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News & Horses: "Andrea Landis"

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Largest EDAP Clinic to Date at LYDF Midwest 2016

The last weekend in June is the annual Lendon Youth Dressage Festival at Hampton Green in Michigan. The show started six years ago and from the first year, it included a two-day Emerging Dressage Athlete clinic. These clinics--sponsored by Dressage4Kids, a 501C3 non-profit organization, have grown exponentially around the country as the most successful youth dressage program in the United States--over 200 riders will participate in one or more EDAP clinics in 2016. Hampton Green Farm's Michigan clinic was one of the first, and from it some prominent national riders have emerged including NAJYRC medalists and USEF National Champions. At this year's EDAP clinic, there were 15 riders whose applications were accepted for participation. Selection is based on criteria stated on the Dressage4Kids website and includes a video, test submission and a written application. The clinic stretched over three days and Lendon Gray was assisted by HGF resident trainer Maria Lithander to accommodate all the riders. Trainer Andrea Landis spoke to the group about fitness and cross-training, and Dr. Jane Bistline spoke about risk management to avoid the kinds of injuries that she treats most often in riders. All EDAP riders then competed in the Youth Festival--a three part competition consisting of a written exam, a dressage test and an equitation test. This year's Judge, Marilyn Griffin, judged all levels from Walk/Trot to Prix St. George, along with Stephanie Beamer who presided over a demanding Equitation Division. Saturday evening's special speaker was international Grand Prix rider Devon Kane, an inspiring and impressive young professional who described her journey from youth rider to US Nations Cup Team member. Her experiences from the early years of grooming and being a student, to competing with the top riders of the world, were eye-opening and instructional to all who attended. Devon is a funny, approachable, accomplished young woman who easily drew the admiration of the younger aspiring riders. Young Rider Kerrigan Gluch spoke on Sunday afternoon, telling her recent experiences while training and competing in Europe on the USEF Euro Tour. The weekend concluded with an awards ceremony, with top placings for those who excelled in the highy competitive environment. Results show that the youth riders who have consistently been a part of LYDF Midwest are improving and competing now with scores that wiill rank them with the best in the country. Our thanks to all the volunteers and parents who assisted this weekend, for the generous spirit of our sponsors and for our fantastic youth riders, from the littlest (6) all the way up to the seasoned FEI competitors. Full results available on the LYDF Midwest page on Facebook.

Congrats to HGF's "TEAM 70" for 2015

The following riders and HGF-bred horses have achieved over 70% at their various levels in rated Dressage competitions in 2014. Many of these pairs are returning team members and we want to recognize their consistent progress. Congratulations to our Team 70 for their accomplishments--we look forward to their successes in 2015! TEAM 70 2015 Andrea Landis and Brioso HGF--70.86, First Level, Test 3 Betsy Bougie and Botero HGF--70.70, Training Level, Test 2 Maria Lithander and Cocota HGF--70.2, Training Level, Test 3 Heather Bender and Irisada HGF--72.8, Training Level Test 3 Cindy Ramirez-Smith and Decoroso HGF--72.875, Fourth Level Test 3 Nicholas Fyffe and Fiero HGF--73.2, FEI 6 Year Old Test Finale Daniel Martin Dockx and Vaquero HGF--71.00, Intermediate I

Back on Top! HGF-sponsored Rachel Chowanec and Embrujado XI are USEF Reserve National Champions for the Young Rider Division

It seems like only yesterday that a very shy 14 year-old arrived in Michigan from Connecticut to try out one of our horses. The little girl was Rachel Chowanec, a Lendon Gray student since she was 5 years old. The horse was Embrujado XI, an atypical PRE with behavioral issues that Lendon Gray couldn’t resist and had to own. All along, Gray had Rachel in mind for the imported gray gelding, and once again, she made the right call. Rachel took Embrujado (whom she quickly renamed “Mouse”) home with her to Connecticut, and the PRE with too much spook and too much bull-fighting instinct suddenly had pink wraps and ribbons in his long mane. It was the start of a transformation that has now taken this pair from nowhere to the National spotlight…twice! They first appeared in Gladstone in 2011 at the Junior Level, surprising many with their focused and technically accurate tests. That year they were Reserve National Champions for Junior Division. Rachel had clearly made a fundamental difference in Mouse’s life, but now we know they were only getting started. In the beginning of this year, Rachel and Mouse started along a rough road, with several small niggling injuries keeping them out of consistent competition. Their show record was sporadic, and fell short of a score to qualify for NAJYRCs. Over the summer, they attended Lendon Gray’s EDAP clinic in Maryland, as well as rode in her clinic at HGF in June. Rachel also schooled with Andrea Landis and Nicholas Fyffe over the summer with a number of her PRE projects. But their inability to show consistently this year kept them out of the top 12 for the USEF National Championships, although they were named as an alternate. Yet luck was on their side, and with only two weeks to go till the competition, Rachel received the official invitation to compete. They traveled to Kentucky not really feeling 100% prepared but very happy to be included. Again this year as in 2011, the harmony of their partnership along with the technical accuracy of their tests brought them straight up to the top of the ranking. They were up against the 2013 NAJYRC Gold Medalist and yet by the second day, the gap was closing. Scoring 65.474 in the Team Test, and 67.237 in the Individual, Rachel and Mouse took the USEF Reserve National Championships again as Young Riders. Rachel’s achievements with Embrujado represent the highest national recognition that a PRE has reached in the United States to date, and she says they have more in store. We can’t wait to see where it goes from here!

Another Outstanding Clinic with Nicholas Fyffe

(submitted by Betsy Bougie) Australian native and rising international dressage star, Nicholas Fyffe, returned to Hampton Green Farm this weekend to educate and inspire us. The clinic, hosted by Andrea Landis, was a great success, filling two days with riders from youth through professional. In addition to being a top professional, Nicholas is a generous, positive and thorough clinician. The riders and auditors often you heard the encouraging words: “You can do this”, “be really patient”, “I have 100% faith that you can do this” and even “I make mistakes”. Nicholas inspired us with his faith in us as riders and the horses we train. Hands-on approach makes a big impact. Nicholas rode many of the horses at the clinic so that he could understand what the rider was feeling and to inform his teaching. On many occasions he reassuringly said to the horse “you can do this”, as he worked through each area of resistance or tension calmly and with positive energy. Nicholas’ training philosophy is finding the easiest way to have the horse understand what he wants them to do. “I always want to think about how I can make my riding simpler. When a horse doesn’t understand me then I look at it from their perspective and think “how can I do something with this horse that they DO understand?” and it’s usually getting it done in a very simple way. For me, the less aids the better. The single aid is the simplest aid and it’s the easiest too for the horse to understand.” This positive and straight forward approach was well received by the attendees. Even when the ride “isn’t so pretty” the effect of Nicholas’ confident approach and keen eye gave riders of every level tools for an incredibly rewarding experience. I myself, count down the days between clinics with Nicholas. Having participated in two Fyffe clinics now, I’m much more confident in my ability to train my 4 y/o PRE Botero HGF. The clinic was filled with positive comments from riders and auditors. “He doesn’t make you feel like it’s not in your power to get better”, said professional rider and trainer, Val Noblet, who rode her 16 y/o Hanoverian “Wunderboy” on Saturday. She added, “He also very respectful and is really good at listening to the rider and likes to know how you feel about things covered in your ride. He gives you homework that you can feel positive about and instills in you a feeling that if you put in the work, you’re capable of getting something out of it.” Rider Bernadette Radke, who brought in her horse Set To Jet shared, “He gives you a REAL lesson as opposed to ignoring you, belittling you or just telling you what you’d like to hear; like “oh your horse is wonderful and you two make a lovely pair” which is what a lot of dressage riders unfortunately DO like to hear.” What did we learn? or relearn? Two fundamentals of dressage are relaxation and submission. Nicholas helped each rider find more of both. For some of the top riders the lesson was very technical. For one horse and rider he worked on getting more reactivity in the hind legs for the start of piaffe, which resulted in good activity in the half pass. For my younger horse it was about adjusting his neck position and providing firmer consequences for resistance to my left rein. For others it was about generating more energy and responsiveness to the leg aids. Nicholas stated, “My training is about the easiest way to have the horse understand what I want them to do...It’s not just about using these aids at these times, it’s about reading the horse and the situation every time and acting appropriately.” By the end of the clinic, each of us was sharper with our aids and corrections. Nicholas was extremely meticulous and challenged me to get out of my comfort zone. He was tough and respectful. He generously shared his ability to train different horses and different riders across all the levels while he delivered 100% focus and enthusiasm from the first ride to the last. That’s what you get with Nicholas Fyffe: incredible talent, patience and wisdom, plus positivity, presence and heart. Val summed it up best: “When you have someone come in with that much positive energy that positive energy gets passed through you and who can’t be inspired by that?” Thanks for inspiring us once again Nicholas and thank you to Andrea Landis for hosting and coordinating another wonderful clinic at Hampton Green Farm.

Training Blog by Andrea Landis

HGF is pleased to introduce Andrea Landis, our Working Student Instructor this past summer at HGF and new owner of Brioso HGF--3 year old bay gelding by Bolero CXLVIII out of Quintera. Andrea's life is very full: she is a mother of twin boys under 2, a part-time Dressage Instructor, and full-time Physicians Assistant from Ada, Michigan. She is a long-time student of Christine Traurig and has trained a number of her own young horses to FEI levels. During this summer with the working students, Andrea has become introduced to the PREs at Hampton Green and, like so many professionals who now own HGF horses, has found the breed to be anything but the stereotype that she imagined. Since so many of our clients are starting young horses, we thought Andrea's experiences and thoughts about training her own young PRE might be helpful. Andrea has agreed to put her training experiences down in the form of a blog which we will feature on our website. Her first entry is fresh off the printer and featured here. For more information about Andrea, you can find her on the HGForum on Facebook or call the office at HGF. It Was Love at First Sight Kim hired me last spring to instruct the HGF working students two days a week for six weeks. I was thrilled with the opportunity to be a part of such a reputable farm and to work with Lendon Gray, and the three lovely young ladies I was going to be teaching. I planned out my 6 weeks of teaching and was going to go on my merry way! Wrong… 8:00am first day on the job, there’s Brioso standing in his stall, my life was changed. A total string bean, it looked like both of his front legs came out of the same hole from his chest, they were that close together! All legs, with a big bony shoulder, long neck, well angled, yes, bony hips, and this tail that most would kill for. The first thing out of my mouth.… that doesn’t look like an “Andalusian”. Oops, maybe not the best thing to say at a PRE breeding farm. The image I had in my head and the stereotype of what most Americans think of when you talk about Iberian horses, was absolutely nothing like this stunning bright bay, leggy 3 year old standing in front of me. That day Jasmin Shaudt, wife of Martin Shaudt from Germany, and fellow PRE lover, was there with her mom to look at young horses. Jasmine competed two Hampton Green bred 5 years olds last year with amazing scores, and was looking to add a few more Spanish horses to their farm. Brioso was the first out to be shown. Kim asked me to lunge him a little for Jasmin, in a halter. Sure… an unbroken 3 year old who has just brought in from being out in the pasture all winter. I was floored to see him trot and canter around, with big reaching, balanced gaits, perfect as you please. I knew he had been lunged a bit the summer before, but this young guy was a total pro! I jokingly said to Kim, that I may come in the night to steal him!! But in reality Brioso stole my heart, and changed to course of my riding career. So over the next 6 weeks I managed to sell my current horse, and with the help of Kim, was able to work out an agreement to purchase Brioso. In the past few months we have gone from learning voice commands on the lunge line, to breaking under saddle, and now Brioso and I are cruising around the indoor arena and out in the open fields. His canter is so huge, it literally takes 6 strides to get down the long side. He is brave and so eager to learn. He is the horse that talks to me every time I walk down the barn isle, gallops up to me whinnying when I get him from the field. I hope to continue writing about our journey, and showing pictures and short video clips of our training along the way. My dream has always been to buy a young horse and train him up through the levels of dressage, and someday if all the stars align, compete at the Grand Prix level. I think I have found a four legged partner that seems to be up for the challenge! So with the help of Kim Boyer, Christine Traurig and Lendon Gray, hopefully you will see Brioso and I in the FEI ring… in oh maybe 4 or 5 years :) One of the most valuable training tips I can offer thus far is: Train voice commands on the lunge line. Start this as soon as you start lunging and repeat before every ride for the first few months the horse is under saddle. Simple noises and words that you repeat every time you ask for a change of gait (walk, trot, canter, clucks, kissing, whoa.) repeat the process until the horse gets it, with lots of praises when they respond. Not only is lunging valuable to help the horse learn overall obedience, a steady rhythm, and contact with the bit, but also how to balance in transitions without the weight of the rider. This will make your job as the trainer much easier during the first several rides. Some horses do not instinctively know that when you squeeze or kick with your legs it means to go. As was pointed out to me by Brioso the first time I rode him under saddle (while under the watchful eye of Lendon Gray…..!) I was squeezing and kicking (as nicely as I could because this was my new baby) but he had no idea what language I was speaking. I could barely go past the walk because he was so confused with all my efforts. After spending some more time on the lunge line training voice commands, he could make the correlation between the voice and me using my legs (along with a helpful person on the ground with a lunge whip). Now with the voice commands I can use minimal leg aids, and just a kiss he picks up the canter, cluck and he trots. He does the transitions easily and with confidence under saddle. No loss of balance of rushing into the canter! Over the next several months I hope to write about our training experiences. Christine Traurig is coming at the end of September to help me, so I am sure there will be lots of things to share! Read in PDF format

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