Caboolture Dressage Group Junior Performance Camp
On Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd September 2021 CDG held a Junior Performance Camp. The idea behind the camp was to encourage junior CDG members to get together & enjoy the company of like minded juniors, learn a thing or two and find out what was available to them in our wonderful sport.
We had 27 very enthusiastic juniors attend – 14 CDG & 13 non-CDG members. Ages varied from 8 years old to 18! Levels of experience varied from complete beginners to riders who have ridden up to Advanced level. Parents were welcome to stay and join in. Many parents watched the dressage, trot pole lessons & protocol sessions being involved in the discussions.
Sessions and topics covered during the 2 days included a dressage lesson, a trot pole lesson, and a protocol session each day interspersed with theory sessions covering equine management, performance training, pilates, first aid, horse behaviour and how they learn, and pathways on offer for junior riders through Equestrian Qld. Dressage lessons were provided by our very enthusiastic & knowledgeable coaches Nicole Magoffin, Gary Lung, Anjanette Harten and Ruth White. Sharyn Ross was the very patient coach for the trot pole sessions managing several energetic, sometimes wild, juniors. FEI 5* Judge Maria Schwennesen and National A level judge Karen Herald undertook the protocol sessions where the riders rode through a test and were then given feedback on the test with ideas on how to improve their marks. Karen remarked on when riders were asked to tell her what they thought was good about their test how quick they were to pick the bad bits. She encourage riders to see the good in what they did & acknowledge that other bits could be improved.
Most of the session were designed to engage the participant and get them involved in the discussion. An interesting session was the ”Know your Saddlery” session. Riders were asked to identify various parts of the saddle by sticking labels on those parts. They were presented with a bridle that had been disassembled and asked to put it back together. Interesting that many could not get it right! We incorporated a lot of the rules riders should know when competing in dressage. What equipment is allowed and not allowed, along with rules when actually competing. The performance training session involved a lot of hands on by the participants. They were asked to set goals for the short to medium term and then to develop a Vision Board. Some of our younger participants surprised their parents as well as the instructors with their very mature approach to this session.
To add some fun, we had all the participants judge a dressage test. One of the organisers very kindly offered to ride a preparatory test for us all to judge. Well, I must say there are some of them that I would not like to judge me! They were very hard markers, but hopefully they now understand how hard it is for judges to judge one test let alone 30 or so in a competition. The second day started off with a treasure hunt to get the kids moving and excited for the day ahead. What fun that was! They were all so incredibly competitive but one of the youngest groups were the winner.
Morning tea & lunch was provided for all coaches, participants and parents both days. A very big thank you to Shona and Matt Ewing who provided the most scrumptious morning teas for both days.
CDG wishes to thank Petstock Caboolture, Dressage Qld, Equestrian Qld, Hygain, Kmart Morayfield, the Equestrian Qld Sport Development Fund, QSEC, MBRC & CDG members for supplying products for the riders’ bags and giving us enough to have awards for special occasions over the 2 days.
CDG gained several new members from this event. The feedback was exceptionally good with a lot of them asking if we will run it next year. The answer is YES! and we already have some new ideas for the next one, hopefully we can pull it off.
So, thank you to all the kids who participated and all the parents who were so supportive and helpful. We will see you all next year!
Karen, Sonja and Nicole.
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