Contributors

Dressage


Dressage (a French term meaning "training") is a path and destination of competitive horse training, with competitions held at all levels from amateur to the Olympics. Its fundamental purpose is to develop, through standardized progressive training methods, a horse's natural athletic ability and willingness to perform, thereby maximizing its potential as a riding horse. At the peak of a dressage horse's gymnastic development, it can smoothly respond to a skilled rider's minimal aids by performing the requested movement while remaining relaxed and appearing effortless. Dressage is occasionally referred to as "Horse Ballet." Although the discipline has its roots in classical Greek horsemanship, mainly through the influence of Xenophon, dressage was first recognized as an important equestrian pursuit during the Renaissance in Western Europe. The great European riding masters of that period developed a sequential training system that has changed little since then and classical dressage is still considered the basis of trained modern dressage.

Early European aristocrats displayed their horses' training in equestrian pageants, but in modern dressage competition, successful training at the various levels is demonstrated through the performance of "tests," or prescribed series of movements within a standard arena. Judges evaluate each movement on the basis of an objective standard appropriate to the level of the test and assign each movement a score from zero to ten - zero being "not executed" and ten being "excellent." A score of nine (or "very good") is considered a particularly high mark, while a competitor achieving all sixes (or 60% overall) should be considering moving on to the next level.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Kika's Show




Kika's Art work will be on display until the end of the week in Cambell Hall, NY.


Congratulations for a fabulous presentation!


If you are nearby you absolutly must stop in!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Bye to Florida Sun!















Bye Bye Gille ! We will see you soon!



Fabulous Florida

Here we are quickly approaching another months end. So quickly the time passes when you are doing what you love. We are missing our colleagues. Gille and Donna back in Connecticut, Karen took a trip up to PA and will not be back for a couple of weeks, and Ingrid is back in Wisconsin :( We are happy to have Ruudi stay with us for a couple of extra weeks until the Wisconsin winter finally gives up.
Looking forward to Zee getting out of Q tine tomorrow! and finally coming HOME! She has been such a good girl in her temporary home and is quickly attracting a fan club. Thank you to Rich Favor for doing such a great job with the q tine.
Clinics are starting to be scheduled for Milford, CT and we are working on dates for Aiken, South Carolina and Wisconsin, so if you have interest in participating or scheduling something please call or send us an email so that we can create a schedule that accommodates everyone.
We are also excited about a symposium we are putting organising with Mr Schumacher together with Bill Warren and Bill McMullin in MA in September, so stay tuned for more info about this.
Florida weather has been absolutely fabulous and the riding could not be better.
PW finally back under saddle has been looking beautiful with Rikke last two weeks and finally I sat on her myself over the weekend. I am very very excited to have her back in work, and she is so happy to have all the attention of a big girl again.
Glorious is a blast to train and 4 years old so brave and honest. Week by week he is really improving and such a pleasure to work with.
We have show plans for the weekend, Leo and Noah both going to Jim Brandon for a field trip saturday. Really looking forward to this as both of them are going great!
Good luck to Ariel for her year end exams!!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Congratulations!









Barbara Stern is the new owner of a lovely new 7 year old dutch mare! Zonnestraal arrived last week to quarentine in Wellington, FL. We cannot wait to get her home to the comfort of our stable. The quarentine is great! They do a fantastic job managing the horses coming in and out and all of the breeding and vet exams, however I think we will all be happy when she is home! Good luck Barbara and have fun, she is so beautiful!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Congratulations!

Great Show at White Fences over the weekend! Ariel did great in her Prix St Georges with Evita winning with 65% Beautiful extensions and half passes, very good work! Glorious was a star and won the young horse division with his first ever outing and recieved a 7.96 . Thank you Rikke for doing such a beautiful job! Roxanne was wonderful and recieved a 67% in her 2 nd level test and high point for 2 nd level. Roxanne was an absolute dream to show. Her wonderful willing attitude and fantastic confidence are traits not often found all in the same horse, and she is beautiful! What a pleasure to have the opportunity to train her! Noah..............well Noah did not want to play this weekend! So he was not getting his usually deserved high marks for participation! Noah was 4 th with 62 % in his 4 th level, and he did leave us a bit of room for improvement! Next time we will be on top again!

Monday, March 14, 2011

March in Florida

So last weekend was fantastic!! Watching the horses in the Masters was so wonderful, congratulations to everyone! Steffen and Ravel look better then ever. So nice to see the harmony and trust they have built together.
Everyone that had a hand in putting the show together deserves a big hand and THANK YOU! The arena looked fabulous , they created an atmosphere that is necessary for top shows such in a place that was not built for such a show. GREAT JOB!
The Challenge of the Americas was also a blast! If you have not come to the breast cancer benefit be sure to put it on your schedule for next year. The rides were great, food was great and with the whole dressage community showing up the company was super.
At Heartwood we are all doing well. We have a new working student on board Heather has joined us and we are enjoying her positive energy and helping hand. The horses are all improving in leaps and bounds. Noah and Roxanne are entered at the White Fences show again at the end of the month. Glorious is doing super and we hope to get him into the 4 year old qualifyer at Equestrian Estates at the end of March. And PW is starting back to work........finally. She is happy for the attention and looks lovely on the lunge line, so we hope to get back on her this week.
Florida weather is picture perfect! Time to come visit!!!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Carousel Classroom

Here is the first edition of Carousel Classroom!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh-oq6bZv5w


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