Happy New Year! I had a really nice December—Tom and I drove my horses down to Florida so Lila Brown, who is helping me this winter, could have a Florida Christmas and enjoy the horses in the warmth rather than freezing cold Virginia. I got the horses settled, rode them, jumped with Lynn Symansky and then traveled back to Virginia to do some clinics. Then I flew to Colorado for Christmas with my parents and my brother and his family. We enjoyed some great skiing, great snow and beautiful weather in the mountains before coming back home to fly down to Florida to start the season.
Right before Christmas I was lucky enough to participate in a U.S. Center for Coaching Excellence Workshop. From their website: “The USCCE is a national non-profit organization dedicated to elevating and enhancing the professions of sport coaching, coach education and coach development.” (https://uscoachexcellence.org/) Part of their process is shifting a coach's mindset from coach to coach developer. One of the goals is to teach coaches how to encourage students to do the thinking, to enhance their learning. It’s a highly interactive workshop covering how coaches and students learn, and strategies and facilitation skills using questioning, listening, review and feedback.
The training was one of the most intense three days that I’ve had in a long time, especially for a person that stopped school when I was 17! The USEF and David O’Connor have integrated the program for coach development into our discipline, to help from the top down and grow our equestrian sports. In our workshop, we were lucky enough to have not only dressage and eventing coaches but also hockey, golf, swimming, and track and field experts, and coaches that are trying to implement the same coach development tactics into their sports. If you are at all interested in being a better coach and looking for new ways to think about teaching, I highly recommend reaching out to the USEF or David O’Connor. I think it’s pretty exciting for our equestrian sports to be part of this. Having exposure to other coaches at the top of their field is amazing, and you realize that their thought process and how they support their athletes and coaches is the same across the board, and a huge part of promoting success and confidence.
Having just done with the coach's workshop, it was fascinating to then help coach the EA-21 riders in Ocala and witness how much David, who has participated in USCCE coach development, incorporates the skills that I had just learned into his instruction.
I had applied for the second time to be an EA-21 coach, a position I missed out on three years ago. I normally wouldn’t have applied again, but I really believe in the program and want to give back to the sport and help shape our younger generation. The camp started on December 31st and every morning we had a lecture put on by David. The last morning Rebecca Brown, Emily Mastervich and I planned the lecture, and talked about how there are a lot of different ways to structure an equestrian business, attract sponsorship, and form syndicates. It was so fun to hear David every morning because I would say that he, along with Phillip Dutton, have influenced my career the most. Having heard David's lectures and thought process 25 years ago, and then hearing him teach today with an evolved program, was so special for me, and so special for our younger generation to be able to get educated by one of the greats of our sport.
The whole purpose of the EA-21 is not only to help the kids ride better, but to give them the tools to be better trainers, so they can start to have a thought process to solve their own problems. I was completely inspired by the kids, David, and the other coaches and I’m so excited to be part of a program that I think is extremely important for our younger generation. I feel honored to be included. As part of the program, I will be coaching at Aspen Farm’s West #2 clinic, August 12-13.
The EA-21 Clinic was certainly a super inspiring way to start Florida this year. I’m so lucky and honored to live in FLorida with my good friends, Susan and Barton Merle-Smith, during the winter and appreciate having them as my support family. My horses are back at Corner Oaks Farm owned by Claudia Sarnoff and Barbara Crowley Riddleberger. In the first week of the year I was fortunate to sell two horses, one that I'd trained and one that I'd owned and trained. I’m excited for the new owners and look forward to following their success. I still have two more thoroughbreds, but if you know me, everything is for sale, even Beautiful Storm. Sometimes it’s hard to balance making a living and your addiction to buying thoroughbreds, but there are worse problems to have!
For more on the EA-21 Program, click on the links below:
https://useventing.com/membership/emerging-athletes-u21/ea21-national-camp
https://useventing.com/news-media/news/fast-facts-2024-2025-ea21-national-camp
Right before Christmas I was lucky enough to participate in a U.S. Center for Coaching Excellence Workshop. From their website: “The USCCE is a national non-profit organization dedicated to elevating and enhancing the professions of sport coaching, coach education and coach development.” (https://uscoachexcellence.org/) Part of their process is shifting a coach's mindset from coach to coach developer. One of the goals is to teach coaches how to encourage students to do the thinking, to enhance their learning. It’s a highly interactive workshop covering how coaches and students learn, and strategies and facilitation skills using questioning, listening, review and feedback.
The training was one of the most intense three days that I’ve had in a long time, especially for a person that stopped school when I was 17! The USEF and David O’Connor have integrated the program for coach development into our discipline, to help from the top down and grow our equestrian sports. In our workshop, we were lucky enough to have not only dressage and eventing coaches but also hockey, golf, swimming, and track and field experts, and coaches that are trying to implement the same coach development tactics into their sports. If you are at all interested in being a better coach and looking for new ways to think about teaching, I highly recommend reaching out to the USEF or David O’Connor. I think it’s pretty exciting for our equestrian sports to be part of this. Having exposure to other coaches at the top of their field is amazing, and you realize that their thought process and how they support their athletes and coaches is the same across the board, and a huge part of promoting success and confidence.
Having just done with the coach's workshop, it was fascinating to then help coach the EA-21 riders in Ocala and witness how much David, who has participated in USCCE coach development, incorporates the skills that I had just learned into his instruction.
I had applied for the second time to be an EA-21 coach, a position I missed out on three years ago. I normally wouldn’t have applied again, but I really believe in the program and want to give back to the sport and help shape our younger generation. The camp started on December 31st and every morning we had a lecture put on by David. The last morning Rebecca Brown, Emily Mastervich and I planned the lecture, and talked about how there are a lot of different ways to structure an equestrian business, attract sponsorship, and form syndicates. It was so fun to hear David every morning because I would say that he, along with Phillip Dutton, have influenced my career the most. Having heard David's lectures and thought process 25 years ago, and then hearing him teach today with an evolved program, was so special for me, and so special for our younger generation to be able to get educated by one of the greats of our sport.
The whole purpose of the EA-21 is not only to help the kids ride better, but to give them the tools to be better trainers, so they can start to have a thought process to solve their own problems. I was completely inspired by the kids, David, and the other coaches and I’m so excited to be part of a program that I think is extremely important for our younger generation. I feel honored to be included. As part of the program, I will be coaching at Aspen Farm’s West #2 clinic, August 12-13.
The EA-21 Clinic was certainly a super inspiring way to start Florida this year. I’m so lucky and honored to live in FLorida with my good friends, Susan and Barton Merle-Smith, during the winter and appreciate having them as my support family. My horses are back at Corner Oaks Farm owned by Claudia Sarnoff and Barbara Crowley Riddleberger. In the first week of the year I was fortunate to sell two horses, one that I'd trained and one that I'd owned and trained. I’m excited for the new owners and look forward to following their success. I still have two more thoroughbreds, but if you know me, everything is for sale, even Beautiful Storm. Sometimes it’s hard to balance making a living and your addiction to buying thoroughbreds, but there are worse problems to have!
For more on the EA-21 Program, click on the links below:
https://useventing.com/membership/emerging-athletes-u21/ea21-national-camp
https://useventing.com/news-media/news/fast-facts-2024-2025-ea21-national-camp
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