By Ross Creech

In this YourDressage series, we are highlighting the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Para-Equestrian Dressage Centers of Excellence (COE), established through their COE initiative. Established in 2015, the COE initiative was designed to grow the sport of para-dressage throughout the United States. By recognizing centers of instruction and technical dressage training, COEs provide athletes with disabilities the opportunity to discover competitive para-dressage at the national and CPEDI level.

The COE initiative, and the nine facilities currently designated as COEs, play a critical role in pipeline development – from grassroots through elite level athletes, and coach education and support. Carlisle Academy was a founding center, with only three centers being recognized nationally at the inset.

Carlisle Academy

Located in Lyman, ME, Carlisle Academy was founded in 1998 by Nick and Sarah Armentrout. Initially established as the Equest Therapeutic Riding Center, in 2011, the transition to Carlisle Academy Integrative Equine Therapy & Sports occurred. Now in their 26^th year, Carlisle Academy is incorporated in Maine as an L3C (low-profit limited liability company), meaning that it is designated as a social enterprise putting purpose before profit.

In partnership with Spring Creek Farm, Carlisle Academy provides a spectrum of accredited programs as a Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) International Premier Accredited Center and US Pony Club Riding Center, and collaborates with community partners to provide traditional equestrian education, para-equestrian sports, and health and wellness programs, including nature-based initiatives for vulnerable populations and individuals with challenges.

Equity For All

Carlisle’s dedication to these programs, specifically para-dressage is evident in their equity statement, which reads:

Respect, Inclusion, & Connection. These are words and concepts that drive much of the work we do here at Carlisle Academy. Our lens for affecting positive change happens to be through horses, and the healing and joy they bring does not discriminate. Everyone is welcome here. All belong.” As our core values state, “we hold a deep respect for humanity, animal kind and the natural world, and are committed to learning from our interdependence”. We condemn racism in all its forms and commit to doing our part to dismantle the structures that perpetuate it. We are listening and learning. We are envisioning new ways we can empower, create access, and increase equity and kindness in our small corner of the world.

Core Values for Operation

Additionally, Carlisle has three primary core values that have shaped and guided their efforts over the years to much success. Here we explore these core values and the strides Carlisle has made in their dedication to them:

Belief in equestrian sports, including para-equestrian sports, that promote inclusion, community, and growth in mind, body, and spirit.

From its inception, Carlisle Academy has promoted inclusion in all programs they operate, with a particular focus on sport inclusion. This meant creating their own division of service called Adaptive Equestrian Sports, which was eventually adopted by PATH, International as an official category and terminology.

Adaptive Equestrian Sports recognizes those individuals with physical and intellectual challenges who require adaptations beyond what can be done in a typical adaptive riding/therapeutic riding setting. This also allowed riders who are not para-eligible, due to intellectual disabilities, to participate in competition with modifications.

Adaptive equestrian sport prepares people with diverse needs to participate in events and competitions in equine disciplines such as driving, dressage, reining, and Western or English riding. Coaches and trainers should have extensive knowledge and expertise related to their specific equine disciplines, including training and competition requirements, possible adaptations for athletes with diverse needs, and representative organizations. Benefits of adaptive equestrian sport may include motivation and opportunities to excel as competitive athletes, physical fitness, self-confidence, and social inclusion.

– Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) International

Sarah Armentrout has been a proponent of sport inclusion in Pony Club programs for the last decade. This meant coordinating with USPC leadership to support  inclusion measures and reasonable accommodation for riders with physical impairments. Accommodations might include allowing the riders to talk through how to wrap a polo or tack up a horse independently if they were unable to do it themselves due to a missing limb or other impairment. Sarah has also been encouraging the adoption of para-dressage into Pony Club certification tracks, knowing that the sport rules and regulations have already been defined by FEI and USEF.

Further, since 2009 Carlisle Academy has provided para-dressage clinics annually to emerging and high-performance athletes as a grassroots effort to feed the pipeline development of the sport. In the early days, when the US did not have many organized para athlete development opportunities and knowledgeable coaches, Carlisle contracted with para-dressage experts internationally. These experts included Dutch Paralympic Judge Hanneke Gerritsen, Dutch Coach Pauline Alberts, UK Coach Clive Milkins, and UK Coach Michel Assouline, who came to Carlisle between 2009 and 2015. This was done on their own at first, then through partnership with USEF, as the USEF Para-Dressage Centers of Excellence came to the forefront in 2015.

Belief that collaborative teamwork combined with credentialed professionals and courageous leadership foster innovation, greater efficacy, and program excellence.

This core value was a driving force behind the Adaptive Sport Grant funding through the Department of Veterans Affairs between 2016-2019, that Sarah Armentrout coordinated. This funding underwrote the collaboration between Carlisle Academy and USEF, leading to the formation of the first USEF Para-Dressage Coach Certificate Program. The purpose was to establish para-dressage coaching standards and program excellence in the US, under the direction and leadership of USEF Head Coach & Technical Delegate Michel Assouline.

The funds filtered to each COE for pipeline development, as well as veterans funding support, and included dedicated funding for the first tranche of 35 para coaches to go through a pilot certification program free of charge.

Belief that academic partnerships and fieldwork experiences are critical to advancing and shaping the practical and theoretical frameworks in equine-based fields and the emerging beliefs of young professionals.

Carlisle Academy has been involved with academic partnerships since 2011 because of their belief in impacting the next generation through innovative practices in non-traditional settings. In this time, over 150 college interns have come through the academy doors. Their internships have centered around career exploration, psychology, animal science, and most especially occupational therapy graduate student research and clinical education. Interns have assisted with hippotherapy, adaptive riding, and para-dressage and nature-based interventions.

Carlisle maintains active contracts with Duke University, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, University of New Hampshire, and, most recently, Northeastern University, who plans to help para riders with vision impairments create a device to replace “letter callers” through a bioengineering capstone research project in 2025.

These core values are exemplified in para-dressage, making it a cornerstone of Carlisle Academy, as they strive to help those on the periphery be included, and when not, advocate for their inclusion.

Team Carlisle: Humans and Horses

Carlisle Academy employs instructors and clinicians with sound training and expertise in dressage, gained through Pony Club, evidenced through their achievements (USDF Rider Medals), or based on USDF dressage and USEF Para Dressage certifications.

Carlisle’s para riders train with Silver Level Para Coach, Sarah Armentrout, with all students having the opportunity to compete onsite, once or twice a year on school horses, in both dressage and para-dressage classes.

Fielding safe all-around horses, who can perform in all aspects of our programs, while also offering high-quality former FEI schoolmasters, is something Carlisle has worked hard to achieve over the years. This has been an integral part of being able to introduce para athletes into the sport.

Carlisle has had the good fortune to train, retrain, and turn out some wonderful horses, with great generosity of spirit and a willingness to continue giving back in their senior years. However, the program is reliant on the generosity of horse owners who want to donate their special schoolmaster to its (often) third career. The generosity of both horse and owner is integral to the success of para-dressage riders who need a safe, educated mount with the grace to accommodate various challenges. In the para world, this is an art and a science, and something that is profoundly rewarding to watch as partnerships form.

Notable students and friends of the academy include Roxanne Trunnell, now the most decorated Paralympic equestrian athlete in history, following her team gold and individual silver medals at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, and World Equestrian Games para athlete Mary Jordan, who was an alternate for the 2012 London Paralympic Games. Jordan, a friend of Carlisle Academy founder Sarah Armentrout, is also the reason Carlisle became involved in para-dressage.

My first introduction into Para Equestrian was at a symposium held at Carlisle Academy. Top trainers, and clinicians were brought in to help evaluate and encourage the participants to learn about the steps needed to be successful as an international para equestrian . I left there with a firm understanding of what I needed to do to ride for Team USA. They set me onto the path that has led to 3 Paralympic Games & 2 World Championships where I have been successful enough to win 7 medals for the USA. 

– Roxanne Trunnell

As one of the founding centers, Carlisle Academy exemplifies the USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage Centers of Excellence program and designation to a T. USDF and YourDressage are proud to recognize them for the outstanding efforts and support of the dressage and para-dressage communities within in the US and abroad.

For more information on Carlisle Academy, visit their website at www.carlisleacademymaine.com. And make sure to follow YourDressage, as we continue to highlight these USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage Centers of Excellence and their contributions to our sport!

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Sarah Armentrout, Co-Founder & Head of School, Carlisle Academy – As co-founder of Carlisle Academy, Sarah manages strategic oversight while also creating curriculum and coaching students. She has been in the field of equine-assisted therapies and equestrian sports as a coach and competitor for over 30 years and is a PATH, Intl. Advanced Riding Instructor, a PATH, Intl. Mentor, and a USEF Certified Silver Level Para-Dressage Coach. In the 1990’s Sarah worked at the National Center for Equine-Facilitated Therapy in Woodside, California under the tutelage of the late Barbara Heine, early visionary of the American Hippotherapy Association. She later moved into management at the Sagebrush Equine Training Center for the Handicapped in Hailey, ID with husband Nick, while also apprenticing as working student for Connected Riding Founder, Peggy Cummings. Prior to creating Carlisle Academy, Sarah was the Group Team Leader of Corporate Communications at Tom’s of Maine, managing brand identity, integrated communications, and corporate giving. Sarah currently serves on the statewide Board of Directors for the Maine Community Foundation and sits on the National Advisory Council of the United States Equestrian Team Foundation Between. 2016-2019, Sarah acted as the National Coordinator for the Veterans Paralympic Equestrian Sport Initiative through the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Adaptive Sport Grant which helped shape the curriculum and pilot for the USEF Para-Dressage Coach Certificate Program under USEF Head of Coach Development & Technical Advisor, Michel Assouline. Sarah graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. Sarah and Nick live at Spring Creek Farm, homebase for Carlisle Academy, in Lyman, Maine, where they raised their three children.