The East Coast edition of the 2025 USEF Dressage Training Series kicked off Thursday with little fanfare, as the clinicians and participants quietly set to work at what was formerly known as the Robert Dover Horsemastership Clinic. 

The revamped dressage training clinic for promising young dressage riders, held at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival show grounds in Wellington, Florida, has been incorporated into USEF’s Dressage Program Pathway and is focused on sustainable success and team podium finishes for the future. Although the present clinic closely follows the format Dover designed for his namesake Horsemastership Clinic, it began without Dover’s signature opening speech—but that didn’t mean veteran clinicians Allison Brock, Katherine Bateson-Chandler and Olivia LaGoy-Weltz didn’t deliver expert instruction tailored to each of the 14 participants.

Virginia Woodcock, 16, rode her Mollegardens Sans-Souci in AGDF’s International Arena, the “big ring” that can be intimidating when it’s packed with spectators during the Wellington winter show season. The big Danish Warmblood mare was rather tight when she and Woodcock began, so Brock had them work on going four strides forward within the gaits followed by four strides “back,” repeating to work on adjustability. 

The mare carried her neck down on downward transitions, a habit Brock said would show up later in the pirouettes. To counter that, she asked Woodcock to give a half-halt on the canter downbeat while putting her leg on to urge the horse forward. 

LaGoy-Weltz helped Laila Edwards, 18, riding Nemo, work on flying changes in the covered arena. LaGoy-Weltz directed Edwards, an FEI Young Rider from Annapolis, Maryland, to think of a jump on the centerline as she executed each change, and to work on putting Nemo exactly where she wanted him for each “jump.”

Bateson-Chandler explained to Autumn Vavrick aboard Ice Princess when she should apply a stronger leg aid: “If you don’t feel her hind legs stepping into your contact, you’ve got to connect a little bit more from behind,” Bateson-Chandler said. When the trainer told Vavrick, a 15-year-old rider from Oxford, Michigan, to sit the trot, Bateson-Chandler said to expect the rhythm to stay the same—that the rider is ultimately in charge of the rhythm.

Darian Kauk and Celoso TA spent some of their time with Brock working on shoulder-in to renvers to make sure the transition from one movement to another was fluid, rounded and smooth. Kauk, 19, from Lincoln, Nebraska, was told to make sure the tempo of the walk was her decision instead of Celoso’s—especially as she changed rein. Then, they worked on shoulder-fore to haunches-in and back, so that the gelding accepted her aids and to help address his tendency toward being “wiggly.” 

Sophia Forsyth, 18, from Walpole, Massachusetts, and her own Dimagico worked with LaGoy-Weltz to increase suppleness and adjustability so the gelding didn’t get stiff behind. This time, LaGoy-Weltz was the one who asked the rider to go “forward five strides” and then “five strides back” to keep the horse light and supple. With Forsyth, she asked for medium canter followed by a “canter on the spot.” The goal was to maintain that same energy and enthusiasm Dimagico had going forward across the ground and then just make the gait smaller without having it “collapse.” 

Bateson-Chandler noticed that Luminosity JP has a nice trot, and she remarked that he may have an exceptional trot, but his 18-year-old rider Addy Batcheller from Little Rock, Arkansas, needed to make him move forward into something that felt almost like a rising trot so that he pushes forward. “You’re only going to get more expression … if he pushes from behind and with contact and connection,” Bateson-Chandler told Batcheller, encouraging her to take a risk and try for bigger. 

Lexie Kment’s new mount Gatino Van Hof Olympia is a sensitive, well-educated horse who is strong in the bridle. Brock told the 18-year-old from Palmyra, Nebraska, that when he gets strong and she wants to half-halt, she should close her calves and push him up into her hand. She also asked the rider to think of pushing him up with her seat by thinking of moving her belt buckle toward her hand to get him paying better attention to her. “Really push and then release,” Brock said. “You’re going to have to repeat, repeat, repeat.” 

Working with 15-year-old Leinani Vurno from Loxahatchee, Florida, LaGoy-Weltz suggested that when she has trouble getting her PRE gelding Legionario LXXXI to engage his core, doing some lateral work like haunches-in or shoulder-in would help him shorten his middle. When the gelding decided he would pick his own tempo, LaGoy-Weltz was quick to make sure that Vurno had a soft seat and contact with the outside rein as she asked the ribcage to move more to the outside with her leg.

When Brock clucked over the microphone to get Justine Boyer’s horse Campanero HGF to go forward, he responded immediately, to the delight of spectators. Later, Brock praised him for his responsiveness, including his forward movement to her audible aid. Working on pirouettes, Brock told Boyer, 18 of Ocala, Florida, to worry less about the actual movement and more about the quality of the connection. 

The East Coast 2025 USEF Dressage Training Series continues through Sunday. Riders and their horses play musical chairs and ride with different clinicians on Friday and Saturday, before putting their newfound skills together to ride mock tests on Sunday. Watch the series on USEF Network, powered by ClipMyHorse.tv.

A new addition to this year’s line-up is a group of five U25 riders (ages 16-25) who compete at the Intermediaire II level or higher. Their clinic, with 2024 Paris Olympic Games athlete Marcus Orlob, is closed, and we will be unable to report on it.