It's peak learning season! We've been showing up a storm and are settling in for a fantastic July and August of learning, with some fantastic events you cannot miss. Read on to learn all about them!

We've had a banner Spring competition season, with riders from green to Grand Prix making a big splash. Here are some of the highlights:

1st Place Gigi Carter & Selebration, 2-1

2nd Place Ali Redston & Jodie Harney's Sullivan, 4-1, 66.053%

3rd Place Claire Decker & Patricia Vos's Corino VDL, 2-1, 70%

1st & 2nd Places Nicole Vasil & Castleberry's ReFflection, 2-1 & 2-2, 63 & 61.026%

1st, 2nd and 3rd Place Beth Zielinski & Ducati, 1-3 and 1-1, 69.4, 69.4 and 65%

2nd Place Lauren Sprieser & her and Mary Ewing's Gretzky RV, Grand Prix, 66.63%

1st Places Skylar Skalicky & Jodie Harney's Fermani C, 4-1, 65 & 64.211%

1st & 2nd Place Lauren Sprieser & Madiene, 1-3, 70.278 & 70.417%

1st Places Beth Zielinski & Ducati, 1-3 and 1-1, 67.5, 71.944 & 72.778%, plus High Score First Level!

1st Places Abe Pugh & Alice Drayer's Elfenperfekt, Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special, 68.261 & 68.245%

1st Place Ali Redston & Jodie Harney's Sullivan, 4-1, 69.079%

1st & 2nd Place Lauren Sprieser & Madiene, 1-3, 73.472 & 69.722%

4th Places Patricia Vos & Corino VDL, 1-3, 63.611 & 62.639

Extra congratulations to Nicole Vasil on Castleberry's ReFflection's Westfalen NA stallion approval based on his competition successes this year!

Our 2023 clinic schedule is bursting at the seams! We're just a few weeks away from our regular rider biomechanics clinic with Suzanne Galdun July 8-9. Suzanne is an accredited Ride With Your Mind coach, one of only 9 in the US, and a presenter at Equine Affair. Suzanne joins us often and is as effective with her most beginner students as she is with her Grand Prix riders, and is appreciated by auditors as well for her clear communication style and thoughtful exercises. Sign up to audit on Strider!

July 29-30 we're delighted to welcome noted professional Chelsea Canedy for a clinic on Horsemanship techniques for competition riders. Chelsea is an upper level event rider specializing in connecting equine athletes and their partners through her extensive knowledge of horse and rider behavior. Through integrative practices, Chelsea works with riders to understand their horse, overcome their fears and reconnect with their goals. This will be a phenomenal clinic that we've been giddy about for months, so head to Strider to learn more and sign up!

Lastly, we'll welcome back Grand Prix dressage rider Vera Kessels for a clinic August 15-16. Vera grew up in the Netherlands, a member of a show-jumper family. She worked ten years at a large training and sales barn in Holland before coming to the United States in 1995 with her Grand Prix horse Dotato. A talented trainer, Vera is also a successful competitor, winning many prestigious open and CDI Grand Prix competitions including the Palm Beach Dressage Derby and the renown Dressage at Devon. As a teacher, Vera is detail-oriented, classical in approach and optimistic in attitude. She believes every horse and rider deserves earnest attention and positive training. Her experience is both broad and deep, having worked with nearly every type and breed of horse over the course of 40+ years. Overall, Vera is a skilled instructor capable of communicating her knowledge and talents to her students as they strive to improve dressage fundamentals or to advance to the next level. Sign up for auditing (which includes lunch!) on Strider; for information on ride spots, shoot me an email.

We're also putting together a day with Bit & Bridle fitting expert Stephanie Brown-Beamer, likely mid-August on a weekday, as well as saddle fit consultations with renowned expert Colleen Meyer, possibly the weekends of August 12-13 or 19-20 but confirmation forthcoming. Absolutely shoot me a note to get on the list for these, as it would be more helpful for us to have a headcount as we jiggle dates around.

Assistant trainer Ali Redston - USDF Silver and Bronze Medalist with Distinction - and I are teaching up a storm as usual, both in-person and virtually. Please sign up for a lesson with either Ali or myself at TimeCenter - our Spring schedule is live! Ali and I also have availability for hub lessons throughout the area, so if you've got three or more riders, we'd love to come to you. Reach out via email and we'll get started.

And we have an unusual opening for full-training board beginning in early July. We're a fun crowd of awesome people working hard to achieve their big hairy goals while having a ton of fun doing it, and our team is the best in the business. We'd love to welcome you to our family!

We can't wait to see you, whether in person or behind a screen, so you can get to achieving all your dreams! Keep an eye on Facebook for the latest details.

On behalf of everyone at Team Sprieser, we look forward to seeing you around the farm!

Sincerely,

Lauren Sprieser

Sprieser Sporthorse