Cadence Dressage
“Equipping riders to empower their horses.”
Philosophy
Megan truly believes that horses perform their best when they can work with their rider as a teammate who empowers them to channel their strength and power, revealing the grace and beauty we all love about horses, and creating a space where they can become more confident in their work. She has a passion for creating a solid foundation for both horse and rider, fine tuning the details, and creating confident riders with the correct tools to move forward toward each riders individual goals. With this in mind she will create a targeted, personalized program for each horse and rider.
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A solid foundation is formed through the riders improved equitation skills and correct use and timing of aids. The goal is to create a horse who is prompt to the aids, fully using their body, and moving from back to front. This creates a rider and horse who are in tune with one another and working as a fully functioning team to move up the levels with ease.
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Dressage is about the details. Part of her personalized training program is a focus on the little details that make a good ride great. For example; geometry for tests, timing for transitions, fully using your arena and movements to your advantage, and keeping the horse relaxed and willing throughout the ride. These are all details that are practiced during normal training sessions or lessons. Megan never wants her students to feel that they are scrambling to nail these little details right before a show. These little details should be like breathing; so normal, so familiar, and so easy.
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​Confidence is established over time, by knowing the limits of your ability and challenging those limits slowly so that each rider can broaden and grow those skills. Megan is determined to provide an excellent training experience for you and your horse by keeping your goals in mind. She will work with each client to help them grow at their pace through encouragement and praise, but also challenging and pushing each team so that they never become stagnant. Confident riders can create confident horses who follow their riders leadership through a bond of trust and partnership.
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Along with creating this foundation, improving attention to details, and establishing confidence Megan will help target specific muscle group development through exercises that promote strength and suppleness for both horse and rider. Equipped riders create empowered horses who draw us in through their elegance, beauty, power, and dexterity.
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Megan currently has openings in her training and lesson program. Please feel free to contact her at any time to discuss your goals and the needs of your equine partner. She would be happy to work with you to customize a program that will meet your needs and help you reach your goals.
History
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Megan began taking lessons when she was 8 at a local hunter jumper barn in her home state of Washington. She discovered dressage in 2009 and quickly developed a passion for it. While attending college in Alabama, Megan became a member of her college’s IHSA (Intercollegiate Horse Show Association) team competing in both hunter jumper and western. In 2012 Megan relocated to Nebraska to work with Jami Kment as a working student focusing completely on dressage. In 2013, she moved to Kentucky to finish her degree at Murray State University, and graduated with her bachelors in Business Administration with a Human Resource concentration. During this time she continued her dressage training with Candra McCoy, a local eventing trainer.
After several years working in an office, she felt her heart calling her back to horses full time. When her husband graduated from college, they relocated the family back to Washington where Megan began working for Shaun Myers. She worked their for a little over a year and then branched out to focus more time on her own students and partner with a beginning riding program. Over the years Megan has had the opportunity to clinic under some of the best such as Kathy Connelly, Alfredo Hernandez, and Eugene Abello, Beth Ness, and Jennifer Williams. She is dedicated to continuing her education and actively seeks out educational experiences.
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Today, Megan utilizes her history of hunter jumper to help many students move from their jumping career to a dressage focus. This unique view point gives her several tools for training as well as teaching that she can tap into to help her students achieve success at a movement or understand a concept. She also teaches a variety of ages which again helps her find creative ways to teach, keeping it fun and new. She has a huge heart for JR riders and seeks to mentor and provide opportunities to help them grow, move up the levels, and have opportunities to excel. Megan also has a deep understanding of anxiety in both horse and riders. She has a creative and calm approach to assisting both work through their fear to become confident.