Affiliate News


Fort Worth Dressage Club News


The Fort Worth Dressage Club


(FWDC) is a club devoted to dressage and dres- sage activities for its members. We work through- out the year to provide educational opportunities and fun activities for our members. FWDC holds monthly meetings at Szechuan


Chinese Restaurant off Bryant Irving the4th Mon- day of every month at 6:30 PM. Everyone is wel- come. Please check out our website, we have pic-


tures of members at different activi- ties and our latest happenings. FWDC sends


out a monthly newsletter


and


group e-mails to members to keep them informed of


Winter Trail


Competitions Launch 2018 Seasons


Living in the Southwest means there is


ample opportunity to ride and compete on the trail throughout the winter months of December, January, February and March. Without snow and ice to deter them, a horse and rider team may bear brisk tempera- tures, but the trails are usually safe and in good condi- tion.


The North American Trail Ride Conference


(NATRC), American Endurance Ride Conference (AERC) and the Texas Trail Challenge Club (TTCC) offer a variety of competitions throughout the south- west on a variety of public lands and private ranches. In December, there is the NATRC Jingle Bell Jaunt CTR, the AERC River Run and the High Roller endurance races, plus the TTCC Christmas Caper Challenge. These rides also are the start of a new season for


each of the organizations, with points and mileage ac- cumulating for 2018 annual awards and prizes. Many rides are part of “combination” series where trophies and buckles are offered for competing in competitions from more than one trail organization. During the winter months competitions are also


held in Athens, Bandera, Cat Spring and Valley Mills, TX. Check each organizations’ website and Facebook pages for details and contact information, or call Elaine Swiss on 830-825-3032. w


18 SouthWest Horse Trader December 2017


mom Cheryl with Lurena Bell at Camp


Carrie and her


club ac- tivities a n d o t h e r


members pose for a picture!


FWDC Camp


dressage events in the community. Let me know if you would like a dressage event added to our calen- dar. Visit www.fortworthdressage- club.comto learn more. FWDC held its annual camp at Noble Cham-


pionship Sporthorses in Cedar Hills. Our clini- cian was Lurena Bell and our camp was sponsored by The Dressage Foundation. We had 10 members who have volunteered throughout the year ride for 3 day of lessons. It was a great learning ex- perience – we had all levels of riders on all breeds of horses. A big thank you to Charles Scott


of Noble Champions Sporthorses for donating his fantastic facility and being a very gracious hose, even treating us all to pizza Saturday night for our lecture evening with Lurena,


and The Dressage Foundation for the grant en- abling us to put on this camp. FWDC is proud to put on a benefit clinic for


member Lindsay Cooper who was hospitalized with pneumonia for several days. Instructor Gretchen Aycock is donating a full day of lessons and David and Tricia Scott are donating the use of their beautiful facility Four Friends Farm. This clinic is already full and we are proud to support Lindsay. FWDC is proud of our members who have


qualified for Nationals in Kentucky. Nationals are a head-to-head competition of the horses that place either 1st or 2nd in the 9 Regional Champi- onships so this is quite an honor. w


COMPETITIVE TRAIL NEWS IN THE SOUTHWEST


Precision on the Trail At a recent Texas Trail Challenge Club


(TTCC) competition, several of the judged obstacles required riding a prescribed pattern.


Why would riding a pattern be considered a measure of a good trail horse? Have you ever been trail riding and had a tree take a whack at your knee? A trail horse must navi- gate a myriad of terrain, sights and sounds, including trees. How do you avoid bruised kneecaps? Practice preci-


sion at home so you can execute precision on the trail. What is precision? Precision is the ability to position every part of your horse: his forehand, hindquarters, head, neck, barrel, and all four feet independently. This keeps you safe, and your kneecaps unharmed, as you traverse the trails. To develop precision, you can use cones and ground


poles (or overturned buckets, or whatever you have) to set up varying patterns. Then decide exactly where and how you’ll execute the pattern. For example, you could ride through the exact middle between cones, or ride a straight line with cones on your left. This may seem rudimentary, but if you approach each pattern focused on precision, you may find it takes practice to execute well. As you improve your precision, you can combine pat-


terns to increase complexity, ride patterns at a faster gait, and/or narrow the space between cones and logs. Most im- portantly, have fun with it; don’t make it a chore. Your kneecaps will thank you. To learn more visit www.texastrailchallengeclub.com.


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Optical Harmonics


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