dressage

Cleveland Bays and their owners will have a day together to trail ride, school over fences cross country or in a large sand ring, or on the flat in a dressage arena, or just hang out and chat with other Cleveland bay enthusiasts. The event will be held Sunday, July 19, 2015 at Woodstock Equestrian Park, Route 28, Poolesville, Maryland, starting at 9:00 am with lunch at about noon. Arrive when you can, and stay as long as you like. The event is free, but you are asked to bring a dish and your own beverage for the potluck lunch. There is a water complex, some small ditches, and a selection of varied cross-country jumps with the majority at beginner novice or novice level. If you plan to school cross country, please bring a protective vest. The wooded trails are even suitable for carriages. Non-Cleveland Bay horses and friends are welcome as well. Woodstock Equestrian Park is just slightly beyond the intersection of Route 28 and Route 109, heading toward Dickerson. Ample trailer parking is available. For more information or to RSVP, contact Marcia Brody ([email protected]). Posted July 13, 2015

Elizabeth M. Tobey will present a lecture and book signing at the Middleburg Public Library on September 18 at 7:30 p.m. Tobey will discuss her (and Dr. Federica Deigan’s)  translation of Federico Grisone’s The Rules of Riding (Gli ordini di cavalcare). Tobey began the translation project seven years ago while a John H. Daniels Fellow at the National Sporting Library and Museum in Middleburg. The translation is based upon the First Edition of Grisone’s text published in 1550 and is the first English translation of this exceedingly rare text since 1560, when Thomas Blundeville translated it for Sir Robert Dudley, Queen Elizabeth I’s Master of the Horse. “Grisone’s treatise and the riding masters trained at his riding academy in Naples, Italy, spread the practice of the art of manège riding to courts throughout Europe,” explains Tobey. “Twenty-three Italian editions of the text were published between 1550 and 1620 and the treatise was translated into French, English, German, Spanish, and Portuguese. “Many of the concepts Grisone discusses in his treatise—such as developing contact between horse and rider and collection in the horse—are still major tenets of modern dressage riding. The haute école or High School movements of classical dressage are still practiced today by such traditional academies as the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria and the Cadre Noir in Saumur, France.” Tobey’s lecture will discuss Grisone’s influence on the history of horsemanship and the role of horsemanship in Renaissance Europe. Videos of classical dressage at the Spanish Riding School and other classical schools will be shown. The Tobey and Deigan translation was published last May by the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Arizona State University. A few copies will be available for sale at a publishers’ discount of $60.00 for cash or check sales only. Posted September 1, 2014