This is Devon --A good mix of disabled riders from Devon and Cornwall turned out for the first para dressage coaching clinic with RDA Fellow Clive Milkins at Lakefield Equestrian Centre near Camelford, Cornwall.
Nine riders took part using mainly livery owner's horses based at the centre. They were Olivia Humpfries (North Cornwall RDA Group), Anthony Loughran (Erme Valley RDA Group), Claire Sexton, Alice Guerney (North Cornwall RDA Group), Chloe Palmer (North Cornwall RDA Group), Sarah Cooper, Alice Wheeler, Matthew Sims (South West Cornwall RDA Group) and Natasha Howlett (Chiverton RDA Group).
"Without owners that are prepared to allow others to ride their horses this clinic would not have been able to help as many people aspire to further themselves," said the centre's Mark Cunliffe BHSII.
"There was a calm, approachable and supportive manner to Clive's coaching from his very first session right through to the end of the day," commented Mark.
"Clive's philosophy is that anybody can achieve a goal and improve themselves."
Olivia Humpfries was the first to receive guidance from Clive. "He helped me improve my feel for more accurate movements and gave me more confidence to create a good and correct amount of energy to keep the horse working within a better rhythm – this will all help my performance at RDA dressage competitions," said Olivia who has been to the RDA national championships three times.
"Clive was great to understand and I'm hoping to go to another of his clinics."
Clive also coached a couple of Grade 1b riders Chloe Palmer and Sarah Cooper.
Chloe rides and trains with Mark Cunliffe at Lakefield Equestrian Centre on a weekly basis and is aiming to qualify for the RDA national championships this year with a long term goal to compete at BD para dressage and ultimately Rio 2016.
"I'm feeling so much more confident about where I want to go in the future. Clive gave me some great tips on getting my horse on the bit. My short term goal is to show Clive how much I have improved when he returns in April."
Sarah Cooper, who is studying at Duchy college, hopes to go down the RDA and PARA competition route.
"I will take with me and put into practice the use of some of the exercises which involved the scales of training, which I think will definitely make a difference to the way I approach riding any horse."
The clinic also provided a chance for coaches around the region to meet-up and discuss ideas.
"Knowing that Clive Milkins coached a Paralympic Gold Medal winner I was worried we were going to be out of our depth but we had a fantastic time. It was a great experience to watch a wide variety of riders and horses being quietly transformed into partnerships throughout the day," enthused South West RDA coach, Amy Griffiths.
Equally delighted was Peggy Douglas of the Erme Valley RDA.
"Our three coaches enjoyed new ideas and also the variety of riders made it more valuable from a coaches point of view."
The day was helped made possible by the support from both the Para Dressage Training Trust and the RDA south West Regional Committee for financially supporting the riders to make each session affordable. Both these organisations are charities and actively fund raise to be able to support riders.
Another clinic is to be held with Clive Milkins on Tuesday April 2 at Lakefield Equestrian Centre. Reported by This is 1 day ago.