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Thursday, March 15, 2007

Young Riders Overcome Nerves and Distance to Ride with Some of the Best in Dressage
By Lynndee Kemmet for DressageDaily.com

Expanding Horizons For Students and Trainers

The clinic included not only the lessons, but also a question and answer session with the four clinicians and a wonderful lunch for all the riders, their trainers and their parents. Nerves kept 14-year-old Jenkins from enjoying much of the lavish lunch spread before her on the first day of the clinic. Her ride with Peters was right after lunch. Crawford, her trainer and instructor, called her one of the most dedicated of students. “McKenzie is very serious. This is her passion. It’s all she lives and breathes,” Crawford said. “She’s very dedicated and very easy to teach. She tries really hard and I don’t have as many students who are as devoted and dedicated as she is.” Among those other highly dedicated students is Katherine Murray, who rode with Volker Brommann.

Crawford, herself an FEI-level rider and trainer, expressed tremendous pride for both her students who made the clinic. “They’re good riders and they’re good kids. They’ll go someplace,” she said.

When asked if she felt a bit intimidated letting them experience instruction from such top riders, Crawford, who is based in College Grove, Tennessee said, absolutely not. “I feel like it’s my obligation to see they get every opportunity they can. It’s sort of like, if you clutch at something, it leaves you. If you give opportunities then everyone benefits. I feel possessive because I want them to do well, but I don’t feel possessive about giving them the chance to better their riding.”

Jenkins brought her 11-year-old Anglo-Arab mare Zsarina for her ride with Peters and, as he did with many students, he got on the mare to see how she felt. “I had expected him to do that because I’ve been watching the lessons and he had said that he likes to get on to see how they feel,” Jenkins said. “She was much better after he rode her.”

The mare has been trained to Fourth Level and Jenkins said she learned a lot in her ride with Peters. “It was great. It was a very good learning experience. I learned to bend to the outside and that it was okay to send her forward and not keep the same tempo the whole time. He was great. He was very helpful, but still very sweet.”