WATERBURY – The fifth annual Dressage4Kids program held last weekend at Post University in Waterbury and organized by Olympic rider Lendon Gray was a sell-out event and a huge success!

More than 300 people attended from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont to enjoy the two days of expert advice and instruction.

Among the experts was well-known author Susan Harris, who gave three excellent presentations, from grooming tips to ethics in the horse world, to the gaits and movement we need to develop in our horses. She also brought along her trampoline and, once again, this proved to be a big draw with young and older!

Also popular was Alison End’s now famous ‘Balance Stool’ giving people the feel of how their position and balance can affect the horse. On Sunday, Alison also gave very helpful tips to instructors on lesson planning and communication in spite of being hampered by a possible torn ACL.

Other popular sessions were with dressage judge Margaret Freeman, who gave her views on what judges look for and got everyone to ‘judge’ some dressage rides. She showed several videos of the new tests with helpful commentary, and her trivia game with the younger kids was a huge hit.

Robin Levine, a personal trainer and rider, handed out helpful advice on rider fitness training. Veterinarian Christina Braun did a very good job on health care, while equine lawyer, Beth Clarke, was hugely popular in between scaring us all to death. Vicki O’Neil, Jess van Eyck and Laura Aikin all dispensed useful advice, and Lendon Gray gave her expert views from instructing tips to explaining how much we owe to the horses and how much we need to take educated care of them in return for all they do for us.

Altogether is was an excellent weekend – full of information and fun with all participants eager to come again next year – people are really excited to be able to get this expert advice. We are lucky that Lendon, the Dressage4Kids helpers and everyone involved are willing to undertake the hard work necessary to make this event so successful.