larry was wearing his new saddle pad, a pre-regionals gift from my husband. We’d done the work. We were ready to give it our all. My nerves were fluttering, but they were not so different from any pre-test nerves. I could handle them. My trainer called me over to take my headphones when she remembered, suddenly, that I could not carry a whip in a championship. The news unsettled me—I had thought that only the FEI classes forbade the use of whips. I had needed that whip to even approach the rails yesterday and I might need it again today. I was unprepared. I should have schooled differently. And then I rallied. It wasn’t that bad. I was not reliant on the whip. We would be fine. But then another voice piped up from the rail—a person unknown to me, saying “You also need a second number on your bridle. You only have one.” My barnmate, eyes wide and locked on mine, asked where my second number was. “On his halter,” I said, “hanging by his stall.” A stall that was two full barn lengths away. She turned in a dead sprint as I circled near the entry for the warm up. My ring was empty—we were the first ride of the class—and I had no idea how much time I had. The seconds ticked away with every beat of my racing heart, but in a minor miracle, my barnmate returned minutes later. (She might have a second career as an Olympic sprinter if the dressage thing doesn’t work out.) She fitted the second number to his bridle as the judge blew the whistle for us to enter. We had avoided disqualification, but gone was our chance to have a calming trot around the ring. We were now against the clock, posting (!) a very forward trot for X to salute before our time ran out. Every doubting thought now screamed as the adrenaline of panic flooded my body. We really didn’t  belong here. We’d just proven that. We didn’t know the rules. We were kidding ourselves to think we could compete. Siân Griffiths on Larimer Square, still from video by Rhyan Andersen I did my best to remember Ted Lasso’s advice on having a goldfish memory. The forgetting of one bobble or another had gotten me through so many tests, helping us qualify for regionals in the first place, despite the occasional mid-test buck or bolt. Still, the brace in Larry’s back was undeniable, the tension jolting me. My panic had become his. I breathed deep, squeezed and released the reins, tried everything I could think of to let him know it was all ok, but every aid seemed muffled in cotton. His reactions delayed, our geometry was off. Our mediums and collected movements were indistinguishable. He threw in a flying change in our canter serpentine. He jigged in our simple change, a first for that particular mistake. I exited the ring devastated, not because of the embarrassment of my test, but because I had failed my partner when he needed me most. The technical delegate called me over, and I apologized for almost forgetting her in my fluster. It hardly seemed to matter, I thought, after the ride we had just delivered. She congratulated me on having completed my test and I admitted I was lucky to have ridden at all. “I didn’t realize I needed two numbers,” I explained. “My barnmate had to run to get it, and I almost missed my ride.” “Well, someone owes you a drink then,” she said, “because that’s not a rule. Two numbers are recommended but not required.” “You’re kidding me,” I replied, but then added truthfully, “but that’s still on me for not reading the rulebook.” That was the bald truth of it. I had not known what I did not know. I had gone to regionals under the presumption that   the rules for competing there  were the same as the rules for the rated shows that had gotten me qualified. That presumption was wrong. I would love to tell you that I took it all in stride, shrugging our disastrous test off with a professionals’ easy “Today just wasn’t our day.” The truth was, I was exhausted and emotionally fragile. When the scores came in, they would be a full two points lower than our worst, but I didn’t need to see them to know how poorly we showed. I fought tears as I pulled Larry’s braids, brushed him, fed him handfuls of German Muffins, and told him what a good boy he was. I lost the fight to tears an hour later when I called my husband. “Maybe you can try again next year,” he said, wanting to soothe me, but I had no plans to make the trip again. Larry would be eighteen. It was too much to ask, too far to go. I had decided long before that this would be our shot, and I had blown it. The irony is, I am usually the person in our barn who reads the rule book. My barnmates come to me with questions about show shirts and saddle pads, asking my opinions on whether they are show legal, and I recite my understanding and direct them to the page they need. My trainer apologized again and again for forgetting to tell me about the whip, but I wasn’t upset with her. She had spared me disqualification. In the days after, I talked to rider after rider who hadn’t known that rule until they arrived at their class. It’s not something anyone thinks about until they’re there. When Katie, my fellow Utah Dressage Society board member, suggested I write about my experience for the newsletter, my stomach initially dropped. Did I really want to recount my ineptitude and failure for the whole community to read? “The only rule I knew about was not being able to have a caller,” she wrote in her text. “I’m sure we aren’t the only two people who didn’t know about whips.” I mulled her suggestion as I watched other riders pilot their horses through tests, both successfully and not. I learned of a fellow rider whose team accidentally wrote down the wrong test time, and who was still braiding when she was supposed to be in the arena, living out my actual nightmare. I learned about another who rode a beautiful test and came out beaming only to learn she was disqualified for—you guessed it—carrying her whip. And we were the fortunate ones. I was certain there were others out there who had qualified for Regionals but whose horse developed a last-minute abscess, or whose truck broke down, or whose boss refused them the time off. I was in good company in my misery, even if we each carried our disappointments silently and alone. As I walked the grounds and watched more tests, I kept being aware of the keen sense of privilege I had to be there at the Championships. The afternoon of my own disqualification, I watched one of our local open riders in her Prix St. George championship class, her mare executing a series of nervous tempi changes during their initial canter down center line. The bobbles didn’t end there, but I wasn’t counting their mistakes. I was watching how the rider maintained her calm throughout, even smiling when the mare threw in her bonus maneuvers. The test wasn’t beautiful and it wouldn’t score high, but it was a master class in riding. The horse ended the class more confident than she had started it, and the trust her rider built shone as she halted for the final salute. The next day as I sat again in the stands, a kind voice said “Scoot over,” and I made space on the bleachers for a new friend and seasoned professional. As we watched, she talked about the different views of the judges at C and E. She said that she’d heard riders complaining about the discrepancies in the scores of those judges, but explained that they are judging different things based on their different seats. Move by move, she detailed what each judge could and couldn’t see. Again, I sat there absorbing. This is all to say that I came home from regionals having lost my class, but having gained real knowledge. Far from being sorry I went, I found myself filled with gratitude—for the trainer who prepared me, for the incredible horse that got me there, for my barn family, who didn’t shame or blame me for my feelings but who instead understood and gave me space to rally, and for my fellow dressage riders, from whom I have learned and continue to learn so much. I went to Regionals, and I lost. I put myself out there, and showed a horse I adore, and it didn’t go to plan. I learned a lot—and ribbons are nice, my friends, but the learning is always the point. Besides, I still have the thing that, for the rest of my life, no one can take from me: I rode at Regionals . And if you have the chance—the opportunity—the privilege—maybe you should too.   —Siân Griffiths

~ Updated 02/03/2025~ Review period ends February 7th, 2025. Congratulations to all! We hope to see you at the upcoming awards banquet. Please email competitions@utahdressagesociety.com  with any requested changes or questions. UDS Year End Award Requirements UDS Short Tour YE Award Requirements Perpetual Trophy Requirements 1. The UDS perpetual trophies are awarded based on scores earned only at UDS recognized shows that are physically in Utah and awarded at the UDS Annual Banquet. It is awarded to the highest percentage of that level regardless of the division. 2024 Short Tour YE Results LEVEL RIDER HORSE DIVISION AVERAGE RANKING INTRO Dilynn Espinoza Reddington Jr/YR 60.417 CHAMPION TRAINING LEVEL Alyna Taylor Maverick Jr/YR 65.766 CHAMPION Eliza Hintze Canderry Jr/YR 65.052 RESERVE Amelia Lords My Oh Maya Jr/YR 63.758 3rd Ainsley Danielson Charming Prince Charles Jr/YR 60.724 4th Katherine Lavender Bravou R Van Buterheideveld AA 73.131 CHAMPION Winnie Marie Picket Bird of Paradise/Her Highness AA 63.103 RESERVE Ruth Moss RAH USA War Hawk AA 62.273 3rd FIRST LEVEL Amelie Beckstead Monnaie Jr/YR 67.771 CHAMPION Alexis Fairbanks Birmingham Jr/YR 67.148 RESERVE Taylor Lemmon Mardi Grass Mayday AA 66.917 CHAMPION Matthew Nasielski DRF Copper Top AA 59.928 RESERVE SECOND LEVEL NO QUALIFIED RIDERS 2024 Year End Results LEVEL RIDER HORSE DIVISION AVERAGE RANKING TRAINING Amelia Lords My Oh Maya Jr/YR 63.531 CHAMPION Eliza Hintze Canderry Jr/YR 62.000 RESERVE Samantha Mohlman Odin AA 72.805 CHAMPION Leslie Edison Rosaria AA 70.236 RESERVE Brittani Frade Saint AA 67.200 3rd Katherine Lavender Bravour van Buterheideveld AA 63.906 4th Justin Giles Templeton's Milano Open 75.892 CHAMPION Jim Hicks Kwendra Open 74.697 RESERVE Samantha McKay Gamine DDH Open 69.440 3rd FIRST LEVEL Alexis Fairbanks Birmingham Jr/YR 64.722 CHAMPION Ashley Adams Lopaka AA 72.324 CHAMPION Carrie Matteson Maestro De La Nuit AA 70.651 RESERVE Taylor Lemmon Mardi Gras Mayday AA 68.787 3rd Stephanie Stockton Enchanted AA 65.824 4th Brittani Frade Saint AA 63.833 5th Catherine O'Neil La Dolce Vita Open 66.569 CHAMPION Samantha Mckay Gamine DDH Open 66.399 RESERVE Clarissa Taggart Top Lady Open 62.667 3rd SECOND LEVEL Siân Griffiths Larimer Square AA 64.686 CHAMPION Whitney Loftus Fortius AA 61.855 RESERVE Niel Kuhner Zaleigh AA 61.714 3rd Tara Miller Adonis AA 60.481 4th THIRD LEVEL Lori Barrett Fendi S Open 66.295 CHAMPION Melanie Muirbrook Wind River AMS AA 64.2798 CHAMPION FOURTH LEVEL Sydni Cook Rosa Red Open 68.510 CHAMPION Jaimie Ringger Intuition Open 66.861 RESERVE Ammie Lords Dimora SCF Open 66.780 3rd PRIX ST GEORGE Ammie Lords Dimora SCF Open 64.799 CHAMPION INTERMEDIATE I Stacy Palen Eridani Open 56.486 CHAMPION FREESTYLE; 1ST-2ND Ashley Adams Lopaka AA 74.093 CHAMPION Carrie Matteson Maestro De La Nuit AA 68.824 RESERVE Karen Harkin Hosanna NSN AA 67.445 3rd Niel Kuhner Zaleigh AA 65.880 4th Veronica Miluk Midnight Mischief Maker AA 62.639 5th FREESTYLE: 3RD-4TH Sydni Cook Rosa Red Open 73.408 CHAMPION 2024 Perpetual Trophies TRAINING LEVEL  Charles Bering Perpetual Justin Giles Templeton's Milano 82.931 FIRST LEVEL UDS Perpetual Jaimie Ringger Northern Light 73.889 SECOND LEVEL Oquirrh Dressage Perpetual Dana Denison Doeke W 69.429 THIRD LEVEL Anakako Melody Memorial Lori Barrett Fendi S 70.375 FOURTH LEVEL  Laura Williams Tolman Memorial Sydni Cook Rosa Red 71.389 PRIX ST GEORGE Deer Meadow Ammie Lords Dimora SCF 64.559 INTERMEDIATE Johanna Adolphi PerpetuaL No qualifiers GRAND PRIX Millbrook Farms Perpetual No qualifiers MUSICAL FREESTYLE Nick Van Pelt Memorial Ashley Adams Lopaka 75.0 PONY TOC Sean Porter Buell Perpetual 55+ Sage Creek Master’s Jim Hicks Kwendra 78.077 PARA Sage Creek Para Dressage No qualifiers Please email competitions@utahdressagesociety.com with any requested changes or questions. Join us at the annual awards banquet and silent auction to accept your prizes! UDS Awards Banquet March 1, 2025 6:00-9:00 PM Forty Three Bakery

Please consider running for a UDS Board of Directors position! The annual election will be held in October 2025 for the President, Secretary, Director of Membership, and Director of Events positions (term to run 2026-2028). Board officer positions are 2-year terms. Per the UDS Policies & Procedures, voters and candidates must be on the recognized membership roster by July 1st of 2025. Remote meetings are held monthly via Google Meets. Please contact us if you are interested in more information or are willing to serve on a nominating committee. Thank you! UDS Board of Directors

UDS MEMBER SHOUT OUTS : Congratulations, Adrian Ward, Stephanie Stockton, and Sydni Cook! June was a banner month for members earning their USDF medals! Here are the ones we know about– Adrian Ward  earned the final score for her bronze medal when she showed her horse No Doubt in Third Level Test 3 to earn an outstanding 65% at Les Bois. Adrian has had No Doubt for about a year and this was only their fourth show together. She works with trainer Morgen Bastow. Beyond the saddle, Adrian has devoted much of her time and effort to creating the new UDS website, for which we are forever grateful. Stephanie Stockton  earned her final score for her bronze medal on her horse Enchanted (“Ted”) with a scores of 65.9% and 60.9% at the Millbrook Farms Summer Dressage Festival. Stephanie trains with Sara Kirby at Creekside and works at Utah Saddle Fitting. Also at the Millbrook Farms Summer Dressage Festival,  Sydni Cook  earned her silver medal with distinction on Rosa Red, who she trained herself from training level and who is owned by Leslie Edison of Winter Farms. She also showed Rosa’s baby, Secret Sauce WF, taking her down center line for her first show, and she got the Open high point on on Belialuna RTH in Training test two with an impressive 78.793%.  Sydni Cook on Rosa Red, photo by Leslie Edison We are so proud to see our members out there, earning their accolades. Huge congratulations on these wonderful accomplishments! If I have missed any other medalists, please let me know! We’d like to make the UDS Member Shout Out a recurring feature. If you know of a member who has accomplished something amazing, please email communications@utahdressagesociety.com  with your shout out. Feel free to send photos and let me know which photographer to credit. The L Program We have had a flood of entries for the L Program and have now received approval of our UDS-approved applications from the US Dressage Federation for their approval. At the time of this writing, we have exactly thirty applications, but if we have any spots open, we will put out an additional call for applications. In the meantime, we hope to open silent auditor registration very soon. Better still, we plan to offer one reimbursement scholarship for a participant and one for an auditor. Please keep your eye out for those and other amazing opportunities. For more information about all three weekends of the L Program, please see  our website . A Rising Tide We are pleased to report that, in large part due to the L Program, UDS membership is up roughly 25%, and we’re only halfway through the year! Additionally, we have received new applications for UDS recognition from rated shows in our neighboring states, meaning our members will have even more opportunities to earn scores towards their UDS year-end awards. Better still, this increase in show options does not seem to be diminishing interest in our in-state shows, with Millbrook receiving so many applications for their June show that stabling sold out early. While there may be setbacks along the way, we’re hoping this is the start of a longer trend. Long story short: The popularity of our sport has never been greater, and we are thrilled to see the numbers grow. There is no sport like dressage for enhancing the strength and welfare of the horse. We are so proud to be working to bolster its popularity and increase educational and competition opportunities for our members. Eva Adolphi Memorial Short Tour The UDS was proud to sponsor a spring short tour on June 7 in honor of founding member, Eva Adolphi. It was wonderful to see so many of you out there, showing off what your wonderful partners can do!  We thank everyone who came out to compete, the tireless volunteers who kept things running, our excellent judge Katie O’Neil, and Becca Tolman of Impulsion Images for coming out to take photos. We would also like to extend an extra special tremendous shout out to Christie Bogle, who generously sponsored one of our classes. Additionally, we want to congratulate to our show high points: JR/YR high point: Sidney Eliot on Zoro, Intro C, 62.75% AA high point: Kylie Davidson on Creshendo GA, Training Level test 1, 61.73% Open high point and overall high point: Jaimie Ringger on Nellie, Training Level test 1, 68.46% Hannah Hanvey on Winnie US, photo by Impulsion Images Nina Halvorson on Whizkey, photo by Impulsion Images June Rated Shows June was a full month for rated showing! We kicked off the month in Boise at Les Bois Dressage, followed the next weekend by Sage Creek Equestrian, and then a very windy show at C&M and a second Les Bois. We capped off the month with Millbrook Farms’ Summer Dressage Festival. With each weekend offering a new opportunity (or two!), and each show packed with talented horses and riders, it is thrilling to see the continued growth of our sport.  We extend a massive thank you to these host venues in gratitude for their continued involvement. Their efforts make possible these pinnacle showing opportunities. Dana Denison and Dreamer, photo by Donnette Hicks Bridge Scholarships Have you been thinking about trying out a rated show, but you’re worried about the extra costs? Consider applying for a Bridge Scholarship. These scholarships are open to applicants with an average Short Tour Series score of 63% or greater, who have not previously competed at a USEF/USDF/USD-recognized show. The scholarship is intended to assist in transition from schooling shows to rated shows, and we would love to see more applicants. For more information about this and other scholarships, please visit our membership website . Volunteer Opportunities As you’re out there earning scores, don’t forget to complete some volunteer hours along the way. Between competitions, the L Program, and other events, we need all the help we can get. Please feel free to reach out to show organizers directly to help with those events, or email UDS Secretary Katie Lorens if you would like to help out at the L Program. Even if you are not competing, submitting your hours will put you in the running for our volunteer-of-the-year award. A full and newly extended list of how to earn volunteer hours is available here . Our fabulous volunteer coordinator Debbie Baxter will also be happy to help you. Adolphi Scholarship Congratulations to this year’s Adolphi Scholarship recipient, Ammie Lords! The Adolphi Scholarship is awarded to UDS members who are striving to increase their education and contribution to their GMO and USDF/USEF. Eva asked that past or present UDS board members be given first consideration for the grant, in recognition of their service. As many of you may know, Ammie served the board both as President and Director of Competitions, and we are proud to recognize her efforts with this scholarship, which she will be applying towards tuition for the L Program. We hope that both Ammie and her many students will reap the benefits of the program, and we look forward to sharing her article about the experience.

The 2025 UDS Banquet   We were delighted to honor the 2024 award winners at our annual banquet, which took place this year at Forty Three Bakery in Salt Lake City. The food was amazing and the company even better as we celebrated the milestones achieved by so many of our members. This year’s silent auction raised just shy of $3,200. These much needed and much appreciated proceeds help fund our awards program and support educational events for the coming year. A list of award recipients and our event auction donors, sponsors, and Omnibus advertisers are included at the end of this newsletter. Thank you and congratulations to all! A Taste of the L Program Our very own Utah Dressage Society was selected to host the inaugural in-person Taste of the L Program at the exquisite Diamond Equestrian Center in Lehi, Utah, which went off beautifully on the first weekend of March. The program brought dressage judging gurus Dolly Hannon and Debbie Riehl-Rodriguez to teach sixty dressage enthusiasts, including some who traveled overnight more than six and a half hours from Colorado to attend. Day one included a classroom session, in which our esteemed judges lead participants through the fundamentals and nuances of dressage scoring, after which these concepts were applied to riders and their horses in the sandbox. Day two continued building on this scaffolding, as riders demonstrated tests from training level to Intermediare 1 for the crowd and the judges walked us through what they noticed and how the various aspects of movement and riding would reflect in the scores. Rider Taylor Lemmon and her horse Mardi with coaches Dolly Hannon and Debbie Riehl-Rodriguez The L Program Now Open for Applications! Thanks to the seemingly tireless Katie Lorens (who has already devoted more hours to this project than I can count) and her many unsung helpers and supporters, the Utah Dressage Society will host the L Program starting this fall and look forward to having a new group of certified judges for our schooling shows and short tours. Be sure to save the weekends of Oct 18-19, 2025, Feb 28-Mar 1, 2026, and April 25-26, 2026. All three weekends will be offered as a bundle to UDS members for a total of $750 to participate and $150 to audit. (Nonmembers can enroll for $1,000 to participate and $200 to audit, so if you know of nonmembers who want to participate, encourage them to secure a UDS membership to save added fees.) Our application for the program has just opened. We will be accepting our first round of applicants through June 1, 2025. The board will then make its initial selection and send those to USDF for approval. If there are additional openings, we will open a second round. Any applicants not selected have the option to receive a refund or change their role to auditor. We are limited to 30 participants, but we hope to have as many auditors as possible, so if you are not selected, we encourage you to audit this round.  With the huge popularity of this program, we anticipate having to make some truly difficult decisions, but we remain committed to serving as many members as we can with as much transparency as possible. USDF has asked us to give preference to applicants who  are committed to attending all three sessions of Part 1 of the L Program are committed to completing Part 2 within 5 years of completion of Part 1 want to become an r judge are USDF members Once those applications are sorted, we will give preference to Utah applicants. We will then give preference to applications in the order in which they are received.  If you have any questions about applying, please contact Katie Lorens for more information. For more information and to apply, please visit our L Program page . Start Planning Your 2025 Show Season Many of our 2025 shows are already listed on our website and more are being added every week. As you plan your season, be sure to keep checking the Competitions page  for upcoming opportunities. We look forward to seeing many of you and your fabulous horses hitting new highs this year! Like a Small Banana: A Weekend with Christophe Theallet at Revel Ranch By Lori Barrett For those of you unfamiliar, Frenchman Christophe Theallet is the rare International level trainer based on the west coast who chooses to focus on coaching, rather than judging or his own competition horses. A graduate of the National Academy of Saumur, Theallet went on to ride under German trainer Rudolf Zeilinger, before emigrating to the US. Under the tutelage of US Chef d’Equipe Anne Gribbons, Theallet coached US Team member Kasey Perry-Glass onto an Olympic medal and continues to develop top US Team riders and Young Horse trainers around the country. In short, we are excited to bring another key coach out to UT for the first time! Anyone who listened for the two days (thanks, auditors!) would tell you the focus of every session, from my 3yo with 60 days under saddle, up to our horses schooling the Grand Prix work, was about bend. The most commonly heard phrase begat the title of this article: bend him around your leg “like a small banana.” While it never ceased eliciting a laugh each time we heard it delivered with a rumbling French accent, we understood the purpose in our daily training perfectly. A concept with which most of us are familiar, the purpose of the shoulder fore in the horse (in addition to straightening,) is to subtly shape the ribcage of the horse around the rider’s inside leg. In doing this, we create room for the inside hind leg of the horse to step through and begin to carry weight, which is the foundation of collection. Making this room in the barrel is what allows us to ultimately develop not just collection, but self-carriage, as the horse gets stronger and needs decreased support from the riders’ aids. As riders, it’s important to learn the difference between neck bend and the beginning of curvature in the horse’s barrel; we used both shoulder in and haunches in (for increased bend behind the saddle,) to create the needed bend as we worked the horses. Anecdotally, as we worked in this vein, we saw each horse evolve and improve. The 3yo who tended to hold in her neck while lightly dropping onto the bit began reaching more honestly out through the topline and making a more correct connection from her springy hind legs to the bridle. The FEI gelding who needed increased engagement in the piaffe benefitted from an exercise of trot shoulder-in directly into a gently straightening piaffe, as the hind legs stayed better placed underneath. And the in-betweeners: our young mare schooling 4th level work used shoulder fore within the medium trot to keep the hind legs more honest, to correct her tendency to push too much out behind, while staying extravagant in front. We could write whole chapters about other take-aways, but long story short, we are bringing Christophe back again at the end of February. Since he’s based a short 1.5h flight from the SLC airport, the goal is to have him here several times per year to continue developing Utah dressage. Onward into 2025! Two Days with David Wightman By Taylor Lemmon I am thankful to the UDS Educational Scholarship for providing support for continued development in dressage. I utilized the funds to attend a 2-day clinic with David Wightman. My horse, Mardi, is coming 6 this year and we are developing 2nd level skills. David coached us through exercises to improve lateral suppleness and collection, which greatly enhanced my horse’s ability to bend more fluidly through his body. The targeted work on movements like shoulder-in, travers, and simple changes also helped refine the quality of his gaits, particularly developing greater elasticity in the trot and more balance in the canter. Some of my favorite exercises were the following: 10-Meter Circle to shoulder-in: The rider begins by riding a balanced 10-meter circle. This smaller circle requires the horse to bend uniformly through the neck, body, and hindquarters while staying rhythmical and forward. The inside leg maintains impulsion and helps the horse engage the inside hind leg, while the outside rein regulates the bend and prevents the horse from falling outward. Upon completing the circle, the rider smoothly transitions into shoulder-in down the long side of the arena. The inside rein establishes a slight flexion at the poll, while the inside leg asks the horse to step forward and slightly sideways, maintaining the same inside bend as on the circle. The outside rein and outside leg control the degree of angle (roughly 30 degrees) and keep the horse moving straight down the track while staying parallel to the arena wall. This transition encourages the horse to maintain the engagement of the inside hind leg developed on the circle. It builds lateral suppleness and strengthens the horse's ability to carry more weight on the hindquarters. It also improves connection, straightness, and the rider's ability to maintain control over the horse’s bend and alignment. Simple changes on the quarter line:  The exercise involves transitioning between canter, a few strides of walk, and canter again on the opposite lead. Begin with a balanced and straight canter down the quarter line. Straightness is key, as the horse should not lean toward the wall or drift into the arena. Prepare the transition by engaging the hindquarters with half-halts, ensuring the horse stays active and light in the bridle. Transition smoothly into a clear, rhythmic walk for 2-3 steps, avoiding any loss of forward energy or alignment. From the walk, use the rider’s aids (outside leg slightly behind the girth and inside leg at the girth) to ask for the new lead. The transition must be prompt and balanced, with the horse stepping into the canter without swinging the haunches or losing straightness. Performing simple changes on the quarter line, away from the support of the wall, demands that the horse stays aligned through the rider’s aids rather than relying on external guidance. The walk-to-canter transitions encourage the horse to step under with the hind legs and develop carrying power, which is essential for flying changes. The horse learns to listen closely to the rider’s aids, transitioning seamlessly between gaits without resistance. Thank you to the Utah Dressage Society for awarding me this educational scholarship, which made this invaluable learning experience possible and has greatly contributed to my development as a dressage rider! Sponsor Shout Out The UDS would love to send a massive thank you to the donors and sponsors who supported our 2025 Banquet, Omnibus, and Silent Auction. We could not do what we do without your support! This year’s sponsors included Alexandria Duncan, Amelia Newcomb, Animal Health VIPs, Anna Amis, Anna Buffini, Anna Marek, Aurora Elkins, Bella Stables/Equipe, Bellwether Farm, Bluebell Knoll, Cloud 9 PEMF, Diamond Equestrian Center, Engleby Images, Equestriëss Atelier, Golden Horse Counseling, High Altitude Saddlery/WhileAway, Hilltop Farm, Horse Crazy, Impulsion Images, In the Loop, JAAW Equine, Jenny Powers, K1 Kouture, Lexi Beckstead, Lori Barrett, Lorri Karpinski, Lumiere, Millbrook Farms,Mountain Point Equine, Redmond Salt, Reposa MedSpa, Revel Ranch, Rocky Mountain Equine, Rural Ave, Sage Creek Equestrian, Salty Mare Equine Nutrition, Simply Eden, Solo Equine Bridles, Southern Belle Riding, Snowbasin, Spay & Neuter of SLC, Sydni Cook, Team Tate Academy, Tailored Saddle Fit, Triple Crown, Uinta Sporthorses, Veronica Miluk, Winter Farms 2024 Award Winners CONGRATULATIONS!!!

2025 UDS Banquet The UDS board is working fast and furiously to put together final preparations for this year’s banquet on March 1, so save the date! We’re hoping everyone can join us to celebrate our members and their horses and to bid on some hot silent auction items. Keep your eye out for a sign up link coming soon on Facebook and via email. New Year, New Team Members The board is extremely excited to welcome our returning vice president, Sydni Cook, and incoming Education Director, Lori Jamison. Our new board members are bringing new perspectives and fresh enthusiasm, and it’s a delight to have them with us. This Year’s Show Season Starts Our first UDS/USDF/USEF-rated show will take place in Las Vegas on January 18-19. This will be followed shortly by the Cottonwood Farms Dressage Show in Las Vegas on Jan 22-23. In Utah, Sage Creek Equestrian is hosting a series of winter schooling shows in Heber City on Jan 18, Feb 15, and Mar 15. For more information about these shows and for links to sign up, please visit our UDS competitions page . As always, we will continue to post competitive opportunities as they arise! A Taste of the L Program On Mar 1-2, we will be sponsoring "A Taste of the L Program." This ride-a-test clinic featuring Dolly Hannon and Debbie Riehl-Rodriguez is designed to give participants a glimpse into what next year's L Program Training will offer. Additionally, L graduates will earn 8 hours of continuing education. (More information on how to sign up to attend or audit will be coming soon.) A Snapshot of Riding with Amelia Newcomb and Rachel Saavedra   By Ashley Adams  Let me tell you a little about my horse. Lopaka, KWPN bred by Deborah Harrison in 2016, was late to be started and kept a stallion until six. His barn name is PakMan, and he is developing strength for the 2nd level collecting movements and learning about collection and engagement.  I had the opportunity to ride with Amelia Newcomb and then two weeks later, Rachel  Saavedra. One of the biggest recommendations I can give any rider seriously interested in dressage is to audit clinics when you have the chance. Being able to sit ring-side and take notes on all the instructor said, I came away with many filled pages of which I can not briefly share here!   Second level is the base of most of the upper-level dressage movements, and I have heard it said that second level is where dressage starts. We spent a lot of time going through the fundamentals.  Some exercises from Amelia:   • Our warm up started off with walking a small, bendy serpentine which looks like old-fashioned ribbon candy, focusing on the bend and pushing off the inside leg in to the outside rein.   • For lateral suppleness in the trot into haunches in, really bend right in a 10m circle, slow the trot  down, make him look right, start haunches in way early on 10m circle by putting your outside leg back. Keep your inside leg snuggled up at the girth and keep your inside seat bone down.  • Trot-canter snowman exercise: canter two to three 20m circles, then trot at the first quarter line of the circle  and change direction into a 10m circle one time, focus on the new inside leg to outside rein, then back on to the 20m circle and canter right away.  • At the end of the rides with Amelia, we finished with trot-canter-trot transitions in a longer over-the back frame to help develop supple strength.  Rachel Saavedra spent a lot of time going in-depth through the theory of the basics. I sat  mesmerized as I listened and furiously took notes as she talked, connecting the dots of many movements throughout the levels.  Rachel reminds riders not to just focus on the basics during the warm-up, that you have to  warm up the more challenging movements also as a check-in to see what’s going on. It’s not about concentrating on what’s wrong, but how we can use the gifts that horse has to help work on other things.  Rachel focused a lot on rider position and how that affects the horse, reminding riders that we must aspire to the same level of fitness as our horses.   • The core: While riding, she reminded us to keep the core stable and square, imagining that the shoulders and hips are the points of a rectangle. If you twist, collapse, etc and lose the rectangular shape, then you lose your ability to use your core strength. This is easy to try while you’re sitting reading this, and you will see how it affects your core.  • The contact: When you ride a “yes” stride, which means a stride you like and want more of, your hands are married to the base of the horse’s neck, in a harmony with the gaits. At first level, we are looking for acceptance of influence. When a suggestion of change is needed, you momentarily create disharmony in your aids to create influence. Riders must be careful not to take away the horse’s fundamental liberty and shut the gait down inadvertently. The aid system is a listening tool put your leg on and get a response and then keep the leg softly snuggled so you can listen to what the horse does next. Same with the contact–in a cyclical way we should be “letting the air out” of the contact so that the horse finds the release through their body but the rider doesn’t give away the contact.   • The seat bones: Rachel described the seat bones as boulders in a stream–the water moves around the boulder. This has made a huge improvement in my horse’s response to my seat, as I imagine the water curving around the boulder of my seat bone in a volte, for example.  An exercise from Rachel : Start a five-loop serpentine. Each loop is 12m so that the touchpoint on the rail is at every letter. This makes it very obvious if you are keeping your loops equal! Once the serpentine is established, at each letter touchpoint when you get to the rail, do a canter strike off and begin a 12m canter circle and then a downward transition back to the trot once you return to the letter and then continue on the serpentine.   I can not say thank you enough for the opportunity to attend these clinics. I am incredibly grateful.

2025-2026 Term Watch your email for ballots in the next week.! Please note that only current UDS members may vote per Policies & Procedures. Lori Jamison Director of Education I love education and I am hoping to bring to our community ways to get education without spending a ton of money.  I have done online education through the USDF and while these were free on their website it is so insightful to understanding our sport.   Also,  I would love to be part of bringing the L program to Utah.   I am not experienced with a lot of formal training but I feel education is power and everyone deserves to have that in whatever opportunity is presented. I would be learning this position along with everyone else or not, but since I love to learn and grow, I was hoping to offer that to the community as well. Sydni Cook Vice President As a previous vice president, I feel that I could slip back into that role with ease. I am also a professional horse trainer and FEI competitor in addition to being a USDF certified instructor and L program graduate. I believe that I bring a well-rounded expertise to the board. I have been a member of our Utah Dressage community for multiple decades and love the people and the sport. I hope to be able to serve our local community as vice president for another term. Cheyenne Holm (Incumbent) Vice President Dana Prior (Incumbent) Treasurer I've been the treasurer for the board for the past year and have enjoyed putting my professional talents to work in our dressage community. I have also assisted in other projects for the board, such as clinics and shows this past year and its truly a joy getting to know our amazing members! I wish to continue to serve as treasurer so that i can keep supporting the great community of dressage riders throughout all of Utah! Katie O'Neil (Incumbent) Director of Competitions Sian Griffiths  (Incumbent) Director of Communications   I would love to continue serving in my role as Director of Communications and working with Jasmine to promote UDS events, build our community, and keep our membership up-to-date and informed. To vote you must be a current UDS members. Please make sure you are logged into your UDS account to access the ballot webpage.