For Immediate Release: October 12, 2009:
Tool Box Symposium@ SCHEDULED MAY 15TH AND 16TH 2010
This is going to be a fun event and should be very stimulating. If you are within driving distance to us…. we are up north but south of Canada!! (2 hours north of Traverse City in Petoskey)…. please pass on the information about the Symposium, put it on your calendar and get your instructors and upper level riders in your area to participate. (See below about 2-3 level riders with ambitions! What better time than now to investigate and learn more about teaching technique, dressage teaching styles, your neighbors in the Dressage business – the riders and the trainers, all in an environment of fair play. The lessons we all want to learn really are simple; sometimes it is in the way they are explained that makes it easy or hard. This Tool Box Symposium@ of Dressage Lessons is a not to be missed event.
Bay Harbor Equestrian is a perfect location for a Training Center of the Future. If you read the September 2009 issue of Dressage Today, we suggested that great facilities around the United States be chosen for a 2-year pilot program where Dressage and Young Horse’s training can be advanced. Bay Harbor is a perfect choice for this type of program – it’s achingly beautiful, it has lots of stalls, good arenas and the management is for any program that is educational. All the information on this Symposium is below. We hope you will all sign up and attend.
In Bay Harbor, MI MAY 15TH AND 16TH 2010, RESCHEDULED FROM October 2009
Hosts the Inaugural Training Centers of the Future Dressage Symposium
This first event in Northern Michigan is open to Dressage Instructors and Upper Level Riders as Participants and open to Auditors of all levels as participants.
The Symposium will be held to advance the teaching skills of the instructors and the learning skills of the dressage riders in the region around the Bay Harbor Equestrian Club. The trainers that teach and those that ride and compete in the upper levels and those that aspire to do so are asked to select “the Lesson ” they are good at teaching. The upper level riders and instructors that bring their horses to the Symposium are asked to choose “the Lesson” they wish to be taught. Together, the Auditors, the Riders and the Instructors will advance their understanding of Dressage, how it is taught, how students can be given lessons in different styles and what can be accomplished by bringing the Dressage Community together for an interactive weekend at a great equestrian facility, perfectly suited for this event.
The Symposium hopes to draw participants from the Midwest dressage community. The cost is $75 for overnight boarding (one or two nights), $50 per participant – instructor, rider or auditor for the 2 days.
Jakki Baltzer, manager and trainer for Bay Harbor, facilitates the Symposium. Jakki has been training for BHEC since 1999. She took over management in 2007 and is working to create an open minded, educational environment for dressage and any other riding enthusiasts. BHEC is a 36-stall facility that offers year round boarding and training, monthly clinics with USDF judge Maryal Barnett and annual visits from Bettina Drummond and Buck Brannaman. Jakki and BHEC are very excited to be the first facility to host a symposium dedicated to greater education of “training” trainers and riders in the Dressage discipline.
Karin Offield hosts the Symposium. Karin is an upper level rider and has happily begun teaching what she learned over the years. Her Dressage Instructors have been Mike Etherly, Maryal Barnett, Steffen Peters, Michael Poulin, Jan Bemelsman, Dr. Volker Moritz, Robert Dover, and Anky van Grunsven. Karin spent many years teaching and coaching students in equitation and jumping before turning to dressage. Her greatest professor is Lingh, Edward Gal’s world famous ride, now owned by Karin. Together they co- hosted the Swedish Breeders Meeting in Las Vegas during the 2009 World Cup.
PARTICIPANTS: If you are a Dressage Instructor (any level) list TWO LESSONS YOU ARE GOOD AT TEACHING. If you are an upper level Rider or Instructor (4th level and above) list TWO LESSONS YOU WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE. These entries will used to create the Symposium. Upper level Riders please include a copy of a recent judged test with your entry. Multiple rides per horse are fine, so bring the schoolmasters! We request that the stalls be left clean. Please provide a short bio on your teaching career or your riding career with your entry. Please send in your overnight boarding fee of $ 75.00 and the Symposium fee per person is a $50.00 entry.
If you are a lower level rider (2nd – 3rd level) who aspires to move up to 4th level and FEI competitions, list 4 LESSONS YOU NEED TO LEARN. Depending on the number of Instructors and Upper Level Riders available, the management of the Symposium will consider accepting your entry. We want to encourage students who have purchased “school masters” and the lessons will be designed to help these dressage students move up the ladders. Please include a letter that best describes your riding goals.
Auditors: we need to know that you are attending for seating and lunch arrangements. A reservation for both days must be made. Please send in your entry fee of $50.00 (covers both days, $50.00 for one day). To enter and inquiries please send an e-mail entry to Jakki at jbaltzer@bayharbor.com. or mail BHEC, Trainers Symposium 5251 US 31 Bay Harbor, MI 49770. We are limited in the number of horses that can be stabled. Additional stabling can be arranged. The entries and entry fee must be submitted by MAY 1ST, 2010. The Symposium will begin at 8:30 Saturday am. A Friday evening pizza dinner will be held in the BHEC lounge, this is when the following days programs will be laid out. Special guests from Michigan State and Grand Valley State University will be in attendance.
Hotels: Please email Jakki for a hotel list or call 231-439-7100 or contact www.petosky.com, www.harborsprings.com or www.bayharbor.com/equestrianclub
THE TOOL BOX SYMPOSIUM@ hosted by Offield Farms and www.lingh.nl
