Cedar Wind Farm Fourth Annual Dressage Camp by Evie Tumlin Camp opened the evening of June 12th, 2007. Due to better communication via the “Camp Breeze” which was sent by email to campers with some frequency every camper made it in and got settled at a reasonable time Tuesday night. There was a briefing at about 7:00 PM. The buckets and bucket hangers donated by Nutrena Feeds were passed out containing the camp schedule, maps of the Ole Miss campus, information about Oxford including great accessible restaurants and other information and “goodies.” Sheila Rice, our Ole Miss Dorm hostess, was here to lead campers to the dorms. This year campers stayed in dorm apartments which had two or three bed rooms, living room and kitchen. (Next year the University promises to even have furniture in the living rooms.) That didn’t matter much as when campers got home at night there was little time for sitting and socializing. It was more like “crash and burn” time. One general complaint was that there was no toilet paper and some rooms needed light bulbs. The prices ranged from $15/night double and you bring linens, to $25/night single with Ole Miss linens. Pam Bancker and Paula Stewart, our primary instructors, arrived later Tuesday night from Atlanta. They took the schedule to bed with them and Wednesday morning campers and instructors were in place for the first classes at 7:00 am. Paula is a certified Pilates trainer as well as a USDF Bronze Medalist. This year Paula worked campers “on the mats” for thefirst 2 days of camp. On Friday and Saturday campers took their Pilates knowledge to their horses for mounted sessions. Core engagement became the buzz and there was much searching for the core. Many campers were very successful in this. Bess Reineman and Evie Tumlin taught lunge lessons to all campers Wednesday and Thursday. As the lessons were about seat, balance and study of movement, and “core”- the Cedar Wind Farm school horses were used to spare the campers horses. Participating auditors also had a chance to do the Pilates sessions in the mornings, and to be lunged. The campers and auditors alike feltthis was tremendously helpful. Pam’s lessons were all mounted Starting in the morning with groups and spending the afternoon in private lessons. There were 4 teams of 4, (or 5) with similar horse / rider combinations. All groups had lessons with both Pam and Paula in the mornings and half the campers had privates with Pam, and half had private lessons with Paula in the afternoons. They switched for their private sessions the next day. The Rowan Oak Riders Pony Club members were on hand again this year to lend a hand with barn chores for campers. They fed, watered, cleaned stalls, cooled out and put up horses and other helpful tasks that left the campers free to attend lectures or audit other lessons. They have been greatly appreciated by the campers for the past 4 years. The kids are growing up and have become more and more responsible. There were just 5 older workers this year and a couple of very young ones. This is the major fund raiser for the club each year and they were very grateful for the generosity of the campers. MsEDA was offering a one day ticket to the up-coming Debbie McDonald Symposium to the ROR PC’ers voted the most valuable. Campers announced on Saturday that finding the best worker was impossible and so took up a collection among themselves to see that all the older kids received tickets. Wednesday evening MsEDA, CWF, and Lisa Seaburg hosted a Bar-B-Q in the back pasture by a lake. The setting was beautiful, even if the lake was very low from lack of rain. Paula talked about The Pilates and how it relates to riding posture. She discussed fitness for the rider and how to use “The Core.” Pam set the tone of her lessons with a discussion of how to create perfect figures in the Dressage Arena. No matter what level you ride the integrity of schooling is lost if the rider doesn’t know exactly where they want to go and exactly how to get there. There were a couple of mishaps on the second day. These were both mounting accidents and so it was stressed that everyone must use a mounting block and to have assistance in holding their horse and right stirrup. Campers were wonderfully compliant in assisting fellow campers at following the rule. There were no more incidents. We were fortunate to have Ginger Gilmore as an auditor and a lecturer. Ginger is a Physical Trainer with the University of Alabama baseball team. She knew what to do in each case and took good care of our fallen campers. Ginger lectured us on the warning signs of overheating and encouraged everyone to drink, drink, drink. She made her point. Thursday was the long day as we had 2 wonderful demonstrations and lectures over 3 hours at mid-day. Dr. James Ennis, Equine Chiropractor (as well as human) from Quitman, AR discussed saddle fitting as well as the benefits of Chiropractic in horses. After demonstrating adjustments on a couple of problem horses he demonstrated stretches that horse owners can do with their own mounts from the ground to help keep them supple and happy. Dr. Ennis was on the grounds after the lecture to assess and adjust several horses. Our other lecturer was Dr. Kathy Mitchener, DVM from Memphis. Dr. Mitchener talked about Veterinary Acupuncture. She demonstrated on Jane Crane’s young horse, Tally who is currently in a series of treatments. It was great to also get the positive feedback from the horse owner. Dr. Mitchener is a Dressage rider and so has some insight into the sometimes very subtle changes that we can feel in our equine Dressage partners. The lecture was fascinating and precipitated many questions. We are planning to have both lecturers back next year and perhaps Dr. Mitchener will join us as a camper! Lessons went until 7:00 pm Thursday evening but schedule was back to 7:00 to 5:00 on Friday. Ginger’s lecture was at noon and she was joined by camper Bruce Lawrie who gave us a presentation on benefits of massage, and proper warm-up before riding. Bruce is a Massage Therapist, a wizard at many things and he brought his sound system all the way from TX for Pam to use in lessons in the formal arena. At noon and before and after lessons each day we had wonderful music wafting softly over the farm. Most campers and staff went in town to the Oxford Square for dinner on Friday night as Pam and Paula would be leaving after camp on Saturday. The campers that were staying for the schooling show Sunday went out for Mexican Food on Saturday night. Saturday was the last day of camp. The schedule was turned around so that the private sessions were in the morning. Instructors discussed with the campers what they thought they wanted to do in the afternoon. Evie has a Dressage arena marked, mowed and fertilized up in the hay fields. It is a little plot of green lawn in the middle of the field and it is so quiet and peaceful there. Several campers elected to go there and school there horses with Pam. Others wanted to stay and work on their tests for the show. Still others wanted one more infusion of the lunging exercises, or more Pilates with Paula. There were others that had a long way to drive and left for home after lunch. The objective of the camp is to bring Dressage education to adult riders. For the past two camps we have had the help of the Violet Hopkins Education Grant issued through the Dressage Foundation Inc. We could not have made this possible without their help. There were 4 instructors and we hosted 17 campers and 6 participating auditors. There were also 2 silent auditors. Our participants came from 6 states and ranged in age from 21 years to 64. We had Warmblood “greenies” and schoolmasters, very old and very young, Thoroughbreds, Arabians, and Quarter horses. There was even an Andalusian cross and a Russian Riding Horse. We had riders becoming comfortable with new horses and some working into 1st and 2nd level. There was a lot of absorption of information going on from early morning on each day. These camps keep getting better. We sincerely want to thank the Dressage Foundation Inc. for their help and we, the staff, want to thank all the campers and participants for making this a wonderful Dressage experience. We look forward to seeing you next year.