Take Contact! Inland Communities Chapter of the California Dressage Society. 1 st Quarter/Jan-Feb-Mar 2009 ICCcds.org

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1 Take Contact! Inland Communities Chapter of the California Dressage Society 1 st Quarter/Jan-Feb-Mar 2009 ICCcds.org Chair Message: I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. I am excited to report that the Krisi Harrison- Naness clinic was a total success. The horses and riders learned so much and it was also very informative to the auditors. Krisi is such a great clinician and worked incredibly well with the horses and riders. It was a great day. The membership is always requesting that ICC offers these kinds of clinics and we plan to meet those requests. I do hope to see an increase in participation from our members. I hope you all had a happy and safe holiday season and I look forward to an exciting New Year with ICC! -Lucia Rapalyea 2009 Board of Directors Elected The ICC annual election was held during the month of December. Although the participation from the membership was very low, the candidates were approved as written. The following members have been elected as your 2009 ICC Board of Directors: Chapter Chair: Treasurer: Show Chair: Secretary: Volunteer Coordinator: Members-At-Large: Junior Liaison: Lucia Rapalyea Kathy Pavlich Meg Hammond Cindy Taylor Ruth Corrao-Harris Sheila McKee, Kathy Young, & Lori Johnstone Delaney Seeburger

2 ICC MINUTES November 12, Inland Communities Chapter of CDS Minutes Submitted by Cindy Taylor, Secretary Call to order: 6:47 p.m. In Attendance: Lucia Rapalyea, Kathy Pavlich, Kathy Young, Meg Hammond, Ruth Corrao-Harris, Cindy Taylor, and member Lori Johnstone. Approval of the October minutes: Kathy Young moved to approve, Meg Hammond 2 nd, all were in favor. Treasurer s Report: The October show netted $ Show Chair Report/Volunteer Coordinator: The schooling show held at Sundance Ranch on October 26, 2008 went well. Meg will contact Pepper Glen Farm in Norco to see if they would be willing to hold an ICC show at their facility on June 7 th or 14 th of next year. Meg will also contact CDS to change the date of our previously scheduled show from July 12, 2009 to June 7 th or 14 th of Newsletter/Website: Cindy discussed the possibility of either discontinuing the newsletter or going to a quarterly publication due to lack of time. It was discussed that the chapter chair would send out a monthly Chair Message to the membership to stay in contact and continue reaching out to the membership. Cindy will contact Melanie (webmaster) to set up bulk capabilities after the first of the year. Old Business: Krisi Clinic: At this time we have less than the required number of riders (12) so a drawing was not necessary as all names have been accepted as riders for the clinic. Kathy Young will bring fruit, Ruth will bring coffee and Kathy Pavlich will supply snacks. Lunch will be ordered from Stater Bros. and a small fee will be charged to those requesting lunch. Kathy P. and Lucia will organize ride times and Cindy will riders their times. New Business: Election: The ballots for the 2009 Board of Directors for ICC will be sent out by Ruth & Meg. A Nominating Committee of three ICC members (Sue Owens, Kimberlee Branch, and Kris Schlatter) has been selected to receive and verify the counting of ballots. The next meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. at Macaroni Grill located at W. Lugonia Ave in Redlands. Members are welcome to attend. Please contact Lucia Rapalyea at (909) or pascal_93@yahoo.com if you would like to attend so that we can get a head count for the restaurant. The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 p.m. December Minutes: There was no December meeting.

3 Kristina Harrison-Naness Clinic By Kathy Pavlich Our Chapter was fortunate to have Kristina give a clinic at Shadow Ridge Equestrian Center to discuss how the rider s seat and hands affects the horse. It was a beautiful day that had about thirty auditors coming from as far away as Apple Valley and Temecula. The recurring mantra was inside leg to outside rein. No matter how many times we hear this, somehow that sneaky inside rein keeps getting shorter. Krisi has a super way to show the effects of the outside rein. Nearly all of the riders demonstrated their horses on a circle while holding their reins. Next, Krisi attached a lunge line to the inside bit ring and had the riders let go of that rein, riding only with the outside rein and their seat. Over and over again the audience could see how much freer the horse s gaits were. It became obvious how much more inside leg was needed to keep the horse straight. Riders who simply pulled back on their outside rein (without using inside leg) had their horse s haunches swinging to the inside. Leg-yielding out on a circle was another exercise that painted a picture on our minds. If the rider pulled on the inside rein for bend, inevitably the horse would lean on his outside shoulder and be out of balance. Another problem is some riders tend to cross their inside hand over the withers which again puts the horse out of balance. Krisi asked the riders to try this exercise, patting their horse with the inside hand while keeping their inside leg to outside rein. Not only the balance improved, but the horse s gaits as well! Although we had twelve riders, Krisi was always explaining things to the auditors. Any questions we had were answered in terms we could all understand and see when the riders demonstrated the before and after of proper hands, legs, and seat. We could see how easily a horse moves laterally when the rider s chest is positioned where they want their horse s chest to go.

4 It was plain to see how much more balanced a horse is when the rider keeps his arms in a race track position. Krisi told the riders to keep their arms aligned with their bodies as if they were running. This would keep riders from crossing their hand over the horse s wither or from opening a hand too far from the horse s neck. It also helps keep a rider s shoulders pointing in the direction they are going. Other words of wisdom: If you try to fix something with strength you will always lose. Half halt any motion to rebalance the horse Don t over react at the end of a movement. For example: Slowly straighten a horse from a shoulder-in or you will throw the horse out of balance. Learn to ride correctly so you can progress through the levels! Thank you to all of our wonderful demo riders. I think everyone, riders and auditors alike, came away with more understanding and enthusiasm for this beautiful sport of ours! Pictured in order: Kathy Ghazal on Wahala, Brit Johnson on Wonder, Krisi Harrison-Naness, Dawn Goral on Amour, & Susan on Fabian).

5 Attention ICC Members: If you know of anyone who would like to offer their facility for future shows or clinics please contact one of our board members! Their addresses can be found on the ICC website at ICCcds.org. We would like to give all our members equal opportunities to attend the clinics and shows we offer each year. We are hoping to offer shows in different cities since our membership encompasses such a large geographic area. By doing this we are hoping to be able to accommodate as many members as possible. Thank You! ICC Board Members CLASSIFIED SECTION: To submit an ad for the Newsletter please contact cindytaylor@cybertime.net. Prices are available for viewing on our website Calendar January 14 th ICC Board of Directors Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Kathy Pavlich s home in Highland, CA (ShadowRidge) 30 th -Feb. 1 st CDS Annual Meeting at LAEC. See CDS website for more information March 8 th ICC Schooling Show. More information to follow. ICC Member, Lori Johnstone, recipient of the Carol Lavell Gifted Scholarship: I was the Region 7 recipient of the Gifted scholarship and I chose to ride with Hilda Gurney. I brought 2 horses, which I was not originally planning but it meant I had 9 lessons in 5 days! My older horse Gracie a 15 year Half- Arabian, Half-Trakehner who had been showing 1st and 2nd Level last year, was the original horse I had planned to bring but Hilda had suggested that I bring both horses. Raven is an 8 year old Shagya/Holsteiner cross who was training level last year and has had right canter issues as well as spookiness problems, so I had some concerns about how he would handle the situation but I was game to try so off to Moorpark we went. The weather was warm that week but not as hot as my home 3 hours away. My trip there Sunday

6 evening was uneventful, but my trailer needed a new jack and my truck a new tail light before the end of the week! So I just knew things had to go well with my lessons! Gracie was fine but Raven was crawling out of his skin while I was walking him in the dressage court. The court is a bit frightening in that there are trees all around and the horses can t see but they can hear all that s happening around them. I stayed at a little cottage down the road so I settled in with eager anticipation of what tomorrow would bring. Monday A.M. I started by watching some lessons with Hilda. Just sitting, listening and watching all the other riders was very helpful. I watched the patterns that she systematically used. Every horse had to start from the beginning of the warm up to use its back correctly or no further work could be done. This was the start of every ride regardless of its current level. Hilda went over the rein aids while I watched. First the fingers are used, then if more is needed the wrists are used and lastly if necessary, the elbows. As the horse advances the rein aids become necessary to maintain the frame, with the seat and legs doing the rest. I also was able to see horses worked in hand piaffe and passage-- starting young because of the time frame it takes to develop them for Grand Prix. Finally in the afternoon I rode Gracie for the first time. I lunged her first and then started my lesson as the others I had watched. Her trot work was good, Hilda said it was a 3 rd level trot, but the canter was training level. My reins were too long in the canter so that I could not balance Gracie correctly for collection. By shortening my reins and getting her poll in a higher position her canter improved. She was breaking a bit in the canter and Hilda told me I needed to do more canter work with her--stressing the importance of not breaking in the gaits so that the horse could learn half-halts. I went through shoulder in to travers and then to half-pass, and I thought to myself Cool, I m half-passing with Hilda. Life is good! Raven was also lunged before I rode. Hilda watched him canter, and there was no lateral canter when she observed his gaits. Lahua, Hilda s assistant offered to ride Raven in the court first for me, so given his history I was happy for the offer. She managed him nicely so on I went. Again we started systematically with the same warm up and Hilda could see that straightness was a big issue for Raven. The mirrors were very helpful to look up and see what I

7 did not always feel. He started to have more problems with the canter rhythm when he was too bent to the right. In general Hilda told me that the head should not be bent more than the width of the horse. I finished my first day fairly elated that Hilda had some good things to say about my abilities and that she liked both horses and that they were suitable for me. A good start! The next day I rode Gracie we did more of the same and then I worked turns on the haunches, which I did not demonstrate well. Hilda told me if it feels easy then it probably isn t right. She had me walk to half-pass to turns on the haunches, step by step. Gracie had a tendency to turn around the middle like a pinwheel. We then worked canter circles with halfhalts on the centerline. Both horses had some difficulty with this. So Hilda explained I needed to work on lengthening and shortening the stride. Raven became more relaxed as the week progressed, so we could do more work including half-pass trot and a few half-pass canter steps. Again, Hilda s comment was that I needed more canter work on Raven as well as lots of mileage! Our canter work did improve as the week progressed. Also I heard many comments about my aids--they needed to be clear and soft. I had the tendency to give unclear aids and when the horse did not respond to them I would get louder. Hilda explained that the horses start to anticipate and get anxious when the aids get harsh. She had me riding half-pass right to get the right canter lead when I was struggling. I also had the opportunity to ride in different saddles that she thought might fit me well. It was great to hear you sit better already with just a different saddle! I have been riding in the same saddle since I started riding dressage so it was like driving in a Cadillac after getting out of an old VW bug! So I now knew I needed to move the new saddle fund ahead of the new refrigerator fund in my budget! After all, my 20 year old refrigerator still works! Friday came fast and I had my last lesson with Hilda in the A.M. after watching her work several horses in the wee hours of the morning. She took the time to explain what she was doing with the horses while she was riding and how that compared to what I was experiencing, so I could better visualize what I was attempting to do. I rode Raven for my last session and it was in the A.M. so the shadows were all new to him. So there was more real life dressage! This is what I get to ride at a horse show! Which was good for me and Raven to work through. When he tried to shy at first Hilda had me walk and keep him on the track and not let him move inside. When that wasn t working well she had me stay off the track around the quarter line. If it s not working don t keep doing the same

8 thing! Hmmmm, where have I heard that before! Pulling my hands up when this was all going on wasn t helping either, so I became aware of what my contribution to the situation was as well. Hilda ended my lesson with some encouraging words as well as my next few months of homework. I hoped to myself that I could come back and do this again soon! It was a great time of just being immersed in an environment without daily distractions. I had envisioned my riding and my horses abilities to be more advanced by the time I got to go to Keenridge but life happens as it does to everyone and alas my time to ride became limited. I listed my training goals as developing skills to ride at 3 rd level and improving the quality of my aids. So even though my horse and I were not ready to be working flying changes, I feel my goals were met and the experience was invaluable. I would like to thank everyone involved at the Dressage Foundation who made this all possible, especially Carol Lavell for her generosity, my family for surviving without me for a week, and Hilda Gurney and everyone at Keenridge who made this such a great and profitable week! Sincerely, Lori Johnstone 2009 CDS Amateur Clinic with Jane Weatherwax The Southern Region Amateur clinic will be held at Shadow Ridge Equestrian Center from March 26-29, If you would like to enter for a chance to ride in this clinic please send a written request to cindytaylor@cybertime.net by February 10, The drawing will be held on Wed., February 11, 2009 at the monthly meeting. You must be a member of CDS and have chosen ICC as your primary chapter to be eligible for the drawing. The candidate must be able to participate for the whole clinic which consists of three full days of instruction. Good Luck~ Take Contact! Going Green Due to rising costs ICC newsletter will only be available online starting with this issue. If you have a problem viewing the newsletter online please contact cindytaylor@cybertime.net.

9 Regional Adult Amateur Competition The Regional Adult Amateur Competition will be held July 4-5, 2009 at the LA Chapter Summer Dressage (LAEC/Burbank). Qualifying season started on September 1, In order to enter you must send in $25.00 to CDS by the qualifying deadline, June 20, Scores earned before paying your fee will count toward qualifying Board of Directors: Chapter Chair: Lucia Rapalyea Treasurer: Kathy Pavlich Show Chair: Meg Hammond Secretary/Newsletter Editor/ Website: Cindy Taylor Volunteer/Sponsor Coordinator: Ruth Corrao-Harris Members-at-Large: Sheila McKee, Kathy Young & Lori Johnstone Junior Liaison: Delaney Seeburger