Horse Expo Part 1

Kathy and I had Speedy G loaded and on the road by 7:00 a.m. Pomona is in the heart of southern California which means tons of freeway interchanges and heavy traffic. We've done the drive together many times by car and one other time with Speedy, so the traffic was no big deal. We laughed the entire two and a half hours and arrived just in time to catch Chemaine's first presentation.

Chemaine and Jen on Paolo demonstrating some suppling exercises (Photo by Stephanie Wilson).

We spent the rest of the morning shopping; how did I spend so much yet come home with nothing? We grabbed some burgers and then zipped over to the main arena to watch Clinton Anderson. He was riding his gelding, Diez (holy cow is that a nice horse!).

Obviously NOT riding Diez, but I couldn't get a photo from where we were standing.

Clinton Anderson is hands down my favorite of the big name trainers, and I am pretty much on board with most of his method. And even though he started off by poking fun at dressage riders and all of their fancy "speak" for what he thinks of as stuff a suppled and obedient horse should be able to do, I still found him highly entertaining.

We saw him just after watching Chemaine's presentation. Kathy and I laughed hysterically because his program was nearly identical to hers. He stressed that everything you ask of the horse should be broken down into simple steps, and then he described Chemaine's change the bend with a 1-2-3-4 count. It was almost as though he had gone to see her technique and incorporated into his own show.

He hadn't done that of course. Good training is just good training, and no one has a monopoly on what is effective. Clinton then went on to demonstrate how haunches in and shoulder in also help supple horses. It was really validating to watch my dressage trainer's exercises being done by a world renowned trainer on a western horse.

Chemaine teaching her Yoga Ball series (photo by Stehanie Wilson)

Later in the afternoon, we went and watched Chemaine doing her yoga ball presentation. The crowd really enjoyed it, and most of the women, while a bit shy, really wanted to get up there and use the yoga ball along with her. Chemaine had attached reins to the benches in front of the yoga balls so that riders could practice using their seats while feeling whether they were balancing on the reins or using their seats independently.

The lady in blue is a blind rider! (Photo by Stephanie Wilson)

Chemaine had a Symphony Dressage Stables booth set up in the building, so we made sure to stop by so that I could pick up my Team Symphony t-shirts - a short sleeve and a long sleeve.

Chemaine and her family

Once Chemaine was finished with her official duties as an Expo clinician, she met me out on Pomona's now defunct horse racing track for an evening lesson under the lights, but that's tomorrow's post.

Lesson with Chemaine on the track's "in field."