Oklahoma Dressage Society

Southerly Winds Farm will be hosting a clinic with Rachel Satory Saavedra June 5-6th we have a few rider slots available and unlimited auditing. This is a great opportunity for dressage enthusiasts, riders, teachers and trainers alike. In addition to the clinic Kim Rasmussen, DVM will be providing a lecture and demonstration for equine acupuncture and osteopathy and James Oliver Farrier will be providing a lecture on proper shoeing and trimming.

Rachel is a senior faculty member for the USDF Instructor certification program, and has been leading workshops around the country for over 15 years. She welcomes all dressage enthusiasts who come to workshops and clinics for continuing education whether it be an amateur, a lower level instructor, or a very experienced and accomplished trainer. Her goal is to help riders, trainers, and teachers stretch their abilities and explore training options while emphasizing the classical principles of dressage and traditional instructor training.

Rachel lives in San Ramon, CA and trains at Leap of Faith Farms in Walnut Creek CA. She is currently competing in the High Performance Grand Prix with her Swedish warmblood, Robello. She was on the USET long list with her first Grand Prix horse, Comus, and again with Robello who qualified for the National GP Championships in Gladstone, NJ in 2007. She has trained several notable horses including the gold medal young rider horse, Artiste, the USDF 2006 PSG Horse of the Year, Laitin, and the successful Andalusian, Rociero XV. With these horses and with numerous others, she has trained and competed at all levels with attention to classical principles and enjoyment of the process. She has worked closely with several trainers over the years including Anders Lindgren of Sweden, Alfred Knopfhart and Gunter Zach of Austria, Gerhard Politz, Conrad Schumacher, and, recently, Dirk Glitz of Germany. She had the opportunity to take Robello to Germany to train with Conrad Schumacher for a summer when Robello was just developing the grand prix work. The experience gave her as great a boost as a teacher as it did a rider and trainer.

Rachel has always placed as much emphasis on her teaching as her riding. She is a sought-after clinician and has been asked to teach the California Dressage Society Amateur Clinic series in 2001, 2005, and 2008. In addition to teaching numerous USDF Instructor workshops throughout the country, Rachel has been a long term trainer of trainers in her own area. Many of her students have become USDF Certified instructors and have continued to work with Rachel regularly as they advance through the levels into the FEI and High performance divisions through Grand Prix. She also acts as an ongoing resource to trainers with their student clientele, collaborating to resolve problems with individual students and giving clinics with trainer involvement.

It is hard to pin Rachel down to produce a professional bio. She says this is because “One always wonders if it is painted too big or too small, too seriously or too playfully.” Rachel was a horse crazy girl growing up in New Mexico. She didn’t have her own horse until she was graduated from college and a busy dressage instructor at age 27. She lived from lesson to weekly lesson until she was skilled enough to start a working student career that lasted nearly 2 decades. Her varied background includes experience with hunters and jumpers, cutting horse and cavalry trainers, eventing and fox (coyote) hunting, gaited horses and trail horses. If she couldn’t have a horse or ride as much as she wanted, she could watch and read the classical literature and keep learning. All of this plays a part in her work and in her interest in other riders’ work.

As part of the clinic Rachel will offer a short introduction to the USDF workshop program. She will then teach a clinic with an effort to further illustrate the process of teaching and training that is covered in workshops. There will be opportunity for riders to have a standard lesson or to explore the training workshop format in their lessons. In either case, there will be time set aside for auditors to ask questions and discuss training strategies and teaching choices between lessons. We are hopeful that this clinic will be not only a great educational opportunity, but a chance for people to see what the USDF workshops are about. We hope that people will be inspired to audit or actively participate in the USDF Workshops when we can offer them and that they will be better prepared for them when they do participate.

Rachel is committed to the USDF Instructor Trainer Education program and hopes to give each participant and auditor more tools, insights, support, and inspiration to further their pursuit of Dressage.

Rides for the clinic are $135.00 and auditing is $75/day.
Contact Denise Laigle southerlywindsfarm@cox.net