CDS Dressage Letters Dec 2020

December 2020 ~ Dressage Letters ~ Page 4 Adult Amateur Clinic (North) with Kathleen Raine – Amazing Educational Weekend! Linda O’Carroll Memorial Adult Amateur Clinic presented by Adequan member and barn mate Amber to get to represent our chapter. A week and a half before the clinic it looked like there was a spot for me, but it was a mix-up and I didn’t have a spot after all. That’s why on Friday the day before the clinic when I was offered a spot I was a little cautious to get excited. Fortunately I hadn’t made any plans and was available for the last minute trip from the bay area out to the Sacramento area for the clinic. Bogie and I made the trip up on Saturday morning and once I arrived I finally let myself get excited that I did get a spot. I was able to watch some of the rides Saturday afternoon before our ride at the end of the day. Kathleen was a positive and supportive teacher for all riders regardless of level. I wanted to work on roundness and suppleness and her tip to think about renvers in the trot work really helped me keep Bogie’s shoulders in and haunches pushing under him without overbending inside. Her tip to do quarter pirouettes in the walk instead of the full half also helped us improve the accuracy of our turn on the haunches. We also improved our walk canter transitions with her guidance to really activate his outside hind leg for the transition.  Thank you so much to CDS for running the AA clinic program, the SFP chapter for selecting me as an alternate and helping me get a last minute spot, and Michele Vaughn for hosting at her beautiful facility Starr Vaughn. And especially thanks to Kathleen for the excellent weekend of instruction. Michele Dodge Valley Oaks Chapter I wanted to say a huge Thank You to CDS, Kathleen Raine, and Michele Vaughn for the Northern Region Adult Amateur Clinic this past weekend! And of course, a thank you to my Pony-Pony, for being so Pony-tude willing.  I was not an official rider, but I got on the wait list, and got a last minute ride slot, yay!  Kathleen put so much energy into each and every ride - and every single horse and rider improved over the weekend.  She had so many good exercises for getting a horse more engaged, more through, more supple.  And she helped each of us with our personal goals, running through some test movements or some specific movements we wanted help with.    One of her favorite trot warm up exercises was a 10 meter trot circle in the corner, then leg yield all the way across the arena - it got the horses supple and engaged and connected - and, after all, we can never have too much suppleness, engagement, and throughness, right?   One of my personal favorite nuggets for Pony and I - we need to be slower in front, quicker behind - I will be working on that concept for the next - forever! There were so many good exercises for everyone from the green horse to the FEI horse. I was really pleased that the clinic was held at Starr Vaughn - as always, the footing is perfect, the facility is amazing, and Michele was a gracious host. Thank you also to Adequan for sponsoring this important program - Adult Amateurs are the past, present, and future of dressage, and it is wonderful to see programs like this supporting this important core membership of our sport. Barbara Fogarty Shasta Chapter Thank you CDS and Shasta Chapter for giving me this extraordinary gift of training with Kathleen Raine. Kathleen is an incredible clinician who can teach any rider at any level. She focused on how to improve the quality of my horse Charleston’s gait and to help him to use his body properly. By the end of each session my horse was light in the hand and lifting into my seat. I came away with a better understanding of how to keep my horse engaged and how to provide him with variety in my training so he wouldn’t anticipate movements and try to take over. Also, I would like to thank Michele Vaughn at Starr Vaughn Equestrian for providing her beautiful facility for our use. Christine Hendricks Foothills Chapter Thank you, Thank you, Thank you CDS and the Foothills Chapter for the great opportunity to clinic with Kathleen Raine! I had the privilege to clinic with Kathleen about 20 years or so ago, with a different horse, of course, and was very excited to have my name pulled for the 2020 CDS AA Clinic. Friday evening was a meet and greet dinner with Kathleen. Keeping our social distance we introduced ourselves, gave a brief description of our mounts and what we hoped to accomplish during the clinic. Saturday was the first day of our mounted lessons. After a brief reminder of our abilities and goals we proceeded to continue our warm up under Kathleen’s watchful eye. Kathleen was quick to assess our strengths and weaknesses and proceeded from there. Kathleen kept us very busy with brief breaks and by the end of my session I could feel a big improvement in our work. Sunday was just as fulfilling with additional progression of the goals we had hoped to accomplish, plus more! I also want to thank Michelle Vaughn the use of her lovely Starr Vaughn Equestrian Center and taking such good care of our horses during the days we were there. Shannon Lafaille Valley Oaks Chapter The incredible weekend at the CDS AA clinic included gorgeous horses, amazing lessons, fellow supportive dressage riders, and a beautiful facility. This was my first time attending a big multi-day clinic and it was fantastic. I had so much fun getting to know other riders, watching incredible lessons, and riding. I truly thought Kathleen Raine was phenomenal. I was a bit nervous going in since I’m relatively new to dressage (around 3 years). I was just getting ready to move up to 2nd level. She was kind, encouraging, and still pushed me to do better. With her help we got my horse to really use his back and hind legs. I felt so good, like an actual dressage rider. I learned