East Bay Appointed Board Member, Jan Bauman and her lovely equine partner, Cobra, attended the CDS Adult Amateur Clinic held October 22 and 23rd at the Santa Rosa Equestrian Center. Jan was kind enough to submit these impressions and insights of her experiences at the clinic taught by the talented, Donna Richardson. Remember, Adult Amateurs are eligible to participate in the annual drawing for this clinic by volunteering at Chapter Events! Thank you, Jan, for this wonderful article and also for your volunteer service to the Chapter!
I had the good fortune to ride in the CDS Adult Amateur clinic at Santa Rosa Equestrian Center on the weekend of October 22nd. Originally organized by Bobby Keville, the AA clinic is a unique opportunity for amateur dressage riders from all over northern California to get together, share their experiences and learn from an expert dressage clinician. This year’s clinician was Donna Richardson, a successful dressage trainer, instructor and competitor who is also an emergency room physician. Donna specializes in the physical challenges of the “mid-life” rider – a relevant topic for most of this year’s clinic attendees.
The clinic participants arrived at SREC on Friday afternoon and were greeted by Tracy Underwood, owner of SREC, who had stalls prepared for our horses in the main barn/arena building. The stalls were large and bright and the arena was huge with EquiBase footing – that great cushy stuff that our dressage horses love. Tracy was there to answer questions, help us settle in and generally make everyone feel at home. It was a beautiful fall day, temperatures in the 70s and a light pleasant breeze. We were all looking forward to a great weekend.
Friday evening, Tracy hosted an informal dinner at her home where we all got to know each other and meet Donna. Donna talked about the need for core strength to be able to sit properly on your horse and stay with his movement. She demonstrated several exercises to develop core strength and recommended some books with exercises and explanations.
The clinic began Saturday morning and consisted of private half hour rides for each participant. There were horses and riders at every level and Donna was immediately able to find something important to work on with each rider. She gave clear instructions to help the rider understand and improve. We watched horse after horse respond to consistent use of “inside leg to outside rein.” It struck me that no matter what level at which we ride, in many ways we all struggle with the same challenges. I learned something from every rider I watched.
When it was my turn to ride, I was able to put some of Donna’s suggestions to the other riders to use right away to improve my own riding. My horse, Cobra, and I will be showing at 4th level next year, so Donna worked with us on pirouettes and tempe changes. Donna was able to quickly see where I needed to change my body or leg position, and I could feel Coby respond to my clearer and more correct aid. It was thrilling to feel a good pirouette and clean tempe changes.
Saturday night was a buffet dinner in the barn. Food and drink for the entire weekend was provided by the Shasta chapter of CDS. The ladies did a fabulous job – the food was great and plentiful. After a full day of riding, we spent the evening comparing notes and chatting about our rides and our horses.
On Sunday, we rode again and worked to confirm the lessons from Saturday. Everyone started their ride on Sunday better than they had been on Saturday, and we all finished with a feeling of accomplishment. Donna did an excellent job throughout the weekend of coaching and encouraging each of us and we rose to the challenge. I think we all went home on Sunday night enlightened and inspired.
I am very grateful to have been selected to participate in this year’s AA clinic. Thank you to CDS and the East Bay chapter for this wonderful experience.
