Belinda Trussell's Anton, winner of the FEI Grand Prix Special.

Belinda Trussell’s Anton, winner of the FEI Grand Prix Special.

Para-Dressage riders joined the other competitors this week for their own Global Dressage Festival CPEDI 3*. By the end of the week, Canadians had accumulated several wins in both the CPEDI 3* and the AGDF 10 CDI W events. Dressage played a major role this week – in the Ride and Learn clinic, Friday evening’s Freestyle and Saturday evening’s “Prancing with the Stars” competition.

The week began with a very informative clinic on dressage basics by Katherine Bateson Chandler. Katherine very patiently and with a good eye for what the horses needed, worked individually with three hunters and gave the riders excellent practical simple exercises to work on that day and for practicing at home. The first horse was a “a big rectangle-he needs to be square.” Katherine showed the rider how tightening her stomach muscles would help stop the horse from pulling her. She stated that straight line work would not be useful for this particular type of horse and had horse and rider do several circling exercises, thinking about a gallop when cantering circles to get the feel of impulsion. When the horse roots, Katherine advised the rider to “set your hands like draw reins-don’t pull back, but don’t allow them to go forward.”

The second horse was behind the bit and stiff through the back. Katherine’s advice was not to sit too hard on him – if the horse is tight, you’ve got to be relaxed and soft. “Show him where to be, so he doesn’t avoid contact. Keep a little conversation in that contact.”

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