The 2023 Adequan®/USDF FEI-Level Trainers Conference will be held January 16-17 at High Meadow Farm in Loxahatchee, FL. The conference will feature David Hunt, Henk van Bergen, Linda Zang, and Lilo Fore. We take this opportunity to look back on a conference from six years ago.
The Trainers Conference, held January 16-17 at High Meadow Farm in Loxahatchee, FL, adhered to its usual format: high-quality demonstration horses and riders working with world-class clinicians, with the audience sitting ringside and given ample opportunities to ask questions of the presenters. This year, the trainer attendees sat along the long sides of host Mary Anne McPhail’s covered arena while the judges occupied bleachers on the short side by “C.”
The dual-purpose format created a bump in attendance: about 390 registrants, up from 300-plus in 2016. It also created a challenge for the presenters, the recently retired FEI 5* judge Lilo Fore of California and the FEI 5* judge Hans Christian Matthiesen of Denmark. Aware of the event-structure change and eager to appeal to both the trainers and the judges, Fore and Matthiesen both said afterward that doing so was a balancing act.
Photos by Jennifer Bryant
Conference presenters Hans Christian Matthiesen and Lilo Fore frequently lightened the mood with humorAfter a difficult first attempt, Elizabeth Caron and Schroeder execute an improved canter pirouetteThe Dutch Harness Horse Cartier shows off his passage under Debbie Hill. Cartier started off as an Amish work horse and was sent to auction before finding his niche in dressageBeaujolais, owned and ridden by Karen Pavicic, shows a quality stretch in the trot, with no tension or restriction in the neck or throatlatch areaThe Grand Prix-level Stefano 8 knows his job and needs no drilling, said Lilo Fore (standing), who trains rider/owner Beatrice “Trixie” Marienau. Their daily work focuses on the basics, with short tune-ups prior to competitionThe 2017 Trainers Conference was an opportunity for both judges and trainers to deepen their dressage knowledge. US Equestrian Judges Forum participants (in bleachers) and Trainers Conference participants look on as Dana Fiore rides So SpecialParticipants in Dressage4Kids’ Winter Intensive Training Program (with D4K founder Lendon Gray, back row, right of horse; and including demo rider Elizabeth Caron on Schroeder) volunteered at the Trainers ConferenceHans Christian Matthiesen with demonstration rider Lauren ChumleyGifts and flowers for conference presenters Hans Christian Matthiesen and Lilo Fore, and to High Meadow Farm owner Mary Anne McPhail
This article received an honorable mention in the 2023 GMO Newsletter Awards for first person experience articles for GMOs with 75-174 members. It appeared in the October 2022 St. Louis Area Dressage Society newsletter, Hoofprints.
