What have we been doing?

Once again, time has flown by without a blog post. We have had horse show, riding open house, fall break and are gearing up for the next round of shows.  The Hunter Seat team placed third at our home show Oct 3^rd behind NC State and Duke but rallied back at UNC Wilmington to win. The dressage team had its first outing at NCSU Oct. 18^th finishing with a 3^rd place overall. Senior Claire Pollard earned the high point rider ribbon with a score of 76.429% in Training Level Test 2.

While I was traveling with the dressage team, the rest of the equestrian staff worked hard to put on a wonderful riding open house for prospective high school seniors. Friday night we hosted an information session and dinner on campus. Heather led a crew to decorate the patio by the lake which looked amazing. Administrators and members of the Faculty joined us to talk about the program, answer questions and visit with families. Lots of contacts were made with future students and we all came away thinking that the future of St. Andrews looks great. On Saturday, Seniors rode for the Equestrian staff and Juniors joined the staff at the Equestrian Center for tours and information. The feedback we have received from our guests has been fabulous. Several people commented on how our current students genuinely care for the horses.

Looking forward to this weekend, teams will be doing the fall clean up of Hasty Road on Saturday, the IHSA hunter seat team heads out on Sunday for a show hosted by UNC Chapel Hill and Duke and the entire dressage team travels with Liz and I for 2 shows at Averett University, leaving at o’dark thirty tomorrow. Next week, Pebbles and Liz and two students fly to California for the Path Int. conference. At home we are excited to be hosting a clinic with Bernie Traurig next weekend. 

Claire with her High Point Ribbon

Kris Hamilton Clinic - Sept 27, 2014

Kris Hamilton was here last Saturday to work with the dressage team. 12 riders participated and several other students audited the clinic. The clinic started with a theory session from what Kris is calling “The Toolbox Series”. The balance of the horse was the focus and Kris made it easy and fun to understand by encouraging students to always start with something nice when riding and to seek the horse’s approval in all things. “Simplify” was something that she repeated over and over to encourage rider’s to not complicate their riding technique. She taught the group that balance is a product of a clear, steady rhythm. Using balance at the trot we as an example we discussed how scores of 7 – 10 were earned and how scores of 4 – 6 might be assigned. Kris’s message was one of a simple formula of energy and contact to create suppleness and therefore balance.

When we moved outside to the ring these concepts were put into practice by the riders in 3 mounted sessions at various levels. Riders experimented with their horse’s natural energy before taking up their reins and learning about “neck flip”. Riders in the first group worked on their trot and trot lengthenings to show harmony with the horse. Canter circles were taught to another group and the final group, having switched horses just for fun, ended up riding a drill team style pattern demonstrating how riding with a partner helps to motivate both horse and rider. 

Overall, the clinic was very successful for all participants and for the group of students who came out to learn from the sidelines. 

Claire and JB

Drill Team Group

Riders allowing their horses the freedom to simply walk. Kris is explaining to the auditors what is going on.

Kris showing Liv how to "flip" Frampton's neck

Relative Elevation!

Carla, Megan and I had a great lesson with Kris Hamilton today. Kris started out talking about relative elevation meaning putting the horse in a suitable frame for its training, conformation and age. We had a mixed group of horses Wind Song, (new dressage horse schooled to 4th level) Big John and Jake which really illustrated varying degrees of contact and frame for the small audience of barn workers and staff. Kris talked about suppleness and balance EVERY step. We were not allowed to accept poor quality, rushed, tense, not forward or tripping steps at any gait. This required us to be in self carriage ourselves, engaging our core muscles and using the lightest aids possible. Nagging was not permitted the softest touch was required and the cliché that Carla and I have been talking about for the last few days “less is more” again seemed so true!


All the horses were great. Carla and Wind Song did some lovely shoulder in, haunches in and half pass. Kris had Megan canter John around 3 or 4 times counting her strides and only using her leg on the 4th step. This was a great exercise for both of them and Megan soon had John cantering without his little bucky hop that he likes to do. Kris focused on my position which was exactly what I needed reminding about the importance of connection, keeping my hands connected to the horse’s mouth and showing me when my hip was not following enough causing my body to rock or twist. Very helpful, I am sitting up better since I started seriously riding again so the next step for me is to improve my balance so I can follow the horse at any gait, and not ride with reins that are too long and a dropped contact!

Vicki Kelley Clinic

Vicki Kelley spent Sat. morning with us sharing ideas and drilling riders on lateral suppleness. Every transition had to be balanced and connected resulting in improved performance from all the horses.

In the picture below: Donna Fowble on Astaire, Lindsey Agaliotis on Corky, Megan Ellis on Marcus and Katherine Kaltenbach on Gordon. Photo by Casey Curtis.

Zone Qualifiers & Clinics

IHSA Hunt Seat Regionals was a great success for SAPC. The following students qualified for zones which will be hosted by Mary Washington this Saturday April 4th.

Walk Trot - Jessica Gesel
Novice Flat - Rob Jacobs
Audrey Bolte - alternate
Novice Fences - Rob Jacobs
Intermediate Flat - Audrey Hayden
Jaci Ayers
Intermediate Fences - Alexis Stevenson - alternate
Open Flat - Kelsi Peterson

The Scott Evans clinic last Saturday and Sunday was fabulous. Scott is able to give his students just what they need emotionally as well as physically. His brand of sports psychology offered confidence to students who doubted themselves and a wake up call to those that need to work a little harder on fitness and technique. I picked up some great pointers for motivating my students.

The Dottie Morkis was clinic on Thursday was another great learning opportunity for riders and auditors alike. Dottie’s teaching talent is the ability to hone in on a horse and rider partnership and diagnose exactly what they need to work on. Her lessons demand 100% concentration from the riders. Each horse/rider combination came away with one or more things to work on. I enjoyed a great afternoon and picked up a lot of new ideas for improving my students in dressage. All the horses were excellent and huge improvements were seen during the sessions with Dottie.

The Riding Council “Slave for a Day” Silent Auction last week was a great success with some money being raised for the program. (Can’t wait to get the dressage tack room cleaned & organized)

This weekend at SAPC we have our final Open House for the academic year. I know all the teams will be practicing with IHSA Zones, IDA Nationals, and ANRC right around the corner. Good luck to all SAPC Equestrians in the next couple of weeks.

IHSA Western Team going to Nationals & Equestrian Celebrities

The IHSA Western Team qualifies for National Championship in April at Middle Tennessee State University, in Murfreesboro, TN.

In the team event St. Andrews (currently 4th in the nation) was Reserve Champion Team with 25 points. Three St. Andrews team riders won their classes at Semi-Finals. Megan Stiles, Kimmy Simonsen, and Kayla Hay. The other team riders contributing points were Kelsey Moody and Shannon Leggett.

In the individual event the riders below earned a spot at National Championship by placing in the top four of their class.

Kayla Hay - 1st - Novice Horsemanship
Kelsey Moody - 3rd - Reining
Jessica Gesel - 3rd - Beginner Walk Jog
Kody Zaagman - 4th - Open Horsemanship

Kayla Hay won 1st place in both team and individual events.

Congratulations to Coach Carla Wennberg and all members of the SAPC Western Team

This week at SAPC we have Dottie Morkis coming for a clinic on Thursday afternoon (I am so grateful that she can fit us into her busy schedule)

Friday we are hosting IHSA Hunt Seat Regionals. Bob Cacchione will be here to cheer on riders from all the schools in our region.

Scott Evans is judging Regionals and then will stay for the weekend to clinic with our hunt seat riders.

Three Equestrian celebrities on one week WOW!