A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Ciri Ciardelli of Duluth jumps with her horse, Oreo, in the junior/young rider clinic put on by Northwoods Dressage Association at River Ranch Farm in Esko.
Duluth's Coco Ciardelli rides her horse, Ducky, during the Northwoods Dressage Association junior/young rider clinic with clinician Salden Kurtz looking on and critiquing.
Horseback riders refined their dressage and hunter/jumper skills at the Northwoods Dressage Association clinic at River Ranch Farm in Esko last week.
Dressage is an Olympic sport in which riders train both the horses and themselves to perform increasingly complex movements. These movements form a predetermined pattern which is performed from memory at competitions.
For hunters and jumpers competition, horses are trained to jump over fences, ranging from ground poles to up to 5 feet and 3 inches at Grand Prix level. Hunter classes are judged on how well they perform over the fences. In jumping, also an Olympic sport, jumper classes are judged on how fast they complete the course.
The two-day clinic usually attracts an average of 20 youth riders from all around the Northland. This year's clinician was Salden Kurtz from Cologne, Minn. Kurtz has competed and won at some of the United States Dressage Association's highest levels. She has been coaching and training since 1997. To learn more about Northwoods Dressage Association, visit northwoodsdressage.weebly.com.
