The Dressage Foundation (TDF) has announced that a total of $12,000 has been awarded to U.S. dressage instructors through the Major Anders Lindgren Instructor Grant, funded through the Carol Lavell Gifted Memorial Fund. Major Lindgren Grants provide financial support that enable dressage instructors to receive continuing education that will improve their teaching, riding, and training skills. Each recipient will receive a $4,000 grant.
Patricia Hutchinson (Region 1, MD): Patricia has been teaching professionally for 25 years and currently trains with JJ Tate. She has been teaching for 25 years with students from first time riders to the Grand Prix. Patricia will use this grant funding to spend a month training with JJ to work on expanding her knowledge of the training scale.
Patricia said, “I am incredibly honored to be selected for this grant and for the selection committee to believe in my abilities. This grant will help me pursue a lifelong dream of being able to submerge myself in learning and growing. Dressage is my passion and being able to improve my skills and knowledge so that I may pass it along to my students and the horses that I train, allowing them to be their utmost best, means the world to me.”
Lori Barrett (Region 5, UT): Lori is the owner of Revel Ranch in Utah and has been an instructor for 28 years. Before she started her own business, she was the head trainer of Oak Hill Ranch (LA), head of the Danish Warmblood Studbook in the US, and head trainer at the Chesapeake Dressage Institute. She will use her grant funding to train with Sabine Schut-Kery and then bring that education back to her dressage community in northern Utah.
Photo by Katrina Leigh Photography
Lori said, "I am honored to be included among the Major Lindgren Instructor Grant recipients! This grant will allow me to train with my longtime coach, Sabine Schut-Kery, with both Young Horse candidates and FEI horses. I look forward to bringing her insights into our training program at Revel Ranch in Utah and sharing what I learn with our Park City/Mountain West community."
Viviane Pilicy (Region 8, MA): Viviane is a USDF Certified Instructor through Second Level and L Education Program graduate with distinction. She has been teaching for eight years, has a wide variety of clients and horses, and gives lessons from beginners to Fourth Level. Viviane plans to spend three months training with Christoph Koschel. She will be riding her German Riding Pony and plans to work on Grand Prix movements and gain new tools to bring back home to her students.
Photo by Shawn Tinkham Photography
"I feel very blessed receiving a Major Lindgren Instructor Grant. It is giving me an incredible opportunity to fully immerse myself into an intensive three-month training program in Wellington and Loxahatchee, Florida. I will be able to continue improving my riding and ultimately also my teaching by learning from international dressage rider and trainer Christoph Koschel, who is based out of Germany the rest of the year. The goal for the upcoming winter season is to start showing my 12-year-old German Riding Pony, Casimo, at Intermediate I and continue to lay the foundational work for the Grand Prix," said Viviane.
Since 1996, The Dressage Foundation has offered annual instructor grants in Major Anders Lindgren's name. Major Lindgren was an accomplished dressage rider, having won the 1971 Swedish Dressage Championship and ridden on the Swedish Olympic Team in 1972. He also won the Scandinavian Eventing Championship in 1959. Lindgren's contribution to American dressage was large, as he was solidly committed to the education of U.S. dressage instructors.
Applications for the Lindgren Grants are due September 30th of each year. For more information, please contact Sara Weiss, TDF’s Director of Grants and Programs, at (402) 434-8585 or visit www.dressagefoundation.org.
The Dressage Foundation
The Dressage Foundation is a 501(c)(3), non-profit, tax-exempt, donor-driven organization that is dedicated to educating, supporting, and advancing the sport of dressage. The organization solicits contributions, appropriately allocates the donations, and awards grants to dressage riders, judges, instructors, breeders, high-performance teams, nonprofit equestrian organizations, and more. For more information, please visit www.dressagefoundation.org.
