United States Eventing Association

Bucyrus, Kan.—June 17—A keen group of 12 young riders that traveled from as far as Texas and as near as Oklahoma kicked off their educational journey at this year’s USEA Emerging Athletes U21 Program (EA21) Central Clinic yesterday evening at Chaps Equestrian Center. After getting their horses settled, the participants connected with their coach for the week, Shannon Lilley, who brings a wealth of experience as a newly minted five-star eventer and founding faculty member of the EA21 Program.

A two-hour lecture ensued where Lilley encouraged the participants to “speak up and teach [her]. I don’t want to spend hours talking at the kids,” she explained. “They really wanted to learn, they asked lots of questions, and they did tons of research. They took way more time to come up with answers and teach me. It’s interactive learning. They end up teaching me about the training scale and what exercises are used to achieve each level.”

Switching focus to the present, the riders were up bright and early today to prepare for the first set of mounted lessons. Ava Davis and Sierra Fishell entered the sandbox at 7:00 a.m., so the lessons would end early enough to beat the heat and moody Midwest storms that seemed to skirt around the property all morning. Six groups of two came forward for the lessons on the flat, and while they varied greatly in skill level and type, they all walked away better from the experience.

“This group of riders is a bit greener than the groups I’ve had at Morven [Park in Virginia] the last three years, but that’s kind of just the ebb and flow of the program; who applies when and where you are in the country,” Lilley explained as she reflected on the morning of teaching. “The eagerness to learn and make changes, which is really how you judge things, is fantastic here. Everybody wanted to change and be better! Across the board, there were big changes in the horses, and that’s what you want to see, that the kids take the feedback, make the changes, and it shows through the horses as they improve.”

While the foundational knowledge of the German Training Scale remained at the center of every lesson, the exercises in which Lilley challenged each pairing shifted. While some coaches may fit one pattern to all the riders and demonstrate their strengths and weakness through their ability to conform, Lilley opted to use extensive creativity and breadth in the format of each lesson.

The beginning of the lesson was the only aspect that remained constant through all six hours of instruction. Riders were encouraged to enter the dressage arena and work their horses at the walk, trot, and canter at will, while Lilley and their fellow EA21 athletes watched, assessed, and briefly discussed the pairings as they warmed up. Then, the athletes would come to a walk and join the discussion, which Lilley guided the riders by asking each one to tell the group what they thought their strengths and weaknesses are on the flat.

Through this interactive teaching, Lilley employed a team think tank approach that allowed the riders and their peers to help each other identify and address the weak links in their training. From there, Lilley would send the riders out again to complete the exercise that she felt would best address the issues discussed.

One pattern that was used across several lessons had the riders start on a 20-meter circle at A, then progress onto the outside rail to incorporate lateral movements on either long side. On the 20-meter circle, Lilley would add changes of position to adjust the horses’ stride length and the size of the circle, encouraging straightness on the path traveled and relaxation through the aids. Then, on the long side of the ring, riders were asked to leg yield on and off the quarter line or the centerline, based on their skill level. These nuances, including the frequency of lateral movements and number of transitions per exercise, made the riders focus on their biomechanics to encourage correct riding from back to front.

In the first lesson, Davis and Fishell initially struggled to create energy and establish a true medium trot, and subsequently, medium canter. Both girls were catch riding unfamiliar horses, and Lilley made a point to note, that especially with a horse that isn’t your own, so often riders don’t start with enough impulsion. They can get so focused on creating a connection and bringing the horse up into the bridle when they haven’t even established a rhythm yet.

“You’re trying to get the car to go before you turn it on,” Lilley explained. “You can’t press the gas until you’ve started the engine.” Working on the 20-meter circle, Lilley had the riders go back to the basics and focus solely on controlling their horses’ rhythm through their seat.

They were told to increase their stride by rolling their hips and opening the movement of their seat to lengthen the gait, then limit their following and slow the push through their hips to shorten. Once the riders were effectively communicating through their seat, Lilley added a leg yield onto a smaller 10-meter circle and back out to the 20-meter circle to test their ability to maintain that steady rhythm as the path changed.

“I learned a lot,” Davis exclaimed. “He isn’t a horse that excels at the dressage, but he is really going to help me with my flatwork skill set, just learning to do it correctly, and focusing on the forwardness, first and foremost. It just tied in so well to the lecture we had yesterday.”

Each pairing had the opportunity to swap mounts for the final 15 minutes of their lesson, which gave them the chance to put their new skills to the test on a horse that, to them, was a clean slate. Adapting the pattern and their position to a new horse with limited time to adjust served as a litmus test for the riders’ ability to be dynamic.

Swapping horses was an especially fruitful exercise for Mia Volpentesta and Brett Youssi. While their horses were polar opposites in terms of type and way of going, the lesson the riders had to learn was the same. Both horses started with good rhythm, but they needed help channeling it, so Lilley had them ride 10-meter circles in each corner of the ring and lengthen their stride between each circle to improve their connection. The result was a more balanced and supple horse for each rider. Switching back onto their own mounts only solidified the lesson learned.

The biggest transformation in position came from Ella Munsat and Sophia Street. Where Munsat started over-arched in her lower back, Street was too round through her shoulders. Throughout the day, Lilley encouraged riders to pat their horses with one rein to release the pressure through that side, but she took the exercise one step further for Street and had her remove one hand from the reins and place it behind her back to encourage an openness in her chest. Lilley also incorporated bridging the reins into their plan to keep an even hand carriage and pressure between both reins. By the end, the riders both achieved a middle ground in the way they carried their upper bodies.

After the lesson, Street reflected that she “felt really connected to [Lilley], because she’s a trainer that really put things into perspective for me and helped me think through things a bit better.” Street continued, “sometimes I just go through the motions without thinking about what the horse is doing underneath of me and what my body is doing to set them up for success, when it should be a combination of both. Although I’m [the youngest], and I don’t have as much experience, I want to put in the work.”

As the lessons concluded, Lilley reflected on a common thread where everyone saw improvement. “I felt like today we focused a huge amount on position, and they were all so available to change their positions, which then made the horses so much better. By the end, they were able to communicate through their body to execute the exercises, which is when they got that understanding.”

Since the program’s inception in 2022, Lilley and her fellow EA21 Faculty have taught at the same clinic year after year, that is until 2025. After three years at Morven Park, this week marks Lilley’s first time at the Central Clinic, and she is already impressed by what she is seeing in the participants.

“I was really impressed with the level of knowledge, and I think that’s something that this program has developed over the last few years,” Lilley noted. “I was a bit shocked how big their knowledge base was, but then they were a bit greener in the riding aspect, so it’s good for me to see that their knowledge base may exceed their riding now, but that ability is going to catch up.”

The change in perspective was equally beneficial for the participants. Willow Schwartz, who has participated in the Central Clinic and the EA21 National Camp in previous years, noted that “being able to work with someone with fresh eyes and a new perspective on things, and even just a new way to talk to you, is great. I think being able to rotate these coaches is something that is helping all of us riders.”

The action will begin again at 7:00 a.m. CT tomorrow with three-person group lessons over a show jumping course that the participants set this afternoon with Lilley’s guidance. Check back tomorrow afternoon for the full report.

The Participants

• Ava Davis
• Sierra Fishell
• Carter Jackson
• Ella Munsat
• Finley Powell
• Shaena Putnam
• Willow Schwartz
• Sophia Street
• Mia Volpentesta
• Elle White
• Abigail Williams
• Brett Youssi

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About the USEA Emerging Athlete U21 Program (EA21)

The purpose of the USEA Emerging Athletes U21 Program (EA21) is to identify and provide consistent quality instruction to the next generation of elite event riders. The aim is to create a pipeline for potential team riders by identifying and developing young talent, improving horsemanship and riding skills, and training and improving skills and consistency.

The USEA Emerging Athletes U21 Program was launched in 2022 with a model of five summertime regional clinics taught by carefully selected USEA Eventing Coaches Program (ECP) coaches, leading to a winter national camp consisting of selected Young Riders from the regional clinics. Athletes who are 21 years or younger, are current members of their USEA Young Rider Area program, and are established at the Training Level or higher, are eligible to apply for the EA21 program. Click here to learn more about the USEA EA21 Program.

The USEA would like to thank ARMA, Bates Saddles, Horse Illustrated, Kerrits, PulseVet, Ride iQ, Schneiders Saddlery, Sidelines Magazine, WeRideTogether, and YETI for sponsoring the USEA Emerging Athletes U21 Program.