Read all about our terrific trip to the USDF Finals, and our final events of the year including a final Michael Barisone Clinic November 26-27, our 9th Anniversary Open House November 19, and a visit from saddle fitter Colleen Meyer, in our November e-newsletter! Click here to read, and sign up to receive it directly to your inbox!
I’m sitting in my PJs recovering from a terrific trip to Kentucky for the U.S. Dressage Finals, sipping coffee, listening to my mountains of laundry churn away, packing up my show clothes for the trip to Florida in January, and looking back on a wonderful year.
I couldn’t have been more excited to put 2015 behind me anyway, but my students made 2016 amazing, as well as my own group of horses. Normally by this point in the year I’m a pile of quivering exhaustion, and while you’re certainly not hearing me complain about the prospect of six weeks with virtually nothing to do except teach and ride and breathe, I’m not nearly as fried this year as I’ve been in the past. Having a great village, wonderful horses and a few big goals checked off the list will do that!
We had a seamless trip both to and from Kentucky. The horses travelled beautifully, we got mostly good ride times, the weather held, and we didn’t have any flat tires—miraculous! Two amateur students travelled with me, and both had super rides throughout the weekend, applying what they’ve learned throughout the year to make the most of their trips. Congratulations to Cathy and Torrey on a great year!
Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!
I get asked some form of this question 50 times a year, in lessons, at clinics, via email or Facebook: how do I rise up the levels? What’s the best plan to get from being a lower-level rider to FEI? What path should I follow?
There are, for all intents and purposes, two options: to find a schoolmaster, a horse trained to the upper levels, from whom to learn; or to bring along a green horse, to teach him and yourself together along the way.
There’s some variety in those two paths, and neither option is perfect. Here’s a look at what I feel are the pros and cons to both situations.
If you go the schoolmaster route, you’ve got yourself a horse that knows the work, and can teach you. This is very cool, and certainly on the right schoolmaster, I’ve seen riders make tremendous progress in a short period of time, not just in learning how to execute the upper level movements, but also in riding with an honest connection from hind legs to bridle, truly sitting the trot instead of trying to figure out how on a horse who’s not always through, and so on, and so on. A horse that’s trained to do not just the things but to do the things right is an incredible teacher.
However, they have their challenges. In any horse purchase, but particularly purchasing an older horse who’s been managed in one fashion, chemistry is a crucial factor, and sometimes hard to gauge in just a few trial rides. More than once have I gone shopping with clients, tried a horse several times, brought it home and had it be a mess because the chemistry just isn’t there. Trying horses for sale is like speed dating, but with a wedding at the end, for better or worse.
Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!
Lauren comes home to Virginia once a month in January, February and March to teach two days of lessons. The 2017 dates are January 21-22, February 18-19 and March 11-12. These times tend to book quickly, so if you’d like to be on her list for lessons, email her directly to sign up.
We’ve also still got stalls available for winter training. Take advantage of all our wonderful cold-weather amenities, like our oversized and dust-free indoor, our heated grooming bays and wash stalls, and all-weather turnout paddocks. Email Lauren to learn more!
<img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-841" src="http://spriesersporthorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ellasmoochdevontlp-300×214.jpg" alt="ellasmoochdevontlp" width="300" height="214" srcset="http://spriesersporthorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ellasmoochdevontlp-300×214.jpg 300w, http://spriesersporthorse cialis moins cher en france.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ellasmoochdevontlp-768×548.jpg 768w, http://spriesersporthorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ellasmoochdevontlp-1024×731.jpg 1024w, http://spriesersporthorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ellasmoochdevontlp-150×107.jpg 150w, http://spriesersporthorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ellasmoochdevontlp.jpg 1420w” sizes=”(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px” />We’re turning nine, we’re going to shows, we’re hosting Michael Barisone, and we’re having a great time! Read all about it in our most recent e-newsletter, and make sure you’re signed up to receive it in your inbox as well!
We’re celebrating nine years of dressage excellence!
Join us for a day of riding demonstrations, farm tours and education at Virginia’s premier dressage training facility! USDF Gold, Silver and Bronze Medalist Lauren Sprieser; USDF Silver and Bronze Medalist Lisa Hellmer; and USDF Silver and Bronze Medalist Natasha Sprengers-Levine will demonstrate top-notch dressage training from green to Grand Prix, as well as Pas de Deux, Grand Prix Freestyle and Cavaletti exhibitions. And take a tour of our world-class 135-acre training facility to see why we’re the first choice for exceptional dressage training.
No charge for admission! Event sponsored by Tribute Equine Nutrition, Ucleke Equine and Shapley’s, with free gifts for all attendees!
November 19, 2016
10a-2p
10:30a – Pas de Deux Demonstration
11a – Bringing Young Horses Up The Levels
12:30p – Grand Prix Freestyle Demonstration
12:45p – Feeding The High Performance Athlete
1:30p – Cavaletti for Cross Training (And Fun!)
Questions? Email Lauren to learn more.
Below is the schedule for our October 29-30 clinic with US Olympian Michael Barisone. Auditing is $35/day if prepaid, or $40/day at the door, and lunch is included. For more information, email us!
SATURDAY
10:00 Jean Loonam & Red Hot Chili Pepper, 10 yr Hanoverian gelding, First Level
10:45 Natasha Sprengers-Levine & Ellavanta, 2009 KWPN-NA mare, First Level
11:30 Lauren Sprieser & Ellegria, 15 yr Westfalen mare, Grand Prix
12:15 Lunch
12:45 Lauren Sprieser & Danny Ocean, 2007 KWPN gelding, Prix St. Georges
1:30 Kristin Hickey & Capital Call, 12 yr KWPN gelding, Prix St. Georges
2:15 Lauren Sprieser & Johnny Road, 7 yr GOV gelding, Third Level
3:00 Becky Lee & Zarco, 6 yr KWPN gelding, Third Level
3:45 Lauren Sprieser & Fiero, 9 yr GOV gelding, Intermediate I
4:30 Liza Broadbent & Victorious, 14 yr KWPN gelding, Prix St. Georges
5:15 Judy Sprieser & Stratocaster, 10 yr GOV gelding, Third Level
SUNDAY
7:30 Lauren Sprieser & Ellegria, 15 yr Westfalen mare, Grand Prix
8:15 Natasha Sprengers-Levine & Hurricane, 4 yr KWPN Gelding, Training Level
9:00 Lauren Sprieser & Danny Ocean, 8 yr KWPN gelding, Prix St. Georges
9:45 Liza Broadbent & Victorious, 14 yr KWPN gelding, Prix St. Georges
10:30 Lauren Sprieser & Johnny Road, 7 yr GOV gelding, Third Level
11:15 Lisa Hellmer & Lyra, 12 yr Holsteiner mare, Intermediate I
12 Lunch
12:30 Lauren Sprieser & Fiero, 9 yr GOV gelding, Intermediate I
1:15 Kristin Hickey & Capital Call, 12 yr KWPN gelding, Prix St. Georges
2:00 Lauren Sprieser & Dorian Gray, 8 yr KWPN gelding, Prix St. Georges
2:45 Jean Loonam & Red Hot Chili Pepper, 10 yr Hanoverian gelding, First Level
Between Michael giving a clinic at my place a few weeks ago, our Regional Finals two weeks after that, and Devon two weeks after that, I am really inspired right now. All the horses in my program are going to be FORWARD, they are going to be ELASTIC, they are going to be CONNECTED, they are going to go in SELF-CARRIAGE, and they are going to do all those things NOW!
Johnny is thriving. Danny not so much.
Ella is on a post-horse-show vacation, partially aided by my being in Michigan this weekend teaching a clinic, and at our BLM Championships much of next week; she’s doing light work in the snaffle, hacking in the field, and eating grass.
Hurricane is continuing to make progress towards being a Good Citizen with my Assistant Trainers/Baby Wranglers Natasha and Lisa, and he’s mostly getting it together and not doing anything all that interesting.
Dorian, who has been on an absolute roll, horse shows next week, and as such I’m focused mostly on test prep and stringing movements together and less on the capital-W Work. Which leaves Johnny and Danny as the focus of my enthusiasm. Poor dears.
Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!
Greetings, friends, from Sprieser Sporthorse! The leaves are changing, the temps are (mercifully!) dropping, and the ribbons are pouring in for Team Sprieser as we finish up the 2016 season with a great showing at the USDF Region 1 Finals and Dressage at Devon. Read all about it in our e-newsletter!
Devon and I, we go way back.
We go back to 2005, where I did win the Young Rider freestyle on a very, very big score, after nearly getting my rear end dumped in the ring at least once in the Team and Individual Tests. Then there was 2006, when Billy ran backwards almost all the way from X to the ingate at A (comment at the end of the test from Anne Gribbons: that I was “tactful, brave, and not influential.” Love it.)
In 2009, Ella completely froze and shut down in a fourth level test, earning a whopping 48 percent, and Cleo bit her lip panicking in her stall when I took Ella out to show her and I scratched. And in 2010, Fender’s stall flooded to the point of standing in fetlock-deep water, and the footing was so horrendous due to weather that I took him home without ever even riding.
So Devon and I have not always been friends.
Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!