CADI Participant Updates
The 2009 Children of the Americas Dressage Invitational CADI was a huge success!
Please help spread the word! CADI 2010 will be here very soon, and donations to this wonderful venture are always welcome. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution. No amount is too small -- and every amount makes a big difference! All contributions will be used exclusively for the development, promotion and production of CADI 2010. The Bear Spot Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization.
Past CADI Participants
In order to maintain and strengthen the bonds formed during the time leading up to this competition, we encourage our competitors to send us news of competitions, horses, awards, projects, training goals...please share any information you wish with us, and it will be posted here.
Trainers
CADI Trainer Volker Brommann conducted informative and well-attended clinics April 17-19, 2009. Contact Cathy Zemaitis for more information, or visit Volker's website.
A lot of positive response from the CADI this year! I am very excited about promoting dressage all over the world, and the CADI is a fantastic vehicle for this.
I went from there to a Dressage Forum in Venezuela, and it is amazing the community that is being created through the hard work and dedication of people like you.
UNH Dressage Team Wins National Championship
The University of New Hampshire's Intercollegiate Dressage Association (IDA) team defeated more than 20 teams to win its first-ever national championship Saturday, April 18, 2009 at the University of Findlay in Findlay, Ohio. This was the UNH dressage team's sixth time contesting the national championships and the team's first victory there, which was the culmination of a very successful season that earned UNH's third consecutive regional championship.
Sarah Hamilton, director of the UNH Equine Program, coaches the team. Sarah and her staff presented an educational program at CADI '08.
Riders
Leonard Behrens (2009) Continues His Great Work!
"...In their first international competition, the Children of the Americas Dressage Invitational in Boston, Willo and Leonard took another Reserve Championship with their scores on FEI Children’s test of 73.044% and Freestyle of 76.785%"! (Read more...)
Hope Comes to City to Saddle [Press Release, February 2009]
Children discover hope in many places. In the case of 8-year-old Dorchester youngster Tajarah Clark, hope can be found in the person of Hope Cooper, a 12-year-old equestrian. Through City To Saddle, a non-profit organization that funds and accesses riding programs for underserved urban youngsters, Hope will realize her wish: sharing her special world and love of ponies with Tajarah.
Beginning in March, Tajarah will spend Saturdays learning to ride and care for Hope’s wonderful pony Orion. With guidance and oversight from Hope’s mom, Jane Karol, a highly regarded Grand Prix Dressage rider, instructor and trainer, Hope will mentor Tajarah in the ways of horses and the bond that can form when young girls and ponies come together.
“Hope spoke to me about her desire to teach a City to Saddle child to ride, to share her lifelong experiences caring for, and loving horses and helping another little girl fulfill her pony dreams. Impressed with Hope’s horsemanship talents, and more importantly, her character, I considered this wish nothing less than a wonderful opportunity for City To Saddle, and a very special gift for one of our deserving fledgling riders,” states Barbara Zenker, Founding Director of the City To Saddle program. For Hope’s part, she is nothing less than “excited by the opportunity to share her love of horses and to make a new friend!”
There is a famous quote from Plato stating, "The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things". Surely he foresaw an enchanted Tajarah seated proudly upon the warm, fuzzy back of gentle Orion, guided by the sure hand and kind heart of a lovely girl named Hope! Hope, Tajarah and Orion will begin their partnership next month at Bear Spot Farm in Concord, MA.
I wanted to thank you on behalf of Ashley, Jessica, myself and the CIEF (Cayman Islands Equestrian Federation) for a fabulous experience at CADI 2008. We have never experienced such a dressage show with bonding, friendships, love for the sport, and camaraderie. The whole event was a pleasure to attend and, as a mother, a joy to see my child involved in something so wonderful. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Thank you for considering Ashley as the “Spirit of CADI” this year. It was an honor to receive such an award and I am so proud of her. Again, thank you for this wonderful experience and we are already missing Jake, the other riders and trainers, and your wonderful event. We look forward to attending next year!
I didn't need to ask Jessica how her time at CADI was, I could see on her face and in the way about her that she has had an eye opening experience. She said to her parents that it was beautiful to watch the Freestyles and that she now has a better understanding of what dressage is all about. : ) New enthusiasm for discovering more about her horse and this sport has been created!!
I couldn't thank you and everyone involved enough for providing our riders in the developing nations with this opportunity. It something very special. I wish you continued success and enjoyment with this event.
2007 CADI Participants
We're so glad that the CADI 2008 is already on its way! We still can't forget our wonderful time spent at the Barn. We just had our FEI World Dressage Challenge (Group 3) and Adriana did a superb job on her horse Katermo. She won the Preliminary Class with a 70%, earning the highest score of the competition of the Group. We're sure that having been a part of the CADI 2007 has helped her so much in her work. Please say hi to everyone at the Bear Spot Foundation!!!!
With the enthusiasm of the CADI still fresh in her memories, and under the guidance of her new dressage coach, Alejandra González, Maressa earned a 63% on First Level Test 1 and a 63.63% on First Level Test 2 last weekend here in Costa Rica, under FEI (I) Judge César Lopardo-Grana...Maressa is training hard to keep her scores high, in order to qualify for the 2008 CADI. She just turned 14, so she hopes she'll have a chance to see again her friends at Bear Spot Farm, both human and equine!
My daughter Julia McIntyre rode in the Children's Invitational at Bear Spot...We are all still talking about this event — what a great experience it was!
"I can't believe it's past! And on the other hand, we have lived, laughed, grown, loved, and enjoyed beyond words a unique experience, so rich, so sweet, so exhilarating...filled with all the good that can be the only possible outcome when some much work, vision, effort, resources and love is put into it."
"...I would like to convey my most sincere gratitude for your warm welcome, your cooperation , and the special way in which you treated my daughter, Yuval Kissilevich, and other participants. Yuval's goals for next year include qualifing for local competitions, in order to be part of "The Children of the Americas Dressage Invitational."
I would like to express my most sincere wishes that this competition become a tradition."
The experience of being a part of the CADI was such an intense learning experience for Maressa.
...The most thrilling part of the story is that Maressa has presented in competition the Freestyle she prepared for the 2007 CADI, riding an adorable Spanish stallion named Precioso (that belongs to her dressage coach) and scoring way high over the 60s...What a lovely contribution to our country, thanks to the CADI organizers.
It has been a long and wonderful year for Maressa and her horses. We talk about Bear Spot Farm often and remember our great friends there.
Francesca Giachetti was able to win Peru's 2007 FEI World Dressage Challenge (October 30th) on the mare Jaka with a 68.4% score. She only rode Jaka twice before the competition; Jaka is a very strong and overwhelming mare for most riders. Francesca's self-confidence after the CADI put her up to the challenge. She came second in the Regional Group 2 and helped Team Perú come 3rd in the group!! [In the photo: FEI WDC2007-Peru winners: Francesca Giacchetti & Jaka, First Place, Children; Maria Gracia de la Piedra & Roma, Second Place, Advanced; Maggie Batievsky & Aerocondor Jupiter, First Place, Advanced; Monika Von Wedemeyer& Lavall, First Place, PSG]
"...unfortunately Dominique Apellido Rivas could not take part in the FEI Challenge because last Monday he broke his right leg playing football at school. He will be in a cast for the next 6 weeks and 3 months to fully recover and be able to ride again. So... he´ll have to miss all the finals of the season, unfortunately, since Dominique was winning. However, he will still win the Metropolitan Championship with "Constantin," since he is more than 40 points ahead and also ahead to be Champion with his other horse, "Mashallah" in the Children's level but will lose the Champion in the Second Level."
"...Thanks so much for a making a little girl's dream come true... Maressa had not pictured herself riding with someone as famous as Jane, or presenting a Freestyle on a darling, well-mannered and trained horse as Lio. She just can't stop talking about Bear Spot Farm and all of you guys, and has worn her vest all week!"
