What led the Midwest Dressage Association to arrange for this clinic about the new 2007 USDF tests?
The MDA wanted to give everyone who is interested in dressage in our region an opportunity to see the new tests performed, to describe the history of the tests, to delineate what changes are in them, to help people see if they’re prepared to ride the new tests and to help them ride the tests better. The McPhail Center is a great venue for this in the winter because it’s warm inside. There are a lot of nice barns out there, but they aren’t heated. It isn’t easy for horses to just come in and be exposed to big heaters in a normal barn and the McPhail Center is heated already. And there’s good parking for easy access even in bad weather. How do you choose demonstration riders? It wasn’t just me, but a small committee. We tried to take people who are good demonstration riders. That’s a real skill. A good one is able to leave their ego at the doorway and lets you use them and their horse to demonstrate rather than them trying to do their very best all of the time. Most of the demonstration
