2021 Major Anders Lindgren Instructor Grant Recipient: Jane Fucinaro (NE)
Photo by Susan J Stickle
Thank you to the generosity of TDF’s donors, I applied for and earned a grant from TDF’s Major Lindgren Fund for Instructors for training in Florida that winter. My client was able to send her newly acquired horse, Dior WF, down with my trainers, Sarah and Clayton Martin of Taka Chi Dressage in Morriston, Florida. I flew down one to two times a month from January through April to stay for seven to ten days at a time to obtain priceless, concentrated training that I’ve never had the privilege of receiving before.
Our goals were to gain experience and push me through to the FEI level in my riding and training with this new horse, as well as getting my show ring “jitters” out. As with any new horse, we had to get to know each other, start a new training program, and overcome some show-ring baggage that we both seemed to have together. The knowledge we gleaned from our first competition at the World Equestrian Center really paved the way for the theme of the winter: I MUST ride intentionally, less “thinking” about the feeling that I want to create, and more “making the feeling happen— right NOW!”
Each week I came back down from Nebraska to Florida, I would be a little discouraged from my first lesson, as I had to catch up on the training that Dior WF had retained when I was home. Sarah and Clay were patient but firm in helping me make the progress I needed to, and by each time I left Florida, I was confident in the new tools and FEI feelings that I could take home to practice with my training horses.
One of the most important and memorable moments that I now implement with all of my students, was sitting down ringside at a competition with Sarah. She had me talk through each movement of the test and discuss exactly how I was to ride it. “Right flexion, keep the right shoulder up, surge through the corner. I must release lead with my right hip into the half-pass.” I had never had a mentor who took the time to work with me through the sports psychology side of riding and bridging it so thoroughly to the pattern riding.
The emphasis with Dior WF was using correct basics to develop a greater degree of “FEI ingredients.” It took the entire winter to improve the basics to the point that we wanted to take him down centerline at Prix St Georges, and of course, life has a way of joking with you. I “fell pregnant” with my first son in April, so I had to temporarily let those goals slide. Of course, we have worked and solidified the basics and collection since then, and I can’t wait to take him down centerline again!
Being completely immersed in a training setting with FEI horses left and right, without the worries of my farm at home, was unforgettable. There were so many lessons that I would not have been able to learn without the grant from TDF’s Lindgren Fund. I was so grateful, especially to my trainer, Sarah Martin, who I know is so much more than just a trainer and a coach, she is truly a mentor.
