FCS News Archive

March 2005

Coaches Forum Report...

March 5 weekend was beautiful weather to travel to Red Deer to the first annual Alberta Dressage Coaches Forum. We had 40 coaches attend from all over the province and one coach from BC.

Our goals were

To connect coach to coach in Alberta, a coaching community

To learn from each other, issues and solutions, a peer mentoring culture

To build strong dressage coaching base in Alberta

To improve the skill level of dressage riders in Alberta by applying
new coaching techniques

We started the day off by introducing ourselves to the group by talking about an influential coach, mentor or other significant person in our lives. We heard that Dressage coaches are influenced by other coaches, students, horses, their husbands and their parents.

Doug Orr then took over the meeting as moderator. He set up some rules for the discussion for the day. Being the top notch Dressage steward he is, he brought his Yellow Card for emergency situations. We were very lucky to have Doug's expertise in the moderator roll. He set the tone for a successful, rewarding day.

Gillian Wright from Trakhner Glen was our first presenter. She talked about all the details of lateral work. As we had coaches there from all over the province, coaching at all different levels, the discussion on lateral work went from turn on the forehand all the way through to bend in half pass. Gill thoughts on the approach to lateral work as exercises and not movements emphasized that our focus is the athletic development of both horse and rider.

We had a short coffee break; coaches mingled and got to know several new coaches and got caught up on the dressage news from coaches we hadn't seen since the end of show season.

Crystal Kroetch, from Carousel Stables, then started on her talk of straightness in the horse. Crystal reinforced, through her emphasis on the straitening of the horse; that the horse needs to develop muscularly as an athlete. Balanced both right and left equally, suppleness both left and right, is essential to the happy progression through the levels as a dressage horse. Rider straightness is an important factor in training a straight dressage horses. As coaches we need to realize we need to train our horses to be equal both left and right which may mean more repetitions of the straitening exercises on the stiff side before tackling the problems on the hollow side of the horse.

We then broke for lunch, mingled and got caught up on the upcoming events in the province. Katrina Van den Bosch let us know of an opportunity with the Canadian Warmblood Association for learning about stallion presentation. She also let us know about a test rider opportunity with the association. Sarah reminded all about the Alberta Dressage site upcoming events page. Any coach that has an event they would like listed on the page can contact Sarah.

Joely Mann, from Teradan Farms, then started her presentation on "Why do I ride". Excellent discussion on Positive Training! Joey has developed a thought provoking tool she uses with her clients to identify their specific needs. Through the answers the questionnaire produces, as a coach we can tailor a dressage training program to the needs of each individual client. Some clients will use the tool as self exploration and find they do not have the need to share the results with their coach. The fact that they have worked through the exercise tool will help them define for themselves where they want to go and why. Joey emphasized her thoughts that she strongly requests her clients think and act positively to each other and others within the dressage community. Negative comments about other competitors or each other will not help the group grow or develop to their potential. Happy clients, happy horses.

Lindsey Stroh, from Flying Colours Stables, then presented her thoughts on Core Control and Stability. Lindsey's degree in Kinesiology and experience as an Advanced level rider, gave her great insight to the hows and whys of core control and stability. As coaches, to get our students to access their transverse abdominus muscles is a big key to core awareness. With core awareness riders strengthen their core muscles to become stable. Core stability produces, in our riders, that soft, still, beautiful position that allows our horses to move freely and balanced. To be able to have our students influence their horses with quiet effectiveness will create a harmonious training approach.

Our last presenter, was Sharon Merkel-Beattie, from Windhaven Farms. Sharon's presented her thoughts on the Role of the Coach. She walked us through some the myriad of topics as coaches we need to have some expertise. Sharon brought along some of her textbooks from her library emphasizing the need the coach has for continual learning and access to resources. We had a short discussion on liability insurance and the need for waivers.

We had the opportunity, over the day, to discuss the Coaching certification program.

We then moved locations to the banquet room and watched several rides from the Olympics.

From the feedback forms, everyone found the day a resounding success. They enjoyed the informal discussions where they could hear other coaches' approaches to common issues and the variety solutions and perspectives. Just about everyone mentioned the importance of being able to network with other coaches from our province. The sharing of ideas improved the sense of a coaching community. Many attending coaches mentioned they appreciated the openness, the willingness to dialogue and the professionalism of the presenters.

Some of the suggestions for the next forum would include:

More in depth discussions on each subject