[email protected]12 June 2013 • USDF CONNECTION A ustin is a “happening” place. Te Texas state capital is home to the University of Tex- as and the yearly music extravaganza SXSW (that’s “South by Southwest” for the acronym-challenged). It’s also home to Austin Dressage Unlimited, a USDF group-member or- ganization (GMO) with a mission— and a mission statement: “Promoting education in the dressage community while encouraging advancement to- ward goals through a mutual support among friends.” ADU founding member Cean Em- brey says the organizers envisioned a “noncompetitive” GMO “with a goal of everybody working together and recognizing individuals for achieving the goals they’d set themselves.” In 2008, that vision became Austin Dressage Unlimited—whose year-end awards illustrate its focus on advance- ment toward personal goals. Members who’ve earned a USDF rider medal are welcomed into the ADU Medallion Club. Tose who’ve earned a USDF University certifcate or diploma are named ADU-USDF Scholars. And those who’ve moved up in the dres- sage levels receive a “Level-Headed Rider” patch in one of fve achieve- ment-designating colors. ADU University Te centerpiece of ADU’s commit- ment to education, community, mu- tual support—and, in the long run, friendship—is “ADU University,” a fve-level program that ofers “a for- mal goal-setting and accountability system of dressage training and edu- cation…a structured support system for developing and maintaining disci- pline in the life-long learning process of dressage.” ADU University’s three chief co- creators were Embrey, a professor in the area’s community-college system; multi-university chemistry profes- sor/researcher/PhD Trish Phelps; and dressage trainer and USDF gold med- alist Carol Schmickrath. “All three of us had a passion for dressage as well as education,” says Embrey, who is ADU-U’s dean. “I was the one putting it all down on paper. Trish helped refne the ‘university’ concept” with elements such as forms for charting student progress. “And Carol”—owner, with husband and fel- low trainer Rich Schmickrath, of 1992 US Olympic dressage-squad alternate mount Bombardier—“knew what it takes to get to the top.” Te three colleagues recognized that “many people, especially those starting dressage, don’t know what to do to progress and to learn,” Em- brey says. “Tey need a pathway. Ten there are others who know but need a structured program to stay moti- vated. Having to report to someone at the end of the month keeps them ac- countable and on the pathway.” ADU University’s fve training tracks—Associate, Bachelor, Master’s, Doctorate or PhD, and Post-Doctor- ate—correspond not to riding levels but to students’ “level of commitment to learning and training,” according to Embrey. (For a sample, see the “Uni- versity Requirements” summaries for Bachelor’s and Doctorate levels on page 13.) “An FEI rider could sign up for a Bachelor-level program, and a beginning rider could sign up for Doc- torate level.” She adds: “I’m a student in the program, I’m a mentor in the program, and I’m the dean of the pro- gram! So that kind of illustrates that it’s for everybody.” A prospective ADU University stu- dent chooses a level of commitment and seeks out a volunteer mentor to monitor his or her progress. ADU University maintains a list of recog- nized mentors; a student can request club connection Friends Helping Friends With an ambitious education program, Austin Dressage Unlimited encourages learning and camaraderie By D. J. Carey Lyons Photographs courtesy of Austin Dressage Unlimited TENS ACROSS THE BOARD: A happy Christoph Hess and audience award their marks at the 2013 ADU Judging Seminar
Austin is a “happening” place. Te texas state capital is home to the University of tex-
as and the yearly music extravaganza SXSW (that’s “South by Southwest” for the acronym-challenged).
it’s also home to Austin Dressage Unlimited, a USDF group-member or-ganization (GMo) with a mission—and a mission statement: “Promoting education in the dressage community while encouraging advancement to-ward goals through a mutual support among friends.”
ADU founding member Cean em-brey says the organizers envisioned a “noncompetitive” GMo “with a goal of everybody working together and
recognizing individuals for achieving the goals they’d set themselves.”
in 2008, that vision became Austin Dressage Unlimited—whose year-end
awards illustrate its focus on advance-ment toward personal goals. Members who’ve earned a USDF rider medal are welcomed into the ADU Medallion Club. Tose who’ve earned a USDF University certifcate or diploma are named ADU-USDF Scholars. And those who’ve moved up in the dres-sage levels receive a “Level-Headed Rider” patch in one of fve achieve-ment-designating colors.
ADU University
Te centerpiece of ADU’s commit-ment to education, community, mu-tual support—and, in the long run, friendship—is “ADU University,” a
fve-level program that ofers “a for-mal goal-setting and accountability system of dressage training and edu-cation…a structured support system
for developing and maintaining disci-pline in the life-long learning process of dressage.”
ADU University’s three chief co-creators were embrey, a professor in the area’s community-college system; multi-university chemistry profes-sor/researcher/PhD trish Phelps; and dressage trainer and USDF gold med-alist Carol Schmickrath.
“All three of us had a passion for dressage as well as education,” says embrey, who is ADU-U’s dean. “i was the one putting it all down on paper. trish helped refne the ‘university’ concept” with elements such as forms for charting student progress. “And Carol”—owner, with husband and fel-low trainer Rich Schmickrath, of 1992 US olympic dressage-squad alternate mount Bombardier—“knew what it takes to get to the top.”
Te three colleagues recognized that “many people, especially those starting dressage, don’t know what to do to progress and to learn,” em-brey says. “Tey need a pathway. Ten there are others who know but need a structured program to stay moti-vated. Having to report to someone at the end of the month keeps them ac-countable and on the pathway.”
ADU University’s fve training tracks—Associate, Bachelor, Master’s, Doctorate or PhD, and Post-Doctor-ate—correspond not to riding levels but to students’ “level of commitment to learning and training,” according to embrey. (For a sample, see the “Uni-versity Requirements” summaries for Bachelor’s and Doctorate levels on page 13.) “An Fei rider could sign up for a Bachelor-level program, and a beginning rider could sign up for Doc-torate level.” She adds: “i’m a student in the program, i’m a mentor in the program, and i’m the dean of the pro-gram! So that kind of illustrates that it’s for everybody.”
A prospective ADU University stu-dent chooses a level of commitment and seeks out a volunteer mentor to monitor his or her progress. ADU University maintains a list of recog-nized mentors; a student can request
club connection
Friends Helping FriendsWith an ambitious education program, Austin Dressage Unlimited
encourages learning and camaraderie
By D. J. Carey LyonsPhotographs courtesy of Austin Dressage Unlimited
TENS ACROSS THE BOARD: A happy Christoph Hess and audience award their marks at the
approval from the dean for a difer-ent mentor. After consulting with the mentor, the student pays a $20 tu-ition fee and submits a signed “pledge form” specifying such things as dres-sage goals for the year, selected train-ing track, and minimum requirements
to meet that commitment. Student, mentor, and dean all sign the form; each keeps a copy. Te student also receives a journal for recording riding activities, progress, and thoughts.
During the year, the student com-pletes and shares a monthly self-eval-uation form with the mentor. Te student also submits a mid-term and an end-of-year self-evaluation (again, mentor-signed) to the dean. Between reports, ADU-U encourages men-tors to observe students’ riding, train-
ing, and showing; to invite students to dressage activities; and to share their own stories.
According to embrey, one thing that pleases the program’s origina-tors is “the friendships that develop—many of them unlikely friendships be-tween people who probably wouldn’t have been exposed to each other oth-erwise. An Fei rider can look at a lower-level rider and see herself ten years ago, and the lower-level rider can realize that the Fei rider wasn’t
sented at member-hosted potluck suppers, each with a moderator to guide the conversation. in 2012-2013, for example, a series of six “D and D” nights began with a look at dressage in the 2012 London olympics. Te next DVD was on basic training, the third on lateral work, the fourth on mid-level movements, the ffth on upper-level movements, and the fnale was If Horses Could Speak: How Incor-
rect Riding Negatively Afects Horses’
Health. As a bonus, ADU members can earn 0.25 USDF University credit per session attended.
Another favorite club activity, sug-gested during a membership brain-storming session, “is our ‘practice shows,’” embrey says. “A rider enters and rides up to the head judge (usual-ly an ‘L’ grad), who asks what test the rider plans to do and discusses its pur-pose with the rider and with auditors in the stands. As the test proceeds, the judge—along with judging—is talk-ing to the auditors and giving scores. When the test, which someone has been videoing, is done, rider and judge discuss it; the judge may have the rider redo some parts. Ten the rider is given the video and goes into a room nearby to watch and discuss the recorded test with another ‘L’ grad.”
Distance Learning
ADU-U has made some adjustments to accommodate students beyond the central-texas area. “An instructor in Dallas, three or four hours’ drive away, wanted a lot of her students to do the program,” embrey says. “obviously
they couldn’t come down here, so she set up a series of DVD nights there and took her students to diferent clinics going on in her region. We called it our remote campus or distance-learning program. Tey used the program, but they tailored it to their area.
“We’ve also had out-of-state people say, ‘We don’t have anything like this. Can we join your club?’” embrey con-tinues. Tat would be impractical, but “we’re happy to share all our forms with and advise other GMos wanting to set
up their own University programs—which i’d expect they’d want to tailor to their own situations.” (ADU’s website, austindressageunlimited.org, has a link to ADU University.) s
A frm believer in “lifelong learning,”
freelance writer D. J. Carey Lyons
wishes Austin weren’t quite so far
away from her home base in south-
eastern Pennsylvania.
INSTANT REPLAY: After a test at an ADU
practice show, members review the video foot-
age with a USDF “L” graduate
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