2024 Young Rider Dream Program Journal: Kylia Baker (CA)

Thank you to TDF and its donors for providing riders with such fantastic opportunities. I am honored to be chosen as a participant in the 2024 Young Rider Dream Program. Through this opportunity, I will be able to greatly expand my knowledge of the sport and gain valuable insights from some of the top riders. This trip will help me attain my goal of one day representing the United States in top international competition.

Kylia's Day 1 Journal:

Day one of the Young Rider Dream Program was packed with informational sessions by Stephanie Brown-Beamer, Olivia LaGoy-Weltz, and Scott and Sara Hassler! To top it off we were given a tour of the spectacular Poinciana Farms by the gracious Jane Cleveland who planned, built and runs the entire facility. We were presented with so much amazing information regarding bit fitting, developing horses from different backgrounds and the qualities of a dressage horse. Here are some of my key takeaways from day one:

Stephanie Brown-Beamer:

• Get to know your horse’s mouth!!!!!
• The back and middle of the horse’s tongue is the fleshiest and least sensitive part of their mouth
• The bars of the horse’s mouth are only about as wide as your thumb
• When gauging their mouth sensitivity, look at the sharpness of the bars, the size of the palate ridges, the fleshiness of the mouth, and the thickness of the skin
• When you are looking at the fit of a bit be sure to look at how the bit will sit in the horse’s mouth when the reins are applied
• Be willing to be creative but in an educated way
• When bridles put pressure on the backs of the ears it creates soreness, TMJ issues, and tension throughout the horse
• Fixed ring bits provide more stabilization for the horse while loose rings keep the connection more flexible

Olivia LaGoy-Weltz:

• When you are lunging a horse, make it a study of his whole body to see how he is working
• How a horse can or cannot canter on a lunge line tells you about how they use their backs: harder to canter = tighter back
• In young horses with a lot of power, sometimes you have to create a path for them to bring their inside hind leg up and under which means letting the shoulders go to the outside
• Every trainer has a stamp that they leave on each horse
• As a rider you are there to facilitate, NOT maintain
• With young horses, focus on incremental progress by asking smaller questions that will build you up for the big picture

Scott and Sara Hassler:

• Every horse is a superstar
• Think of the horse’s energy like a dial that you can turn up and down
• Horses do not resist, they only have trouble with things
• First, look deep to understand the horse
• Strive for a happy horse
• Don’t be afraid to let the horse have some fun in the training
• The horse’s desire of a harmonious topline is an extremely important quality of a dressage horse
• Ride boldly but relaxed and enjoy the time you spend “in the trenches” learning and improving 

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Kylia's Day 2 Journal:

The second day of the Young Rider Dream Program was absolutely spectacular!  It offered us the chance to meet multiple Olympians and three gold-medal Pan-Americans!! We were very fortunate to get to spend the majority of our day in the VIP tent at Global watching a variety of CDI competitors and analyzing various dressage tests. Adrienne Lyle and Betsy Juliano were also kind enough to welcome us to TYL Farm for a lovely conversation about sponsor/rider relationships and an insight into Adrienne’s training process! Since today was so packed with fantastic people and words of wisdom, I will only pick a few of my favorite words of wisdom for today’s entry:

Jennifer Williams:

• In a syndicate, you need to give as much as you are receiving to keep the partnership fair
• Keep owners involved in the process and check in with what they want
• Be up front and honest with yourself, partners, and coaches
• Partners need to support you and the horses for the love of the sport and care about you
• Being a professional athlete is a lifestyle choice and you need to always believe in yourself and your horses

Kim Herslow:

• The most important thing is fostering a fantastic partnership with your horse in and out of the ring
• Always ride for accuracy!!
• Be sure to keep your horse’s wellbeing at the forefront of your mind
• Always listen to your gut

Reese Koffler-Stanfield:

• Be sure to have a clear brand identity and think about the market you are catering to as a professional
• Everything you do in this industry gets noticed

Rebecca Hart:

• Keep pushing but make sure you know when to back off
• Treat yourself as a high-performance brand
• Don’t let typical dressage labels like Young Rider, U25, or Para dictate who you are and what you can do/accomplish
• Know yourself and your horse and work your schedule around what your team (you and your horses) need

Adrienne Lyle and Betsy Juliano:

Sponsor/Rider Relationships

• For a rider/sponsor partnership it is important to find someone who shares the same riding ideals and goals
• When you first begin a new partnership align yourself from the start and be sure to understand everyone’s goals

Show Routine

• Have a very systematic routine and make the routine the same at the show as it is at home
• Don’t change work leading up to or during the show
• It is helpful to not have owners and friends/family around the day of the show so that you can prepare in a quiet and relaxed environment to get “in the zone” for your test
• Be aware of other competitors around you trying to prepare in a quiet space and wait to celebrate until the whole team has finished so you don’t interrupt anyone’s process

General Topics

• When making decisions always ask yourself: Is this getting me closer to my goal or is it interfering?
• Where there is a will there is a way – always consistently chip away at your goals
• Do not think of failure as final
• Watch your riding videos as soon as possible after they are filmed and always watch them twice
• Project the image you want to have into the world
• When working the horses do not do everything every day
• Take your time in the warmup to check for adjustability in tempo, rhythm, and the shaping of the horse
• Make sure to give lots of walk breaks as the synapses in the horse’s brain fire more during these breaks than the actual working phase allowing them to process the work you just did

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Kylia's Day 3 Journal

Day three TDF’s Young Rider Dream Program was a blast! We got to learn from Charlotte Bredahl as she coached Dennesy Rogers and Kristina Harrison-Antell. We also talked with Bill McMullin, Bill Warren, and Katherine Bateson!! It was amazing to see the coaching process and Kristina was even kind enough to answer some of our questions after riding her two spectacular geldings Felix and Finley. Here are some key takeaways from today:

•  The warmup should include a lot of walking, posting the trot, and letting the horse stretch
• Involve a lot of curved lines, circles, and shallow lateral work to test the suppleness
• You should live in the shoulder-fore in the canter
• In the half-pass start with less sideways and think of riding more uphill from the inside leg, growing in the canter not going faster
• Do not override the half-pass!!!! Go back and forth from shoulder-in to half-pass
• Use a shallow haunches in to help compress the horse and bring the hindleg under
• Play with the adjustability of the passage, own the in-between
• In schooling allow the piaffe to creep to help maintain contact and improve transitions in and out
• In a pirouette keep the forehand leading to keep the jump forward and up
• In the pirouette the horse should have a ‘C’ shape and you keep the jump with your inside leg
• When riding on a line think: flex, collection, turn
• Get yourself into a system and see it through from beginning to end
• Surround yourself with good, strong, ethical people
• Own the squares to own the pirouettes
• Make your riding and your horses the first priority!!!!

To sum up the day, YRDP participant Chloe Roth said, “We are intoxicated with knowledge.”

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Kylia's Day 4 Journal

Day Four of the Young Rider Dream Program was a blast, starting at Five Rings Farm with Genay Vaughn and ending with an afternoon of analyzing tests in the National and CDI rings at Global. Five Rings Farm was a breathtaking facility! Every detail was thought of and planned according to the well-being of the horses. The farm has a fantastic indoor and outdoor dressage court, gallop track, hot walker, and a variety of turnout options! At the farm, we were able to see Genay school her mare Fleur Noir and get her thoughts on personal fitness, motivation, and general advice:

• School things at home like it would happen in the test
• When schooling always be methodical and think about how things are organized in the test you will be riding
• In the warm-up, focus on suppleness and make sure the horse is on the aids
• If your horse is supple and on the aids, the movements will be easy
• Take your horse’s mood into consideration when you train each day, if they are not feeling their best then choose an easier exercise or focus on stretching
• Be sure to include some variety in your training schedules to keep it fun for the horses
• Ride as many centerlines as possible!!
• Always remember your end goal, and don’t be afraid to mess up
• Make sure you have a good friend group to help you decompress
• Always try your best and expect from yourself what you expect from your horses
• When thinking of a working student position have realistic expectations and realize that you will have to work hard and pay your dues
• Make sure what you will be doing and what you will be receiving is very clear before you start your position so there is no miscommunication

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Kylia's Wrap-Up

It has been a whirlwind week in Wellington and with a heavy heart I sit in the airport writing my final journal entry. This is a one-of-a-kind program and affords young riders with so many spectacular networking and educational opportunities in a beautiful and welcoming setting. Of course, this program would not be possible without generous donations from supporters of dressage so I would like to take a moment to thank Margaret Duprey, Adequan, the Foster family, Beth Baumert, Jenny Johnson, Sara Weiss, Kelly Burris, and all of the other TDF donors who have made this opportunity a possibility for me and other young dreamers.

The professional and personal connections I have been able to make on this trip astounds me and I am so excited to get started on the rest of my dressage journey! This week has taught me to take chances, dream big, and work hard; yes, this sport requires some luck but who says you can’t make your own and support those around you on your journey? Dressage should be about supporting each other and building positive long-lasting connections that help you reach your goals!

Back to the 2024 Young Rider Dream Program page