On Saturday, March 29th, 2025 CDCTA hosted a ride-critique-ride format clinic at Win Green in Rhoadesville. The morning was a little cooler than we anticipated but the weather came through for a beautiful warm day. All the horses who still had their winter coats got pretty warm but the humans loved it. There were a total of 12 people entered with a few doing just dressage and a few doing just jumping but most doing both parts.
The dressage fix-a-test conducted but “L” judge Lorraine Evans was very positive and informative. I heard several people say her instruction was very helpful and at least one person decided to do a double session because it was so great.
The jumping portion was all on the front field with 5 levels of short courses set up for people to try before they got some instruction. Everyone improved their field riding and jumping skills. I had such fun seeing folks new to the sport at the intro and starter jumps levels building confidence and skills and experienced folks click in to the main issue and fix one simple thing that made a huge difference.
The range of horses was impressively broad from a chunky, smart alec pony to a chunky, smart alec Irish Sporthorse with a few warmbloods, Dutch Harness horses, Thoroughbreds and others mixed in. I think everyone loved seeing breeds of horses not commonly represented at the higher levels be great mounts for their riders at this kind of schooling opportunity.
As always thanks to Kelly Adams and her always fabulous facility where it’s always fun to run events. Thanks also go to our volunteers Jen Lamb for helping with setup, and Juliana May and Carolyn Briggs for their scribing skills.