Dressage Letters March 2020

March 2020 ~ Dressage Letters ~ Page 3 California Dressage Society www.california-dressage.org CDS Central Office Paula Langan • manager/editor [email protected] P. O. Box 417 Carmel Valley, CA 93924 (831) 659-5696 • fax (831) 659-2383 Tue, Wed, 2-7pm • Thur, Fri, 1-5pm Dressage Letters: March 2020,Vol 26, Issue 3 Publishedmonthly by the California Dressage Society, . Periodicals #5940 at CarmelValley, CA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to POBox 417, CarmelValley, CA93924-0417 Printed byAPi-Marketing President Joan Williams (408) 512-2890 Vice President Pat Hart (714) 299-6507 Scholarship Committee Chair Nancy Szakacs (408) 476-4743 Treasurer Diana Muravez • (760) 728-6325 [email protected] Insurance Equine Insurance Donna Parker 800/321-5723 [email protected] Junior Rider Sara Mosqueda • (909) 203-9290 Mari Naten • (916) 798-5844 CONTENTS Articles CDS Adult Amateur Clinics............... pages 30-31 CDS Annual Meeting.......................... pages 1, 4-9 CDS JRYR Clinic............................... page 28 CDS JRYR Championships................ page 32 Quadrille.............................................. page 24 Sponsorship Opportunities................. page 27 Monthly Departments Activities Calendar ............................ page 25 Bulletin................................................ pages 18-19 Classifieds........................................... pages 34-35 Letters.................................................. pages 12-13 Membership Renewal Form .............. page 36 Monthly Clinics ................................. page 20 President’s Column............................. page 3 Show Calendar ................................... pages 22-23 USEF, USDF, FEI .............................. pages 14-15 President’s Column By Joan Williams We just had our 2020 CDSAnnual meeting at the Embassy Suites in Sacramento, the Hellenic Center and at Murieta Equestrian Center. The CDS Board meeting was on Friday. We have 19 committees that meet via conference calls and emails during the year. Each committee chair or representative gives the report for the past quarter, keeping the whole board up to date on what is being done or what is being proposed for the future. We are adding another committee of an Ad Hoc Marketing Campaign committee tasked with discussing creative ideas to boost membership. I will say this is a great board that works well together. Diverse ideas from committee members ensure that many viewpoints are considered when reaching a consensus. Nannette Tosh-Robb had a lovely presentation and handouts and has requested that CDS consider having year end awards for Western Dressage at our CDS only rated shows. The board is planning to look into considering all the aspects of this proposal before reaching a decision. There is a change to how the scholarships for the Club 100 kids will be distributed. We love supporting our Club 100’s. Last year we actually gave all the money that was budgeted before the year’s end. This year we are planning to divide the allotted scholarship money to be distributed during the two yearly scholarship dates to better include all the applicants. April 30th and October 1st are the two deadlines for applications to be considered. Our Quadrille committee has some exciting things planned for this year. With enthusiastic new members we are hoping to announce THREE CDS quadrille clinics for 2020! Saturday morning we had concurrent USDF judge’s musical freestyle training with Janet Foy and Terry Gallo and the Chapter Chair meeting and round table discussion. I had attended the Freestyle Session in Florida this past year and enjoyed it immensely. I learned so much and really liked the way Janet and Terry explained the information. During the round table discussions I was so impressed with all the creative ideas for events Chapters are hosting and planning to host. I will name just a few of the fun events! Besides hosting shows, supporting AA clinic and JR/YR participants, awards ceremonies, Holiday Socials, tack swap fundraisers, tack shop pizza party discount night, and ride a test clinics, there were some real standouts. Some members of the Santa Barbara Chapter are spearheading an effort to upgrade the Earl Warren Showgrounds. There was a fun Top Hat Trivia event where Grand Prix riders brought their old top hats and a photo of their younger selves. The game was to put a name of a rider to the tophat. The riders all shared fun stories of something that happened while wearing that tophat. The activity was touching and fun for all. Derek DiGrazia of Carmel Valley Chapter received the bid to design the cross country course for the Tokyo Olympics and shared a slide show. A huge congratulations to Derek! Saturday afternoon was the continuation of the Judges Freestyle Symposium with Terry Gallo and Janet Foy, with auditors joining the judges. Saturday night was the Evening Gala and Awards Ceremony with a Red Carpet “walk” jog or dance by Chapter. People dressed up for this fun filled event spearheaded by Michele Ng. Events with Michele are always sure to be filled with fun and adventure! The costumes and evening dresswear were GORGEOUS! I thought ALL the outfits and choreography were fabulous!! Sunday rounded out the weekend with a live Freestyle Demonstration that went “through the levels” Training level through Grand Prix. Anyone wanting to make a freestyle ride or upgrade their own, learned lots of pertinent ways to make sure the music is pleasing to the ear and enhances their horse’s performance. Music of one Genre with the correct BPM’s for their horse’s gaits; making sure movements start with the musical phrasing; and riding the musical dynamics; will help improve the performance. I am thrilled if you made it to this year’s annual meeting. I get to hear all the fun planning now for future events and if you have the opportunity, it will be worth it to schedule in next year’s CDS Annual Meeting!