By Logan and Lexie Halliwell
In February the Pacific Equestrian Center hosted a clinic for junior and young riders with Willy Arts.
Eleven riders from Northern Chapters of the CDS had the opportunity to each ride in two lessons with Mr Willy Arts. The clinic series began with a seminar on conformation and movement of the horse. Mari Naten generously let her KWPN horse Colido be evaluated for his beautiful movements and desirable qualities.
The riders’ lessons focused on their own level from Training to 4th level and were also able to audit all of the other sessions. Themes linked back to the purity, correctness and quality of the gaits from the introductory seminar. It was fun to ride, watch, and see improvements in the horses and riders in working on their given exercises. One horse became more free in the shoulders by lengthening the reins and asking the rider to think about riding the horse from behind the saddle. The horse would naturally want to come round with a more swinging step by being ridden more forward. We were also instructed to use turn on the forehand as an exercise for obedience and suppleness. Another talented horse and rider increased the beauty of their collection by slowing the horse down. There was so much to learn and continue to practice with our horses
The riders would like to collectively thank their own CDS Chapters for providing this wonderful learning opportunity, Mari Naten for hosting, and give special thanks to Mr Willy Arts for his time and tuition. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
