by Nancy BrannonThe first things one notices when approaching the Mid-South Dressage Academy is the impressive new stable atop the hill, which gives scenic views in all directions of the surrounding beautiful farmland, pastures and woodlands. It is a major goal realized for owner and operator Elizabeth Rice and an ideal place for her two daughters, Parker, age 15 and Carter, age 12 to ride. She describes the Academy as a non-profit organization founded with the mission to “give all adults and children” who desire it, “an opportunity to ride safely” whether or not the student owns a horse. Rice said people often ask her about the non-profit status. When they ask, “How can you be non-profit?” She answers, “Lesson fees don’t cover even a fraction of the costs involved in providing these kinds of services. My husband [Butch, a realtor] says everything in horses is non-profit. I do it for the love of the sport, for sharing opportunities.”The Mid-South Dressage Academy, formerly headquartered in Brighton, Tennessee, recently moved to the Rice family farm, Clifton Farms at 6303 Robertson Gin Road in Hernando, Mississippi. The 24-stall barn with two full size indoor dressage arenas, including sound system, and living quarters was just completed last year. It has a lot of amenities including 24 additional event stalls, six wash bays, 20 turn-out paddocks, a grass outdoor arena, meeting room, and six guest rooms with private baths. Footing in the indoor arenas is a combination fine-grained sand and polyester felt, which Rice likes because “it stays level and we only have to drag it once a week or less, depending on use.” There are two full-time instructors, Nick and Ila Handy, who offer lessons at both the Brighton and the Hernando facilities.Emphasis at the Academy is the new Horsemaster program, which Rice kick-started January 11-13, 2008. Rice said it took her three years to put together this program, which is modeled somewhat on the United States Pony Club education and riding curriculum. At this and the former location, she had riding instruction available for students, but this Horsemaster program provides more complete instruction for all facets of dressage riding and horse care. “I have a lot of adults involved as well as children. We don’t have ratings like Pony Club, but we do use test scores from shows” to evaluate advancement in the riding component. “We try to create a sense of community here that includes more advanced students helping younger ones and everyone volunteering their time.”
[adsys_ad::instory] -->The curriculum is designed to educate students about handling and maintaining horses and aspects of riding, with a focus on safety. The courses are divided into freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior levels. Students start as freshman and once completing the senior level graduate as Horsemasters. There are four textbooks which correspond to the four levels with chapters ranging in subject matter from horse handling and stable management to dressage equipment and tacking. All of the handbooks include chapters on: dressage (e.g., arena sizes), movements (and the aids for walk, trot, canter, and bending), equipment and tacking; horse sense (including body parts, colors, breeds); handling and stable management; grooming; riding skills; showing (including scoring and required clothing); show volunteering; and veterinary knowledge. “Volunteer time, teaching time, and support are all expected of upper level riders,” said Rice. “My vision is this: it’s not about who has the most money to take the most lessons. It’s about those who have the greatest desire to learn and support and give. I will help people any way I can and sponsorships can be found. I’m looking for people who are dedicated and reliable. Eventually, I hope to make this a national program.”Mary Alice Ruleman oversees the Horsemaster program and has worked with it since its inception. She is officially a University of Tennessee, Knoxville undergraduate, but she took a break this semester to help get the program implemented. She is temporarily a student at University of Memphis, but will return to UTK next semester and complete her degree there. “I’m here to get it rolling, to get the kinks worked out, and have it be a well-oiled machine when I leave,” Ruleman said.Currently she runs the daily operations of the program, a job which requires doing a little bit of everything around the barn.Rice said she has been obsessed with horses all her life. She rode hunters as a child and foxhunted as a young adult. She took a hiatus from horses, but “I got back into horses when my children came along,” she said. “This [Horsemaster] program is really what I wanted all during my riding times, but I didn’t find it available. I once thought I wanted to do eventing, but I decided to concentrate on doing just dressage for a year to improve my skills.” It was then that she realized dressage was more about personal success than winning. “It’s part of a life-long journey of self-growth,” she said. “I wish that I had started in dressage rather than discovered it later. I think my riding history would have been better and I would have fallen off less!”Rice observed that dressage riders in the area are either “beginner or upper level riders. There are not too many in between.” She hopes to attract people who want to learn the foundation skills of dressage, which they can then use in any other riding discipline, be it jumping or barrel racing. “If you can ride through First Level [test] IV, you can graduate to any other program. You then have a skill set you can use to do any other riding discipline. The biggest challenge we have is how to make it fun.Learning dressage can be boring and slow, especially in today’s world in which everyone wants things instantly.”One of the things she is doing to make learning dressage fun is to add music to the riding. At sanctioned shows, “you can’t ride [musical] freestyle until you compete at First Level [test] IV. But at fun shows, we think adding music to riding is fun at all levels. We give our students the opportunity to ride quadrilles and Pas de Deux. We try to jazz it up and allow the children to dress up their ponies.” She believes that riding to music is a key to having fun with dressage and to getting the public involved. “We work with music, play with it and see how particular pieces work with your horse.”Rice recommends that people need to ride for at least two years before they buy their own horse. Experience has taught her that people often buy a horse that is wrong for them n one that is too green, too young; what they can afford may not be what they need. “It is better to take this stair-step learning through the program.” She has several horses “on staff” to help students advance through the dressage riding levels. “The lesson horses are not near retirement. They are still actively competing and are not used five or six times a day” to plod around the ring. “Students want to ride horses that are skilled in the movements so they can learn the movements.”Rice schedules a variety of barn activities to meet the interests and needs of the various riding levels and ages of students. “We have barn night weekly when people can come to work on their skills and socialize. We have non-mounted meetings at which kids pretend to be the horses as they learn the dressage tests. Kids just love to practice calling the tests! I know of no other place that has a beginner through advanced program with lesson horses and an educational component, all in-house,” said Rice. “I don’t think you should separate the active competitors from the beginners. Here we combine the two” so that advanced riders can be role models for beginner riders and “that gives a different atmosphere. We don’t want to be a snooty place. We have good horses here and we’re going for a big sense of community here.”Private lessons are a regular part of the activities. The two in-house instructors, Nick and Ila Handy, are newly-weds and formerly traveled with the Lippenzaners. “Both are fantastic riders and very talented people,” Rice said. Both are USDF bronze medalists. “Nick is a graduate of Meredith Manor” with a Riding Master VI certification “and will soon have his USDF silver medal; Ila is not far behind. Now even beginner riders can ride and get instruction from great riders!” she said.Special clinics and shows add variety and learning opportunities. The weekend of January 11-13 was the kick-off for the Horsemaster program and included a Debbie Hill clinic and a fun show on January 13. January 17-19 is the Spanish Riding School clinic with Herbert Sieberl. That same weekend, January 18-20, George Gullikson with Equation Saddlery will be helping riders get the best saddle fit for their horse’s comfort and the rider’s position. MSDA will also host a Pony Club clinic on January 20. “We’re having some busy weekends,” Rice said. On March 1, MSDA will host another Debbie Hill clinic, culminating with a fun show March 2. March 8-9 will be a Tom Noone clinic.For more information about the Mid-South Dressage Academy, a non-profit school of riding, call (662) 449-0968 and visit their web site at http://www.midsouthdressageacademy.org. For a look at Clifton Farms, see http://www.cliftonfarms.net.
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essage". I think I will check that out further. Of course this is not me on Wally. But isn't he gorgeous.
essage". I think I will check that out further. Of course this is not me on Wally. But isn't he gorgeous.
