Ready or not, the 2009 season is here! Hoping to improve on last year’s outings, we convinced Jules Anderson to come to Aiken and teach us in the dressage ring for the last two days. In addition to Sarah and me, Jules helped Mikki Kuchta, Laura VanderVliet, Matt Flynn, Sinead Halpin, Dana King, and my students Mollie Zobel and Jaclyn Burke. Though two days is hardly enough, we all benefited from the help.
I’m a big believer that we have to always be thinking about ways to improve and change our riding. To me that means pressing ourselves to be better to the jumps, to think about how we can more easily put our horses in the position to be successful, and ultimately to either stay one step ahead of the competition, or at least gain ground on them. From my perspective, Jules can help us do just that. Her teaching on the flat is very consistent with how I think about cross-country riding, and consistently produces riders who think about their effect on the horse while also improving their horse’s gaits.
We can’t wait to have her back in February!
