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NEW WEBSITE! Join us Oct. 5 for FREESTYLE
2008! Buy tickets online.
NEW! Free subscription
to DressageClinic.com with donation! Horses are so often nutritive to those humans who
seek out their company. The work of my foundation honors and draws on the
seemingly mystical nourishing quality of the horse. This nourishing
quality allows bonds to grow between people of diverse backgrounds,
serves as a balm for the disquieted soul, and somehow allows even
the most lost to feel at home in their presence. |
Freestyle 2007 Competitors UpdatesWe encourage our Freestyle 2007 competitors to send us news of competitions, horses, awards, projects, clinics, medals...please share any information you wish with us, and it will be posted here. This page is for you! Please support Freestyle 2008, for the benefit of The Bear Spot Foundation and all the great work it does!From Dr. Cesar Parra (Florida) ...This year will mark the eight year that we have been in the states. It has been a wonderful journey with many blessings! As we travel on this journey of life, we will be challenged with many hardships, but with each we grow and become stronger. Through these challenges we realize that God will not give us anything we cannot handle with His help and guidance, and we become aware of all the wonderful things we do have to be thankful for. Perhaps the biggest challenge of this year was my recent stroke. However, through this experience, as well as my successful heart surgery, I have been shown how fortunate I am to have my life, none the less my health. I am blessed to have a healthy, supportive wonderful family to help me through this time as well as countless friends who cannot imagine how much they mean to me. I am fortunate to live in a country with such excellent doctors and to live in an age with such amazing technology. I am thankful for every amazing person that helped me through this challenge and thankful for being here for this holiday. This Thanksgiving I would like to thank God for all his blessings, especially the wonderful people he has led into my life: a loving, supportive family who I cherish, fantastic clients who I get the joy to teach and watch develop, caring friends who always will be there for me, and a downright wonderful team who I could not function without. Thanks! My family and I would like to wish all a wonderful, memorable, and safe Thanksgiving. God bless! Cesar From Pam Mansfield (submitted to the Equine Journal): Music was in the air on October 7th as horses and riders performed choreographed dressage movements at the 2007 Freestyle held to benefit the Bear Spot Foundation for Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy. The depth of talent among the seven FEI and Grand Prix riders awed the audience of 300 who enjoyed ringside seating, a luncheon, and picnicking at Bear Spot Farm in Concord, Massachusetts. The farm and the therapeutic riding program are owned an operated by Grand Prix dressage rider and psychotherapist Dr. Jane Karol. Karol began with a demonstration and explanation of dressage movements riding Jigger, a mare owned by Mary Mansfield. Jane’s daughter Hope rode Jake, Bear Spot Foundation’s therapeutic horse, while Jane read testimonials from clients. A vaulting demonstration by Renaissance Farm Vaulting Team of Wilton, New Hampshire, and an appearance by a premium mare and foal from Majestic Gaits Farm set the stage for the main event. Olympic dressage rider Dottie Morkis and Mr. Big, an 18 hand Holsteiner gelding, made a dramatic entry with both powerful movements and music that emphasized his gallantry. Next, Tanya Rennie and DeJure, a grey Oldenburg mare, floated to lilting Spanish music. Nancy Later and Oldenburg mare Alexis D performed extended trot and tempe changes in perfect time to their music. Paige Finnegan and Karola 1, a Holsteiner mare who had participated in the Children of the Americas competition for the previous two days at the farm, performed an amazing “lofty piaffe” as described by Master of Ceremonies Kathy Connelly. Jane Karol rode Nibbit, a Dutch Warmblood gelding, to music written especially for their performance by Jeremy Dyen, a perfect compliment to their expressive movements from canter pirouette to half pass. Sue Jaccoma’s choice of lighthearted music with birdsong was a joy to watch while Hanovarian gelding Wadamur capered through three tempe changes to emphasize the beat. New Jersey rider Dr. Cesar Parra and Ecu 8, a Westphalian gelding, executed an exploding canter lengthening and powerful passage that showed the mastery of this sport. The intimate setting, the superior riding, and well-organized event put on by Jane Karol and Cathy Zemaitis made the 2007 Freestyle a perfect ending to the show season in New England. From the Renaissance Farm Vaulting Team: "Thanks so much for having us—the kids had a ball... That was a huge undertaking and very impressive. The farm is beautiful and Jane's work is so needed in today's world. Please thank Jane for us!" [www.renaissancefarminfo.org]
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