Clinics

Western Dressage Clinic
with Barbara Long

Saturday, November 16, 2013
10:15 a.m.
Clinic Schedule

• Clinic rides are private, 45-minute lessons
• All levels of horses are welcome
• Cost is $95 for riders and $20 for auditors
• Sandwiches & drinks will be provided to riders and auditors

For more information or to register, contact Cattolica Farm via e-mail: info@cattolicafarm.com

To reserve your ride, please send your check to Cattolica Farm at 7538 NC 39 Highway, Zebulon NC 27597.
Also send an e-mail to info@cattolicafarm.com to let us know you are coming so we can plan for lunch.
Checks (payable to Cattolica Farm) must be mailed with reservation but will not be cashed until after the clinic is held.

Barbara Long discovered her love of horses in Kentucky where she thought the five gaited Saddlebred was the king of horses, but she didn’t begin her riding career until her family moved to Greensboro, NC. There she took lessons from the mother of a member of the USET jumping team and was heavily influenced by the riding system of Bert De Nemethy. Bert introduced the use of classical principles to American show jumping, a foundation so standard now it’s hard to remember a time when show jumping was largely run and jump. Fascinated by this “new” way of riding that nobody around knew anything about, she spent a year in England at Windmill Hill, where the owner, John Tilke, had been chef d’equip for a member of the British Olympic Dressage Team. There she got a solid, correct foundation for her future dressage work and received the British Horse Society Assistant Instructor Certification. It was in England that she was introduced to the “French” system of dressage. The emphasis on lightness and self carriage meshed with her hunter background and remained the guiding principle of her approach to dressage. She returned to the U.S. to finish college while teaching in the equestrian program at Meredith College in N.C.

Since that early start Barbara’s career has been one of education. She has taught at Meredith College and three community colleges. She helped form the Arredondo Dressage Assoc., the San Felasco Hunter Jumper Assoc., a horse council and dressage organization in Wilmington, N.C. and worked on the board for a proposed Agricultural Center. Now she is bringing that organizational experience as an advisor to the N.C. affiliate of WDAA. Her students consistently showed the kind of solid basics that allowed them to take average horses and compete successfully at USEF/USDF recognized shows. They won team and individual championships in dressage and combined training and Horse of the Year awards at both state and national level. As a trainer she worked with all breeds while gaining a reputation for starting young dressage horses. Today she lives in western N.C. where she teaches dressage principles and a solid balanced seat to a new group of riders.