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About Lendon:
Solid
Beginnings
Born in
Old Town, Maine, Lendon Gray rode her first horse with her mother
before she could walk. She grew up riding western, hunt seat,
bareback, playing gymkhana games, driving and generally enjoying
horses. Pony Club played the central role in her life from age 7,
and she competed successfully to the National level, winning
Champion and Reserve at both US and Canadian Pony Club Rallies.
Receiving her A-rating at 16, Pony Club built a foundation of both
solid riding basics and proper horse care that guides Lendon to this
day. Through her involvement with Pony Club she became a successful
event rider and trained for two years with the Olympic 3-day team.
Despite
her many equestrian involvements, Lendon’s academic education was
well tended. Graduating valedictorian from Foxhollow School, she
studied Greek and Latin at Sweet Briar College while taking summer
courses in Archeology at Stanford. Lendon proves that it is not
necessary to make a choice between excelling academically and
excelling in the saddle.
It was when Lendon started to
specialize in Dressage at age 27 that Seldom Seen, the first of her
famous Dressage "ponies," came into her life. At just 14.2 ½ hands
Seldom Seen was a national champion at 3rd and 4th level,
Prix St. George's, Intermediare I and II, and Grand Prix. Although
Lendon rode warmbloods for her participation on two Olympic teams
(1980, 1988), the World Championships, and the World Cup, her ponies
held a special place in her heart.
They proved to the world that bigger
isn't necessarily better.
From her early years competing in Pony Club to her famous work with
Seldom Seen and other ponies, Lendon
developed a reputation for “taking unremarkable horses and making
them good.” This belief in created talent and the power of
dedication has inspired many of Lendon’s activities over the years.
Determined to give others the opportunity to learn and improve, she
has been extremely involved with organizations such as USET, USEF,
USDF, US Pony Club, and the rapidly expanding Dressage4Kids (D4K).
Involvement
Generous, outspoken, and pragmatic, Lendon has devoted her energies
to the improvement of all riders (not just the privileged ones) and
all horses (even the littlest ones). With the goal that all youths
might learn how to become, not just better riders, but all-around
horsemen, Lendon established Lendon’s Youth Dressage Festival (formerly
known as the Northeast Junior/Young Rider Championships) in 1999.
This show started as an effort to see today's youth awarded for more
than riding trained horses. The competition has three equal parts: a
written test on riding theory and stable management; a group
equitation class, and a dressage test with levels from Training
through FEI Young Rider. There is also a Prix Caprilli (dressage
test with jumps), a tack room decorating competition, Dressage Trail
class, as well as a wide variety of exhibitions and demonstrations.
Judges beg to officiate and volunteers come flocking to the
unrecognized event and its unparalleled combination of fun and
education.
With
the formation of the Youth Dressage Festival (YDF) came the creation
of the organization Dressage4Kids. Originally just the name of a
website, D4K has blossomed into a full-fledged non-profit, operating
the YDF, the Weekend Educational Program (a two day educational
event open to all ages and levels of experience, from curious
parents to experienced professionals), pony-only clinics, and the
East Coast Dressage Pony Cup, while transforming the proceeds from
these functions into valuable scholarships for aspiring dressage
riders.
D4K
offers scholarships for every sort of dressage rider. Some prizes
are geared towards riders travelling to Europe, others towards the
small child with a backyard pony just wanting to be able to afford
lessons, and they all speak to Lendon’s dedication to “leveling the
playing field” of dressage. With this same goal in mind, D4K events
are highly subsidized to make them affordable for even the most
limited budgets.
In the
Business
Though
busy with organizational commitments, Lendon has been a successful
professional in the equine world since she was 15. Over the years,
she has taught clinics all over the US and Canada, and in Australia,
New Zealand, Iceland, and Uruguay, and has a regular group of over
100 students. Lendon’s formidable reputation for her coaching
abilities is reflected in her training of many national and regional
champion riders, both juniors and adults—including the youngest ever
national champion and youngest ever North American Young Rider Gold
Medalist. Based out of Sunnyfield Farm in Bedford NY for 18 years,
Lendon now teaches at several stables in the area as she continues
to travel to clinics around the country.
Lendon
has been repeatedly recognized for her performance and service,
receiving awards ranging from the 1989 Governor’s Award from Main
Sports Hall of Fame to the title of USPC Legend (2004) and induction
into the Sweet Briar College Sports Hall of Fame (2006).
In written form, Lendon
has contributed her expertise to a variety of publications,
including Chronicle of the Horse, Dressage Today,
Horse People and Equine Journal, and continues to act as
an advisor to Dressage Today. She has also written a very
popular book that helps make Dressage more accessible and
understandable to all riders:
Lessons
with Lendon.
http://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Lendon-Progressive-Competition-Practical/dp/1929164165
click here for Lendon's Blog
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