I have been preparing for a clinic this weekend at Infinity Farm. It’s the my favorite clinic every year: Fundamentals of Dressage. One of my clients asked if it was going to be the same as last year. (Eye roll -is this a trick question?)

Nope, the fundamentals of dressage have not changed in the last year, or the last century for that matter. Dressage is the art of riding with balance…

Namaste is a Sanskrit word -which means it’s very old.  Most translate it to some version of “The spirit in me…

The foundation of Dressage for the rider/horse is rhythm. I define that as a balanced combination of relaxation and forward. It sounds deceptively simple.

A rider/horse can not sacrifice forward for relaxation, or relaxation for forward. The art of riding is in negotiating the balance of the two in both the rider and the horse. Forward must be consistent; sometimes the rider relaxes…

I’ll call her Sage.

Sage was a thoroughbred mare with classic elegance. A solid bay with a long neck and pointy withers. She was very feminine, not too tall, but she was proud.

That’s who she was born to be -but what she looked like was very…