Region 9 Youth Participate in 1st Annual Emerging Dressage Athletes Program
By Elaine Hildreth
Four riders from Region 9, Allie Cyprus, Bronwyn Kordiak, Marlena Kurtz, and Ayden Uhlirreceived invitations to be a part of the first annual Emerging Dressage Athletes Program (EDAP), which received sponsorship from Horseshow.com and Purina. This year, there were clinics in Michigan, New York, and Texas, and the program culminated with the Robert Dover Horsemastership Week, a mega-clinic where participants from around the country came together in Wellington, FL to from December 21-January 1. Allie, Bronwyn, and Marlena participated as riders, and Ayden participated as an auditor. Olympians Lendon Gray, Robert Dover, and Courtney King-Dye developed EDAP with the hopes of combining their talents to find, educate, and develop talented youth to become the talented international dressage riders and trainers of the future.
During the Robert Dover Horsemastership Week, the participants received training from Kathy Connelly, Katherine Bates-Chandler, Courtney King-Dye, Anne Gribbons, Robert Dover, Lendon Gray, and Oded. Additionally, each day included two lectures from various experts such as Rick Mitchell, DVM, Jenny Susser a sports psychologist, and Arnie Gervasio an Olympic team farrier. As you can imagine, with so much going on, these girls were not on holiday over the holidays! The week also included 6:00 AM workouts with Robert Dover’s personal trainer, Bob. While Bob’s workouts were survivable, the girls learned that their ideas of the fitness level necessary to be a top dressage rider did not exactly line up with Bob’s ideas.
Most importantly though, the experiences these girls gained through EDAP are highlighted by their newfound friendships. All competitors can identify with getting to know their fellow competitors within their sport by seeing them at a various venues throughout the year. Yet these short interactions rarely develop into meaningful friendships. As Ayden stated in her article in Dressage Daily, the “week together in Wellington gave all of us time to bond outside of being competitors. I built memories with other riders that will most likely be part of my entire life. We are now a support group for each other. We constantly chat on Facebook and share many aspects of our lives, not just our scores. I thank Lendon Gray, Robert Dover, Courtney King-Dye and all the other participants of EDAP for changing my life.”
For more information about EDAP, please visit Dressage 4 Kids and click on the link that says Emerging Dressage Athlete Program.
Marlena is in the front row 2nd from the left; Bronwyn is 5th from left in back; Allie is 6th from left in back; Ayden is second from right next to Lendon Gray.