Cari Swanson

New Dressage Tests for Eventing

Learn the new USEA dressage tests for eventing before the season begins.  Practice at home and always train at a level above the one you plan to show.  Be prepared.  You will greatly improve your scores if you ride with confidence and determination.  I highly recommend riding the test on several different horses to confirm that it is automatic in your head so that if you are distracted on the day by wind, unruly horses in the next arena or equipment failure, you will carry on like a pro. Study hard and have fun!

Congratulations to Belladora, Blue Ribbon Winner at NEDA Fall Festival

bella, a three year old Dutch/Oldenburg mare, won her first dressage class with a score of 68%. She was tense and not quite her elastic self in the electric atmosphere of the NEDA Fall Festival of Dressage at Saugerties. Bella also watched the top jumpers compete in a nearby arena. After hanging out around the arenas she began to relax a bit and enjoyed the festivities. Bella was started by Rex Peterson and Cari Swanson 3 months ago and has progressed remarkably fast in her education. Bella is an outstanding young horse capable of excelling in dressage, eventing or jumping. Contact Cari to come try Bella at Windrock Farm.

Congratulations to Joa and Kestrel

Last weekend Joa was third in the open Training Level division at Town Hill Horse Trials, after placing 6th in dressage, Joa went on to jump a flawless show jumping round and a clean cross country round on Kestrel. Although Kestrel looked at a few fences on the cross country course– the log over the ditch and the water, Joa rode him beautifully around the course. All of the training and hard work has paid off with this team finishing the season in top form.

Congratulations Joa and Kestrel

Joa rode a beautiful dressage test with her best score ever, 31.1! After her test, she thanked the judge with a bow from Kestrel. Show jumping proved to be a breeze, Kestrel flew over each jump effortlessly. The cross country rode flawlessly, with Joa and Kestrel coming in at the perfect time. No issues with the water this year, Congratulations to this team for a BLUE ribbon performance.

Conditioning Your Horse

As Spring approaches, the show season is just around the corner.  Now is the time to consider a program to bring your horse to optimum condition considering your discipline of dressage, jumping or eventing.  It is critical to consider the age and amount of activity your horse has had in order to create an effective plan of conditioning.  Horses who are turned out need a shorter warm up than those standing in their stall or small paddock.  A progressive warm up allows time for the muscles to reach their optimal working temperature (during warm up the muscles rise by about 1 degree C) before increasing the excercise intensity.

After a warm up phase, move into the workout which pushes to horse just beyond his ability to build muscles and stamina.  It is important to work the trot and canter in an active rhythm, thus working the skeletal muscles hard enough to stimulate an increase in blood circulation.  The main objective is to achieve relaxation in all gaits.  Next should come the suppling excercises of lateral and bending movements.  Remember wet saddle blankets make good horses.

Finally, an important element of your conditioning is the warm down period.  This is a time to allow the horse to recover from the workout and helps him release muscular tension and possible soreness.  A walk on the long rein is a great finish to this workout.  Slowly build your horse back up to his optimal fitness, allowing several weeks to reach your goal.  Careful systematic training will help build solid muscles and a happy fit horse.

Lessons at Windrock Farm

I have been taking dressage lessons with Cari on and off over several years. Although I ride on my own and with trainers in other disciplines, I love to come back to Cari on a regular basis to take advantage of her keen eye, insightful critique, creative exercises, and diverse group of well-trained horses.

Cari always quickly finds the minor (and sometimes major!) irregularities in my body and posture that I was forgetting. She is very clear in pointing out how those problems are affecting the movement of the horse. She is rigorous and demanding, but maintains a sense of humor, making lessons invigorating and fun.

Cari has an amazingly broad repertoire of exercises and metaphors to draw upon, and I find she can always find a fresh way to explain what I am doing right and wrong. Sometimes it is that fresh explanation that makes all the difference in learning! Because of her own experience under a variety of instructors and in several disciplines, Cari has many different methods of teaching to draw upon. Lessons are never repetitive and dull. I can count on Cari to pull out a new and interesting challenge just when I need it!

The diversity of horses available for lessons is also helpful to me. Riding a horse with different movement and different “buttons” from my own horse is guaranteed to help me be more balanced, precise and deliberate as a rider. I value being able to learn from her schoolmasters, who are, after all, great teachers themselves.

-Ona Kiser
Sharon, CT