The four American Young Riders, which were selected by the USDF and the Dressage Foundation for an educationam program in Europe, have completed two thirds of their visit in Europe.
The group, consisting of Ryan Hites, Jennifer Roth, Kirstin Wasemiller and Kate Poulin, flew to Dusseldorf, Germany, on August 18th to meet with Jean Bemelmans and his wife Nicole. At Bemelmans' barn, the group saw how Jean trains his youngsters and upper level dressage horses. The German was concluded at the German Youth Championships in Exter before driving to the Netherlands.
At Judy de Winter's barn, all four of them got to ride several sales horses. Ryan Hites reports on his ride at De Winter's barn: "We left for the stable of Judy de Winter's for our first group riding experience with help from Michael and Beth. The De Winter's stable is a sales barn, but we were able to ride the horses in a lesson format as opposed to a buyers' presentation. The horse that I rode was a great schoolmaster and I spent the majority of
the time working on my position and balance issues. Afterwards, I watched everyone else riding and we spent the afternoon and evening traveling the Dutch countryside looking at various sale horses. For dinner we ate at our first Dutch McDonald's which I am pleased to say is exactly the same as in America. We arrived at the hotel quite late."
Supervised by Beth Baumert and Michael Poulin, the group will ends its Grand Tour through Germany, Holland and England at the European Young Riders Championships in Hickstead, England.
Photo © Mary Phelps - www.phelpsphotos.com