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.

It is with no small amount of pride that the Utah Dressage Society can now announce that our FALL SHORT TOUR (Oct 5 at the Spanish Fork fairgrounds) is OPEN FOR ENTRIES. The show will include tests in both traditional and Western dressage! *WDAA tests are considered schooling only. Day stalls are available! Show will be held in the large indoor arena rain or shine Closing date is Saturday, September 28, 2024 If you would like to volunteer at the show, become a ring or class sponsor, donate prizes, or be a refreshment sponsor/donor. Sponsors & donors will be acknowledged via printed mediums and website/social media. Contact Katie Lorens ( secretary@utahdressagesociety.com )

Junior Clinic The UDS held its inaugural Juniors Clinic on Saturday, June 1, 2024. The board would like to extend its gratitude to UDS Education Director Mindy Simmons, clinician Justin Giles, clinic co-sponsor Hilltop Dressage, and the seven amazing juniors who rode their hearts out and made it a truly inspirational day. Justin delivered clear instruction of classical principals, which every rider was able to implement, showing a marked improvement in each horse’s way of going. With such talent coming along the ranks, the future of dressage is looking bright in Utah. Rated Show Season Commences The rated show season kicked off in June, and Sage Creek I & II, the C&M Farm Summer Show and Millbrook Farms Summer Dressage Festival I & II are now in the books! Congratulations to all the area dressage riders who have had the chance to show off their wonderful horses.  If you haven’t ridden down centerline yourself yet–or if you’re looking to get out and have some more fun (and maybe build on those first scores), there are several more rated shows on the horizon. Sage Creek III will be on July 19 and Sage Creek IV on July 20, C&M Farm will host the EIC High Desert Classic July 27-28, Millbrook will host its Summer Dressage Festival III on Aug 9 and IV on Aug 10-11, and C&M Farm will round out the rated competition year with the Gem State Classic and Championship on August 17-18. For more information, including links to sign up, check out our competition page . If you are interested in trying out a rated show but worried about the additional cost, you may want to consider applying for a UDS Bridge Scholarship. Once a year the UDS awards a scholarship of $500, to an applicant with an average Short Tour Series score of 63% or greater, that has not  previously competed at a USEF/USDF/USD recognized show. For more details, look at the scholarship information on our membership page . UDS Short Tour The UDS is gearing up to offer a fall short tour on October 5, and we’re hoping for a lot of member involvement to support this show. If you would like to earn volunteer hours or help to sponsor refreshments or awards, please contact UDS secretary Katie Lorens at secretary@utahdressagesociety.com UDS Educational Scholarships Awarded Lori Jameson, Lindi Kopeko, Whitney Loftus, Melanie Muirbrook, and Siân Griffiths were awarded $250 scholarships to improve their dressage education this past winter and spring. These scholarships were used for in-person clinics with Trisha Kerwin-Bell and both virtual and in-person training with Amelia Newcombe.  If you would like to apply for an educational scholarship to attend a clinic, complete some virtual training, or extend your dressage education in other ways, consider applying. Our next UDS Educational Scholarship deadline is September 15. In return, we will ask you to write a short essay telling us about what you learned so that we can share it with our members. You can find more information and apply on our membership page . UDS Board Change–and a Very Big Thank You It is with very  heavy hearts that we announce that Mindy Simmons is stepping down as UDS Education Director. If you have been a member of Utah Dressage for any period of time, you likely know how instrumental Mindy has been in lining up some world class educational opportunities for riders here in Utah, from bit fitting clinics, instructor certification clinics, to the latest youth clinic. Mindy’s efforts have been nothing short of heroic, and she’s leaving very big shoes to fill.  For the short term, the UDS board will be filling in until November, when elections open again. If you’ve been thinking about volunteering for the Utah Dressage Society, please consider running for this or other open positions.  Rethinking Straightness An Essay on How I Used My UDS Educational Scholarship  Siân Griffiths On its surface, straightness does not seem like a difficult concept to understand. I learned to draw a straight line in grade school, and most of us have been riding our horses down the straight line of the rails for much of their elementary dressage schooling. Even the dressage-specific definition of straightness does not seem so complex. “A horse is said to be 'straight' when his forehand (shoulder) is in line with his hindquarters and he is using both hind legs equally,” says Horse and Rider  Magazine. Dressage Today ’s definition is much the same: “A horse is straight when his body is properly aligned from poll to tail. When he travels on a straight line, he should be straight along the length of his body.” Even the FEI’s definition does not add much in the way of illumination, stating “The horse is straight when its forehand is in line with its hindquarters, that is, when the longitudinal axis is in line with the straight or curved track it is following.” Like so much of dressage, the devil is in the details, and as my horse Larry and I have been in the process of stepping up to second level, a key part of our focus has been rethinking those definitions and learning new levels of straightness. This was the focus of the Trisha Kerwin-Bell clinic we attended in March thanks to the UDS Educational Scholarship. We had started working on re-negotiating the concept of straightness months earlier while training with Charell Garcia. Under her patient coaching, I had begun to realize that, while straightness might be related to how the hind legs track up in relation to the front, that was not how I felt it. Rather, when Larry became straight, it felt like his withers lifted so that he grew two inches taller. Straightness was a feeling–that of my horse being powerful and engaged. Trisha built on this foundation. As we began our ride, she asked me if Larry’s shoulders were in front of my legs. I have to admit, this question confused me. Where else could they be? Wasn’t it impossible for his shoulders not to be in front of my legs? I rode on, my mind racing to figure out how to answer, but all I could do was admit my confusion. “I don’t know how else to ask the question,” Trisha said, but she did know how to show  me what she meant.  She asked Larry and I to complete a series of lateral movements–shoulder in and half pass–that specifically focused on having me move his shoulders around. As we did each movement, she asked me where Larry’s chest was pointing and then whether that was where I wanted his chest pointing. If my answer was no, I made adjustments. I came to understand what she meant by having his shoulders in front of my thighs. For me, it was a feeling of aligning horse and rider between two legs and two reins–another concept that seems so simple but that has become deeper and more profound as our training has progressed. The lesson connected with the first very basic straightness work I had done with Charell years ago when I first purchased Larry, and he tended to pop out his shoulders in every corner or circle. She’d taught me then how to use my outside rein and outside thigh to support his shoulder so it could stay aligned. Though he was no longer jack-knifing his way around a corner, the aids for aligning his shoulders into straightness were the same.  By the middle of our time together, Trisha reminded me not to look at his shoulders to check for straightness. “You need to feel it,” she said, and sure enough, I found that I could. We began to work on this in canter and counter-canter. To the right, Larry went beautifully, but to the left, we immediately discovered a weakness. If Larry was straight when I asked for a left lead canter, he would pick up the right lead instead. Building strength in the right hind to improve our straightness has been a focus of ours ever since, and I believe we are making real progress. I have often heard it said the the training scale is one that riders circle through continually as they progress up the levels, and this experience really drove that concept home. Trisha’s clinic built on concepts and asked me to find a new level of straightness, one that I can carry forward and build on as we train.

Riders 18 and under participating in the clinic will receive a one-hour classroom session, a 45-minute lesson with Justin, auditing access to all other lessons, a day stall at Hilltop, breakfast and lunch. Auditors of all ages are welcome! Date June 1, 2024, 8:30AM-5:00PM Place Hilltop Dressage, 3735 Duke Lane, Heber City, UT 84032 Cost UDS members $150 Non-members $175 Auditors $25 Clinician Justin Giles’s riding career began while living abroad in France. After moving to Utah, he participated in the local eventing and hunter/jumper communities as a young rider before finding his passion for dressage as an adult. Under the mentorship of Margo Gogan and Cassie Benson, Justin’s education at Hilltop has provided him with a foundation in the principles of dressage that has changed the trajectory of his career. Currently, he’s producing his horse, Milano, to compete in the young horse championships and continuing to climb the levels of dressage. Justin’s motivation to teach comes from the desire to help riders of all backgrounds. Seeing his students succeed utilizing the principles of dressage energizes Justin’s passion for the sport. We are so lucky that Justin is a part of our Utah Dressage community and we are grateful for his dedication to helping build up dressage experiences for the youth in our sport!