Dressage preparations get a boost

Bermuda will prepare for the FEI World Dressage Competition with a visit this weekend from influential American Tom Poulin.

Poulin, a renowned rider, trainer, senior judge,  instructor and clinician will be conducting clinics to help the riders and horses as he did ahead of the country’s CEA Mini World Dressage Competition win in November.

That worked a treat, with Bermuda’s adult team defeating Jamaica, Cayman, Barbados and Trinidad, while the children’s team placed second behind Cayman.  

For the FEI competition on February 23 — which is set to feature 54 countries — Bermuda will be the first island of Trinidad, Barbados, Cayman, Jamaica and Haiti to be visited by judges Elke Hilde Ebert, from Germany, and Mariano Santos Redondo, from Spain. 

Riders from beginner to advanced levels will benefit from Poulin’s clinics.

Participants include Dawn Fox with Lancelot, Ashley Gibbs with Landtango and Michelle Ingham with Roseland.

Local instructor Angela Holloran-Smith will also be riding. Clinics will be held Saturday and early Sunday morning at the National Equestrian Center, Vesey Street, Devonshire where riders will practice the tests they must perform later this month.  

Additional session at various stables on the island will be held Friday through Sunday.

For full clinic schedule and more information on dressage in Bermuda go to www.bermudadressagegroup.com.