WIT 2016: First Month in Reveiw

Starting the day with 7 am fitness

It is crazy to think that the first month of the 2016 Winter Intensive Training Program is almost over! The Winter Intensive Training Program is a three-month intensive dressage training experience presented by Lendon Gray and Dressage4kids. The very generous, Hampton Green Farm, allows the program to take part at their beautiful facility. A normal day starts early with barn chores. Chores involve doing all the care on your horse, as well as helping keep the barn, arena, and paddocks clean and tidy by working together as a team. After chores, we have daily fitness, and then lessons start up.  We have a lesson with Lendon every day, with the exception of guest trainers coming in. We also have a lecture or field trip every day.

In the first month many wonderful lecturers came in share their knowledge. We had a lecture from Stephanie Beamer, about finding the correct position for your body when riding. Everybody has a different shape to their spine and way their natural s-curve aligns. When your s-curve aligns, it is where you are strongest when riding. Steph helped us all individually find our perfect balance and the small adjustments we needed to do to get there. She also comes most days to give lessons to many participants.

Afternoon lecture in the barn

We had another informative lecture from Annie Morris about the training scale. I had always wondered how you would work the USDF training scale into your everyday training. She explained to us each level of the training scale and how they build upon each other. When applying the pyramid to your riding, you think of what levels you need to complete a movement successfully. For example, when you go to do a shoulder-in, what basic components must you have in the gate to perform that exercise correctly?  Apply those requirements to the gate, and then do the movement.

One of our more recent lectures was about saddle fit for you and your horse. Frank Tobias explained how to tell if your saddle is a proper fit, and what problems can arise if it is not. Some basics you look for is the tree shape, panel shape & flocking, pinching, bridging, and rocking. He also said it is best to check your saddle fit at least once every six month or more, depending on your situation. He also had us sit on our saddles, and some saddles that he brought so we could see how to fit a saddle to a rider. He has also come back to do some individual saddle fitting with other riders in the program.

We have had many more lectures in the first month and more to come these next few months. Looking forward to more riding and informative lectures during the remainder of the program. Thank you to everyone who made donations and bought bran mash. Without this generous support I would never be able to participate in this wonderful experience. Also thank you to Dressage4Kids, Hampton Green Farm, and everyone who has made this program possible.

2016 WIT participants