The instructor
Mary loves to teach. It is all about the everyday trials and tribulations of both horse and rider as they learn the theory and practicum of the Principles of Dressage, and the progress in building the athlete in both horse and rider. It is also about those lightbulb moments; the grin of pride when the student feels what "contact" means, or gliding across the arena in a correctly balanced and cadenced half-pass, or the feeling of that wave rising underneath you as your horse takes you across the diagonal in extended trot, or the perfectly balanced power as s/he learns to sit in piaffe. The horse teaches us what we must learn along the way, but the instructor is the facilitator, and having the experience of 30 years of learning from the best trainers, instructors, and horses has helped shape Mary's style of teaching. She focuses on understanding the "why" of riding, with different ways of explaining, an endless list of exercises to employ for the horse's gymnastic training, and support in the theoretical foundation for them.
The life-long student
We add to and refine our riding abilities throughout our lives.
Riding instructors are not exempt from this truth. The best dressage professionals never let themselves lose their curiosity, their drive, or their insatiable desire to add to their experience, and their quest to expand their knowledge base.
"I was lucky to have the opportunity to train in Europe over the course of 5 years on many classically trained schoolmasters, and many world-acclaimed Dressage Masters, which just was not available in the United States at that time (2001-2007)".
--Mary
We have excellent horses which are being imported and also bred in this country in 2022. We are also lucky that our country's dressage community has grown by leaps and bounds in the past two decades, as well as the quality and availability of competition venues, dressage trainers and instructors, along with schoolmasters and talented young horses for sale. We continue to be lucky that there are people dedicated to dressage who are willing to organize clinics in our area with top professionals from across America and Europe, and invite us to participate through riding and auditing, which Mary and her students take full advantage of.
