Paradressage Symposium with David Amager
A couple weeks ago I traveled to the North Texas Equestrian Center run by our Chef d'Equipe, Kai Handt. I attended a Para Dressage Clinic with Olympic, WEG, and European Para Dressage Medal Winning Trainer David Amager. Head officials from the U.S. Para Equestrian Association, U.S. Equestrian Federation, and the U.S. Olympic Committee were also in attendance. The clinic was beneficial in so many ways. I was loaned a lovely mare named Touche to ride for the duration of the clinic. She had lovely gaits and taught me a lot. We worked a lot on precision for movements throughout my tests as well as how best for me to work the connection. This is one of my more challenging things as I don't have the hands and dexterity like some riders. The weather was not ideal with very cold temperatures and horrible winds and rain, so I definitely had to push myself to ride since my body does much better in the warmer climate. However, I learned a lot to take back home to apply to Royal.
Based on my riding and performance in the clinic, Kai asked if I would come with him to compete in a big international CPEDI competition that starts January 19th in Wellington, Florida. This means that I would need to go back to his barn to train for a few weeks before the CPEDI and become comfortable with the horse I would compete with. The people from USPEA and USEF also believe in my talent and hope that I can gain qualifying scores to be a competitive talent to reach the team for the World Equestrian Games in 2018. While this is a huge honor to have all these people believing in my talent and skill, it is also nerve-racking to figure out the logistics and finances to get me to these big competitions. Just shipping a horse cross country and back is a big expense! If anyone is good at fundraising or is connected with any businesses/companies that would possibly like to sponsor an athlete for competition entrance fees, stabling, etc. I'd love to talk more! You can also donate here (click here), and sharing this page is a huge help! There are more competitions after this one in January so I will be spending more time at the farm in the Dallas area as well as training back home in Los Angeles with my horse. This is my dream and it's awesome to feel all the support.
