80 SIDELINES FEBRUARY 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
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Dressage 4 Kids
By Lauren R. Giannini
USDFHall of Famer LendonGray has
put a new spin on Dressage4Kids by
creating the Winter Intensive Program
(WIT). An innovative educational
opportunity for young riders (January
4 - March 28) at Hampton Green
Farm in Wellington, Florida, WIT offers
daily horse care, dressage training,
competition skills, sports psychology,
equestrian ftness and business
management. Riders must also keep
up with their schoolwork. There is good
reason why “intensive” is part of the
program’s name.
“This will not be a program for the
casual rider, but for young riders
determined to be the best they can be,”
emphasized Lendon. “The age and
level of the rider is not important; the
determination, discipline and drive are.”
The idea of “total immersion” training
for young dressage riders came to
Lendon years ago while watching the
Olympics, especially gymnastics. “Our
riders ride an hour or two a day if they
have two horses. This is a program
I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and
I fnally fgured out how to do it,” said
Lendon. “Last summer Kim Boyer, who has two stables at her
Hampton Green Farm in Florida, said, ‘Do it. I’ll help you.’”
Young riders, 21 and younger, had to apply. The monthly
fee is all-inclusive for lessons, stall board with hay, grain and
bedding, stable management supervision and the program itself.
WIT runs fve to six days each week with a full roster of lectures,
demonstrations, riding instruction and coaching at shows.
Participants are responsible for show fees, supplements, vet
and farrier, housing, meals, and transportation. All told, 13 young
riders were accepted.
“The kids did very creative fundraising – I’m proud of them,”
said Lendon. “Bowling nights, 5K runs, schooling shows, selling
fancy baskets of fresh vegetables, lots of different things. Almost
all of them are doing all three months. A couple are doing two
months and one 12-year-old, the youngest and a pony rider, is
doing one month.”
Lendon’s involvement in youth-oriented programs, including
WIT, will help to ensure the future of dressage in the U.S. In
addition to Lendon, other dressage experts involved with WIT
include Courtney King-Dye, Tuny Page, Michael Barisone and
Katherine Bateson Chandler. The riders will be doing a lot of
learning.
One question that Lendon always poses to young riders is:
Where do you see yourself in fve, 10, 20 years? “They all see
themselves going to the Olympics,” said Lendon. “That is the
dream, of course, but maybe after WIT, they’ll say this is too hard
and that maybe they’ll go back to school and get a degree in
Library Science. They might as well fnd out now. When you have
your one horse, it seems like a glorious way to spend your life, but
that’s such a small part of it.”
Raising the Bar for Young Riders
Lendon would know. She rode before she could walk and never
stopped. She rode western, hunt seat, bareback, equitation, played
gymkhana games, drove and had fun. She joined Pony Club
when she was seven, earned her A rating at 16, and competed
at the national level, earning championships and reserves at both
U.S. and Canadian Pony Club rallies. She evented to the upper
levels and for two years trained with the Olympic team. Dressage
took over her riding life when she was 27 and shortly thereafter
partnered with the great gray pony, Seldom Scene, and the rest
is history.
Although Lendon grew up with horses, she hasn’t forgotten
the kids who aren’t as fortunate. In 1999 she founded the Youth
Dressage Festival, which started out as the Northeast Junior/
Young Rider Championships. The Youth Dressage Festival gave
birth to Dressage4Kids, which grew into a non-proft organization
that turns the proceeds from various shows into scholarships for
young riders, from accomplished competitors hoping to compete
in Europe to children with backyard ponies keen to take lessons.
“I couldn’t be more excited to have Dressage4Kids host their
winter training camp at Hampton Green Farm in Wellington,” said
Kim Boyer, owner of Hampton Green and also the Pura Rasa
Espana stallion, Grandioso, who fgured in Spain’s seventh place
fnish at London. “This program corresponds so much to what
HGF is involved with: the Lendon Youth Dressage Festival, the
Emerging Dressage Athlete Program and the Global Dressage
Festival.”
It’s easy to predict that the inaugural WIT program has combined
the best elements of hard work and play with horses as the carrot
to learning. For riders interested in learning more about all of
Lendon’s programs, visit www.dressage4kids.com
Young Rider advocate Lendon Gray works with Katrina Jones and Wremingten at a clinic
last December at Twinwood Equestrian Center in Texas.
Photo by Kelly Jones