The Gifted Fund Archive

Jennifer Moran

USDF Region 1

The Gifted Fund 

I was extremely fortunate to have been chosen for the Gifted Fund Grant for Region 1. I was able to put my job aside and focus completely on riding without the worry of everyday distractions. I am very grateful to the Dressage Foundation for this wonderful gift and opportunity! I have trained periodically with Susan Carr ( R ) in MD during the last two years. I live in VA and it takes about 2 hours to get my horse from my boarding facility to her barn, because of this, lessons are few and far between. Semper Fidelis my 9-year-old retired TB racehorse and I were very happy to be able to stay the entire week at Susan's instead of trailering back and forth!

While there, I received a lesson on Semper everyday and afterwards watched Susan train other students and horses. Several of the days I was able to ride additional horses, which was extremely valuable to my growth as a rider.

We started the week unmounted with a tool Susan uses to simulate a horses movement. The tool is called a riding chair, which helps a rider move correctly from the forward, middle and back positions. It helped me loosen my lower back, which come to find out I held somewhat stiff, as well as forced me to concentrate on keeping my upper body still but not braced. Moving body parts independently was a key message Susan reinforced throughout the week, which helped me immensely in my riding. Sitting and moving correctly doesn't come naturally for me but with concentration and repetition it became much easier.

Semper, like many horses, has a plethora of evasions he likes to try all at the same time! Susan helped me identify each evasion and how to respond correctly. I was relying too much on my hands and asking with my aids on to long (instead of ask, release, ask again and release). I had been keeping the pressure of the aids on continuously until I got some sort of response. Once I learned to ask correctly I still had trouble seeing and feeling every evasion until she suggested riding on the ¾ line. WOW! This made such a difference. Without the wall to "lean" on I was able to clearly see Semper's shoulder popping out, weaving etc. With the evasions being so much more obvious on the ¾ line I could learn to appropriately recognize and respond to them. Once I learned the feeling and correct response I was able to take it back to the rail and recognize the evasions much more promptly.

Next we focused on my arms and wrists, really shaking them out. People always say Dressage is an exercise in relaxation. I took this to heart after my time with Susan. Once I was relaxed, sitting correctly and tension free Semper went along very willingly and responsive to my aids. It really felt wonderful to be in complete partnership with him! After almost a week of riding with Susan Semper was going really well but I still needed to use all my new skills while in the canter.

A great tip I learned to test my relaxation in the canter was to focus on my heels going down every stride. If they didn't give down a bit each stride I knew somehow, somewhere I was bracing. Next we focused on really relaxing and using inside seat bone, looking up, expanding my rib cage, opening my shoulders and breathing! Once we worked on me we had much less work to do with Semper. Surprising how that works! Susan taught me various suppling exercises, which really helped Semper get round and soft. After the suppling techniques leg yields and lengthenings became almost effortless!

By the end of the week Semper and I were beaming with happiness at our progress! Thank you very much to the Gifted Fund for allowing me a week of intensive training! Thank you for focusing on Adult Amateur riders and thanks to Susan Carr (R) for the extra time and effort she spent with Semper and I.