Imperial Dressage LLC

24/09/2021

I don’t know who made this meme, but sorry to all my students. ❤️

06/07/2021

i love this one!

To feel more stable on your horse, imagine you are standing waist-deep in the ocean as you steady your core and maintain flexibility in your joints. Find your own balance so your horse’s movements, like the waves that tumble in and roll back out, do not knock you over. — Hilary Moore Hebert

Illustration by Sandy Rabinowitz

14/06/2021

I have openings for training and lessons of all levels, from intro to FEI, in Wellington, FL and surrounding areas. Willing to travel. I am a USDF Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medalist and have worked with several top trainers such as Scott Hassler, Lendon Gray, Chris Hickey, Debbie McDonald, Adrienne Lyle, Mica Mabragana, Liz Austin and many more.

More about me at imperialdressage.com. Competitive pricing and flexible schedule. PM for more information.

17/02/2021

Florida season is already half way through! I will be heading back to Pure Gold Stables at the end of March. I have limited training spots available. Pure Gold Stables offers excellent care, spacious stalls, plenty of turnout, huge outdoor arena, heated indoor with large fans, a training track, trails, and some small cross country jumps for excellent cross training! My training packages offer a well-rounded, classical approach.

For more information about me check out imperialdressage.com

For more information about Pure Gold Stables checkout puregoldstables.com

Please contact me for more information on availability! Looking forward to getting back to Ohio!

23/11/2020

This is from my D4K e-mail. That I thought I would share because it really resonates with me!

Lendon's Tips

I often wonder how much we think about exactly what we are doing with our horses. Are we doing things out of habit? Because it worked for a previous horse or previous owner? Or maybe because we saw someone we admire do it? So here are a few thoughts for you.

Why are you feeding the hay you are feeding - or the grain - or the supplements?
Why is your horse shod and not barefoot (or barefoot and not shod)?
Why do you use the bit you are using? And the bridle?
Why are you doing various exercises with your horse - do they truly help?
Why are you always leading from the left? And mounting?
Why are you working with the trainer that you have?

I don't mean in any way that what you are doing may be wrong. But have you truly thought about it? Have you done research? Have you had open conversations with your trainer, your vet, your farrier, your peers? Do you understand the reasoning behind doing something in a particular way?

You and your horse are growing, changing, there is new research and every horse and rider are different. Just because someone else does something one way does not mean that it is necessarily best for you and your horse.

04/08/2020

https://www.pegasusfarm.org/74

I will be doing a Ride-A-Test clinic at Pegasus Farms on August 29th! Please come out and participate and help out a wonderful program! Click the link for more details. The following day will be a schooling show with judge Barbara L. Soukup.

Get your entries in! 🐎

If you are having difficulty downloading these files, please contact Chryse Phister at [email protected] or you may call her at (330) 935-2300, ext.107 or her Read More...

24/07/2020

Carl Hester talks about self-carriage:
“Self-carriage is really easy to see. It’s that tension into the hand that we were just talking about with Valegro, that really tells it – it’s the first place you see it through the whole of the top line of the horse. The best thing you can do for self-carriage is the give and re-take of the reins. It is amazing how you forget to do that when you ride on your own. That constant giving the hand, taking, giving, taking, making sure that the outline is stable, the mouth is soft.”
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2018/11/balance-self-carriage-and-the-importance-of-rider-position/

07/07/2020

USDF gold medalist Dennis Callin explains how to keep an elastic feel on the outside rein.

09/06/2020

Five-time Olympian Kyra Kyrklund shares her dressage training secrets at a Kentucky symposium.

17/05/2020

To improve your horse’s balance, especially in corners...

"Imagine a scale under each of your horse’s feet. Help him put equal weight into each footstep." —Lauren Sammis

🎨 Illustration by Sandy Rabinowitz

Have a "Solutions" idea? Email it to [email protected]

10/05/2020

To maintain a correct upper body position in the corners…

Imagine you are balancing on an exercise ball. If you lean your torso into a turn, your seat bones will push the ball (horse) in the opposite direction. To help the horse balance, keep your spine straight and use your shoulders to turn. Your seat bones will follow. Try it on a ball, it works! —Jane Kelly

🎨 Illustration by Sandy Rabinowitz

Have a Solutions idea? Send it to us at [email protected]!

07/05/2020

02/05/2020

Bluetooth headsets for my Ceecoaches came in the mail today! I think everyone will be super happy with these!😍

20/04/2020

To feel the half halt ...

"Imagine you are a sword fighter engaged in battle, seeking to gain advantage against your opponent. Shifting your weight to your back leg for a split second as you maintain core stability allows you to rebalance yourself so you’re able to step forward with impulsion." —Jane Hannigan

🎨 Illustration by Sandy Rabinowitz

16/04/2020

Woo hoo! 😍

03/04/2020

👏

Love Carl Hester?

Read the article in which this quote originally appeared! ⬇️
https://dressagetoday.com/theory/an-inside-look-at-carl-hesters-training-system

31/03/2020

I am super excited to announce that I can accept haul-in lessons at Pure Gold Stables in Salem, Ohio! For more info on the stables check out puregoldstables.com I will be giving a discount to those who sign up by April 15th. Obviously, lessons will be given after the Covid-19 lockdown. Let’s jumpstart your training for when shows are back! I recently returned home from Wellington, FL where I lessoned with Chris Hickey and Scott Hassler. I have trained with several other top trainers such as Debbie Mcdonald, Adrienne Lyle, Liz Austin, Lendon Gray and several more. I am a USDF Bronze, Silver, and Gold medalist as well as a USDF certified instructor. For more info about me, check out imperialdressage.com PM to sign up!

27/03/2020

!!!

29/02/2020

Good advice for everyone!

Karen Rohlf describes 6 steps to becoming an excellent student. You have to do more than just show up to your riding lessons. Students who make the most progress know how to get the most from their lessons. Whether you are taking dressage lessons or lessons of any discipline you will benefit.

09/02/2020

Most dressage riders know the Pyramid of Training based on the German Scale that outlines the training progression of the horse. It outlines the basic areas that create the foundation for the training of the dressage horse. The training progression of the rider is often a bit of a mystery however. L...

28/01/2020

He's the super-groom who is vital to our team; keeping the horses healthy, happy and ready to perform on the public stage. But this isn't all he and our wonderful grooms do, as today, Freestyle and Alan enjoyed a quiet hack together out in the countryside, so she could relax following her wonderful performance at Jumping Amsterdam

It was interesting that we received a message after the show to say that we must wrap her up in cotton wool ahead of the summer. But as Carl candidly replied, it's the opposite that may potentially get her to Tokyo. We hack, we turn out, we groom, we play and we speak to them in our silly voices sometimes. They are horses, they will live like horses. This is what brings in our success x

25/01/2020

https://www.usdf.org/press/news/view-news.asp?news=942

Enzo and I are super excited and honored to be a part of this forum. If you are in town, please come out and watch! 🎉🥰

Horse and Rider Combinations Announced for 2020 USDF Sport Horse Prospect Development Forum

21/01/2020

Having a great time attending this yesterday and today. Super instruction, and lots of tips. 🤓

16/01/2020

🤣🤣 Truth! 😅

13/01/2020

Had a great time at this event. Looking forward to the next. It is so good to come together and share ideas, stories, and philosophies. Great way to expand your teaching skills. Looking forward to the next session!

Last night's inaugural Training4Teaching program was a huge success. Thanks to the generosity of Tuny Page and Stillpoint Farm and Lauren Chumley, sixty- eight participants listened to Ali Brock and Lendon talking about the basics of teaching. It was wonderful to see not only young new teachers or teachers-to-be, but some of our most successful professionals. The next session will be February 2.

24/12/2019

Following her most recent results at the 2019 CDI Frankfurt, Ingrid Klimke and Franziskus have been submitted to the German A-Team.

28/11/2019

Horses fed, turned out, stalls cleaned, bedding added, water buckets/troughs filled, hay thrown. Be sure to thank your barn staff this holiday season! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

24/11/2019

Good visual

To help you maintain a low hand and closed elbow …

"Imagine you are taking your toddler on her first ride, and she is sitting on your lap in the saddle. Through all of your movements and transitions, those low-together hands and tucked-in elbows act like a seatbelt for your little one to enjoy her first ride safely."
—Bonnie Walker

🎨 Illustration by Sandy Rabinowitz

24/11/2019

Check out the small updates on the website. Mainly the cute picture of Enzo and his description. :)

imperialdressage.com

19/11/2019

Next time I am teaching in Wakeman, Ohio is December 1st.

Contact me if you would like a riding spot! 🐎🐎

24/10/2019

I will be teaching in Wakeman, Ohio on a fairly regular basis. First date that is coming up is Wednesday Oct. 30th. Starting at 9AM. Open to all levels of horses/riders. Trailer-ins are welcome with negative coggins. Overnight/day stalls available. Please PM if you are interested in riding! 🎉

14/10/2019

Most horses pass from one human to another - some horsemen and women are patient and forgiving, others are rigorous and demanding, others are cruel, others are ignorant.

Horses have to learn how to, at the minimum, walk, trot, canter, gallop, go on trails and maybe jump, to be treated by the vet, all with sense and good manners.

Talented Thoroughbreds must learn how to win races, and if they can't do that, they must learn how to negotiate courses and jump over strange obstacles without touching them, or do complicated dance
like movements or control cattle or accommodate severely handicapped children and adults in therapy work.

Many horses learn all of these things in the course of a single lifetime. Besides this, they learn to understand and fit into the successive social systems of other horses they meet along the way.

A horse's life is rather like twenty years in foster care, or in and out of prison, while at the same time changing schools over and over and discovering that not only do the other students already have their own social groups, but that what you learned at the old school hasn't much application at the new one.

We do not require as much of any other species, including humans.

That horses frequently excel, that they exceed the expectations of their owners and trainers in such circumstances, is as much a testament to their intelligence and adaptability as to their relationship skills or their natural generosity or their inborn nature.

That they sometimes manifest the same symptoms as abandoned orphans - distress, strange behaviors, anger, fear - is less surprising than that they usually don't.

No one expects a child, or even a dog to develop its intellectual capacities living in a box 23 hours a day and then doing controlled exercises the remaining one.

Mammal minds develop through social interaction and stimulation.

A horse that seems "stupid", "slow", "stubborn", etc. might just have not gotten the chance to learn!

Take care of your horses and treasure them.

Written by Jane Smiley

06/10/2019

Jen and Lily had a great NODA show yesterday. Lily’s been a challenge as she has come from the western/english pleasure world. When squeezing with your leg means to slow down and you have to “fluff” your leg for forward energy is Lily’s vocabulary. It has been fun teaching both of them the ways of dressage! Jen scored a 66.8% this weekend up from her first show at a 61! Very hard working pair. 💪

06/10/2019

29/09/2019

Silent auction 'Dressage4Kids Annual Online Benefit Auction' hosted online at 32auctions.

24/09/2019

Princeton enjoying his MagnaWave treatment. This is the first time he finally let us use the higher setting on around his SI joint. Getting some good releases! Thank you Waves Of Healing LLC

17/09/2019

The 5 Evasions horses use to avoid flexing the haunches

I recently read on a website of the University of Münster Germany on free energy and chemical potential (winter semester 2013/14) that “a multi particle system seeks a state of minimal energy AND maximal disorder”. Maybe that explains why horses always look for the easiest, most “energy efficient” way to execute whatever it is we are asking them to do. This usually involves reducing the amount of weight the hind legs have to carry through some form of evasion. Otto von Monteton summed the same observation up in his 1877 book “Über die Reitkunst” by stating bluntly: “everything that is alive is lazy”. Laziness is a form of intelligence, too. All great inventions of mankind were driven by laziness: How can I get this job done faster, with less energy? That’s how the wheel and all of our machines were invented.

To the rider it may sometimes seem that the horse can come up with an unlimited number of evasions that enable him to protect his hind legs. But from a systematic point of view there are only FIVE different ways in which the horse can avoid flexing his haunches and supporting the weight with his hind legs:

1. Escaping with his shoulders to the left or right (getting crooked)
2. Escaping with his hind legs to the left or right (getting crooked)
3. Running away
4. Sucking back or stopping
5. Lowering the head


The first two evasions are aspects of the horse’s crookedness. The shoulders always tend to escape towards the stiffer (naturally convex) side, which removes weight from the hind leg on the hollow(naturally concave) side and transfers it to the shoulder of the stiffer side. The horse will then lean onto the rein of that side.

The hind legs always tend to escape towards the hollow (naturally concave) side, which removes weight from the hind leg on the hollow side as well and transfers it to the shoulder of the stiffer (naturally convex) side. So, the end result is the same, but the specific path is different.

If the horse can’t unload the hind leg of the hollow side by getting crooked, he may try to push the body mass forward and away from the hind legs. That’s something you find especially in horses with strong and relatively straight hind legs. It transfers the weight from the hind legs to both front legs and often leads to an excessively heavy rein contact on both reins. Some horses invert, others bear down on the bit, depending on the conformation of the neck and back.

If getting crooked and pushing through the rider’s seat doesn’t work, the horse can suck back and refuse to go forward. In extreme cases, he can stop and go backwards. This is something you encounter in very stocky horses with relatively big bodies, short legs, and short, massive necks that are set on low. Horses with weak backs also sometimes tend to slow down or evade backwards.

If the rider manages to prevent all these evasions, some horses lower the neck and pull the reins out of the riders hands. Horses with slender, flexible necks may curl up and get behind the vertical. In this case, the horse uses the leverage and weight of his neck to protect his hind legs. The horse’s neck has a certain weight. The bigger it is, the heavier it is. Since it sticks out in front of the support base, it also acts as a lever on the rest of the body. The longer the neck, the more significant is the leverage effect. The more the horse stretches his neck forward and down, the more weight is taken off the hind legs and transferred to the front legs. Horses use this intuitively when the work starts to get challenging for the hind legs. In a positive sense, it can lead to a beneficial forward-downward stretch after the rider has successfully flexed the hind legs with the body mass. In a negative sense, the horse can avoid carrying the weight with his hind legs by rooting and pulling the reins out of the rider’s hands or curling up and biting his chest.

Some horses systematically try all options out before they use their hind legs properly. Some horses combine more than one option. For example, a horse may get crooked and suck back at the same time. Another horse may lower the neck and run backwards. Some horses yank the reins from the rider’s hands and run away. And there are a few horses who buck out of anger or frustration when all else fails and the rider was able to put a stop to all five of these evasions.

I want to emphasize again that these evasions are not a lack of cooperation or a sign of a bad disposition. I see them more as a manifestation of the natural laws that lead all systems to conserve energy. It makes sense from a point of view of self preservation. Unfortunately, it can complicate our lives as riders, since it leads to an incorrect ex*****on of the dressage movements, and it develops the wrong set up muscles, if we allow it.

- Thomas Ritter

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15/09/2019

To help your horse stay round and forward throughout half halts...

Imagine a swirling ball of energy going through him like an electrical circuit. The circuit begins with the rider's driving aids (1) that create an impulse to the horse's brain (2), which produces activity in the hind legs (3) that sends the current through the bodies of horse and rider to the horse's mouth (4). The horse's understanding (back to the brain) of the contact causes the energy to remain within the horse, flowing back to the hind legs, which now always act at the will of the rider's driving aids. —Robert Dover

(Illustration by Sandy Rabinowitz)

13/09/2019

Make sure to check out the website at imperialdressage.com

Some exciting news to come this weekend!

Alex Gainer is a USDF rider currently hoping to obtain a USDF Gold Medal with her Off-The-Track Thoroughbred.