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Dressage Deciphered Clinic:
Mounted Clinic with Suzanné Liesette Jürgens
* see information on Liesette Below!
November 21, 2020
Come learn or improve your skills in the Art of Riding!
Dressage riding is something that can be easily understood by anyone. It benefits riders of all disciplines; even barrel racing. Sign up to ride or audit and come learn tried and true methods that teach, or tweak, the rider'd feel and timing of their aids in accordance with the horses rhythm.
Liesette was born in Germany and came to the United States in 1956. She currently resides in Florida and has been teaching and giving clinics for many years in the Midwest, Colorado and the South. She believes that if passion is not a part of the equation, then riding is nothing more than a mechanical, competitive experience. Liesette is a very conscientious and observant instructor. Her teaching technique is based on experience and observing the masters as well as in-depth study. She has studied at the Potomac Horse Center in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Spent 15 years coaching with Francis Hinchcliffe and has been a Dressage Instructor since 1979!
Come and experience Liesette's charming and fun way of instructing a rider to feel, guide and connect to their horse.
60 MINTE SESSION RATES AND OPTIONS
- Private: $55.00
- Semi-Private $35.00 per rider
- Group of 3-4 $25.00 per rider
LOCATION:
Oakridge Farm
1459 Otoes Place
St. Johns, Florida 32259
WHAT TO BRING: COVID precautions will be adhered to as directed in October
- a chair
- a snack or lunch
- drinks for yourself

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Dressage Deciphered Clinic:
COVID-19 Lockdown Event with Simone Vanbellingen, European Level 3 Dressage Judge, LIVE from Belgium
* see information on Simone Below!
TWO FREE LESSONS for Society Members!!!
$50.00 for Non-Members
Lesson or a Ride-a-Test Formats Available
What you will need:
1. a mobile device
2. WiFi connectivity
3. a blue tooth headset with a range of 60 feet or more
FORMAT:
1. Choose your format
* Lesson
- OR -
* a Ride-a-Test with Feedback
(you will need to have access to an actual dressage arena)
2. Choose your Video Format and download the App if needed
* FaceTime
* What's App
* Contact Simone for other App suggestions
3. Find a place to secure your device where you can ride infront of the camera - or - organize a friend to hold your mobile device to keep you within the field of vision
RIDING Sessions:
* 45 minutes
TWO FREE LESSONS FOR SOCIETY MEMBERS
Non-Members $50.00
*NOT A MEMBER: SAVE $15.00!!!
Become a Riding Member today for $85.00 and SAVE $15.00 on the Video Lessons AND start enjoying all of the benefits of First Coast Classical Dressage Society Membership!
SIGN UP TO RIDE TODAY!
SIMONE VANBELLINGEN Belgian Equestrian Federation Level 3 Dressage Judge (USDF R equivalent)
Simone is an American citizen who has been living and working in Belgium for decades. She has over 15 years’ experience judging in Belgium and has direct access to the best dressage has to offer in Europe in terms of education with FEI officials and competitions at all levels (regional, national and international). She judges at an average of 20 shows a year in a number of disciplines: Classical dressage, Eventing and the European Iberian Masters. When not judging, Simone rides, coaches and offers clinics for riders ranging from Novice up to Level 4.
If you want a fresh perspective on your riding, your horse’s level of training, or your performance in the ring, take advantage of Simone’s offer of remote coaching. Your first two lessons of 45 minutes are free! Subsequent lessons (under no obligation!) are priced at $50.00
If you want a fresh perspective on your riding, your horse’s level of training, or your performance in the ring, take advantage of Simone’s offer of remote coaching. Your first two lessons of 45 minutes are free! Subsequent lessons (under no obligation!) are priced at $50.00
REMOTE DRESSAGE LESSONS VIA LIVE VIDEO: Homeschooling is not just for kids! Get your remote dressage trainer today!
by: Simone Vanbellingen
If you haven’t been swayed to try Video lessoning as a new way of getting your dressage training up to now, the current COVID crisis may present unexpected opportunities. We’re surrounded by technology. Some of us use it to its full potential, others resist it until something happens and we get that ‘nudge’ to adopt it, in ways we never imagined before.
As a Dressage Judge-come-Trainer, I was not an early adopter. Especially when it came to dressage coaching. After all, in Belgium, there was not much incentive to teach from the couch; short travel distances, but horrendous traffic. Gas prices averaging 8 dollars a gallon. Damp, cold, dark days that chill you to the bone. Why train from my living room when I can get all that?
In a not so-distant-past, when we were free to move about without question, I got the push I needed from rider and friend, Lisa Beardsley, located some 12 hours away as the plane flies…. She had already tested FaceTime training and quickly embraced it. After a few in person lessons at her barn during my sporadic trips to Jacksonville, she coaxed me into giving video training a try, once I was back in Europe. It worked! Bridging a 4500-mile gap and a 6-hour time difference, all I had to do was make my way to my living room, equipped with large screen TV and my couch. And we could pick up where we left off with the training sessions at the barn.
This being said, I still miss the opportunity to travel. For one thing, Belgium’s biodiversity is nothing compared to that of Florida. Our flies are much smaller, we don’t have wild turkeys running across the arena (I see them on Facetime too!), and we never have the excitement of an alligator in our pastures. The other attraction of physically training in Florida is the possibility to head for the beach just after a Dressage lesson; "Onmogelijk" - impossible as our Flemish friends would say – in rainy Belgium, bordered by the steel gray North sea and chilly English channel. It’s also nice to see horse and rider in the flesh. But given time and expense and now a worldwide ban on travel, not to mention local lockdowns, we need to look at remote lessoning as a way to give riders access to trainers (and vice versa) which would otherwise not be possible.
When this unprecedented crisis subsides, I will admit to the more lighthearted reasons for wanting to train my riders from a distance via live video apps: The chance to brag about my transatlantic training activities ("Excuse me, I have a teleconference lesson to get to with my rider in Florida.") Not to mention not having to deal with mosquitoes, flies, heat and other pesky elements, or on an even more honest note: the comfort of my slippers, the occasional glass of wine in hand, and even the option to train in my PJ’s, depending on the time of day …
And if you are homeschooling your children at this time, when those confined kids ask what you’re up to, just con them in to calibrating your headsets, mobile devices and other paraphernalia. Then toss in a lesson in geography – where on Earth is Belgium anyway?
by: Simone Vanbellingen
If you haven’t been swayed to try Video lessoning as a new way of getting your dressage training up to now, the current COVID crisis may present unexpected opportunities. We’re surrounded by technology. Some of us use it to its full potential, others resist it until something happens and we get that ‘nudge’ to adopt it, in ways we never imagined before.
As a Dressage Judge-come-Trainer, I was not an early adopter. Especially when it came to dressage coaching. After all, in Belgium, there was not much incentive to teach from the couch; short travel distances, but horrendous traffic. Gas prices averaging 8 dollars a gallon. Damp, cold, dark days that chill you to the bone. Why train from my living room when I can get all that?
In a not so-distant-past, when we were free to move about without question, I got the push I needed from rider and friend, Lisa Beardsley, located some 12 hours away as the plane flies…. She had already tested FaceTime training and quickly embraced it. After a few in person lessons at her barn during my sporadic trips to Jacksonville, she coaxed me into giving video training a try, once I was back in Europe. It worked! Bridging a 4500-mile gap and a 6-hour time difference, all I had to do was make my way to my living room, equipped with large screen TV and my couch. And we could pick up where we left off with the training sessions at the barn.
This being said, I still miss the opportunity to travel. For one thing, Belgium’s biodiversity is nothing compared to that of Florida. Our flies are much smaller, we don’t have wild turkeys running across the arena (I see them on Facetime too!), and we never have the excitement of an alligator in our pastures. The other attraction of physically training in Florida is the possibility to head for the beach just after a Dressage lesson; "Onmogelijk" - impossible as our Flemish friends would say – in rainy Belgium, bordered by the steel gray North sea and chilly English channel. It’s also nice to see horse and rider in the flesh. But given time and expense and now a worldwide ban on travel, not to mention local lockdowns, we need to look at remote lessoning as a way to give riders access to trainers (and vice versa) which would otherwise not be possible.
When this unprecedented crisis subsides, I will admit to the more lighthearted reasons for wanting to train my riders from a distance via live video apps: The chance to brag about my transatlantic training activities ("Excuse me, I have a teleconference lesson to get to with my rider in Florida.") Not to mention not having to deal with mosquitoes, flies, heat and other pesky elements, or on an even more honest note: the comfort of my slippers, the occasional glass of wine in hand, and even the option to train in my PJ’s, depending on the time of day …
And if you are homeschooling your children at this time, when those confined kids ask what you’re up to, just con them in to calibrating your headsets, mobile devices and other paraphernalia. Then toss in a lesson in geography – where on Earth is Belgium anyway?
A live video lesson taking place