Grass Roots to Grand Prix Draws The Crowds
Kildalton 12/11/2009
A large and appreciative audience travelled to Kildalton College on November 12th for a wonderful display of dressage presented by South East Dressage and in particular the South East's leading trainers Anne Marie Dunphy, Sue Smallman and Rosemary Gaffney.
The evening kicked off with an explanation of the basics in starting a young horse and the training scale, Anne Marie Dunphy gave some excellent advice in suitable exercises for young horses and used each of her four participants to explain how confirmation can effect performance, this section allowed the audience to see a variety of different horses but demonstrated how the same principles apply to all.
The evening then moved on and Rosemary Gaffney gave an excellent display using students from Kildalton College of lunging to improve the seat of the rider, this was highly engaging for the audience as the students demonstrated their balance while dealing with hula hoops and balls, Rosemary stressed the importance of balance in all areas of equestrianism.
The focus then changed to cater for younger members of the audience, with emphasis on dressage for the pony club rider, some impressive combination were present in front of Anne Marie Dunphy, namely Patricia Ryan and Terence Hill, Katie Moffatt and Iratu Varganac and Rachel Dowley and Egano S, Anne Marie stressed that dressage must be fun for the young rider and that it is important that trainers involve them in the training process so that they gain a true understanding of the training scale.
Sue Smallman then entered the arena to focus on moving up the levels. She focused on the level of collection needed as horses moved up the levels, she dealt with horses competing at elementary and above, she had willing participants in Rosemary Gaffney and her stallion Aldham Mill Dubloon and Monica Dunne and the mare Vileberrie, Sue focused on transitions within the paces and on lateral work including shoulder in and half pass, Rosemary then demonstrated some flying changes, this gave an indication of the work needed for Medium and Advanced Medium levels.
An interval during which there was frantic selling of raffle tickets was followed by a real treat for the audience when Anne Marie Dunphy presented her Kür titled "Viva" with which she had secured the Advanced Medium Freestyle National Championships with her gelding Urbanus and an appreciative audience was suitably impressed.
Finally Sue Smallman gave a demonstration of the Grand Prix movements with Oakengove Ideal, Rosemary gave an informative commentary as the audience were treated to Piaffe, Passage and One Tempi Changes among some other very impressive work.
The evening was a huge success with very positive feedback from the audience, as well as the excellent dressage on display the audience got an opportunity to take home some wonderful raffle prizes in including lessons with Anne Marie and Sue. The region would very much like to thank our generous sponsors, all of those who participated on the night or in the planning and the audience, some of whom travelled a long way for an enjoyable and educational evening. Finally we would like to thank Kildalton College for the wonderful facilities of which we were able to avail.