We even had an attendee drive down from Michigan for the event! It was a lovely fall day, perfect for comfortably settling into the arena to hear Paul’s opening lecture on equine biomechanics, balance under the rider, and how basic dressage principles can assist riders and horses of various disciplines. He also addressed many questions from the audience about common misunderstandings of dressage foundations, the role of stretching, and the early history and techniques of classical dressage riding.

We deliberately chose not to showcase any typical dressage breeds such warmblood horses or pure Iberian horses during the afternoon – showing instead several non-traditional horses that are currently in training with us. Rose presented a 15 year old 1st/2nd level Belgian/Quarter Horse cross mare, a 7 year old 2nd level Arabian/Andalusian gelding, and a nine year old 4th level BLM Mustang. Each horse had quite different conformation from the others. Rose rode a repertoire of exercises and described each horse’s history, training challenges and progress. Paul suggested specific adjustments to the work and future goals. Thank you so much to our owners who let us show their horses and to Jessica Gadbois for the photography. As usual, it was an entertaining and interactive afternoon. We are looking forward to our October topic  – “The Young Horse.”