The University of Findlay will host the Intercollegiate Dressage Association (IDA) National Championships April 18 and 19 at the James L. Child Jr. Equestrian Complex, located on Township Road 201. The public is welcome to attend.
   
Twelve teams, with four riders on each team, will compete on Saturday. Nearly 50 individual riders will compete on Sunday. Also on Saturday, spectators can watch a dog agility demonstration by Golden Collar School for Dogs during the lunch hour. In addition, a variety of vendors will be on site, including several area businesses, as well as an equine art show.
   
“It is a great pleasure … to have the opportunity to be on such an outstanding campus, particularly one that is so hospitable and understanding of the needs of horses and riders,” said Beth Beukema, president of IDA. “Findlay’s rich equine tradition makes it an outstanding site for what is sure to be the best IDA National Championship yet.”
   
In 2008, the University’s dressage team was regional champion for the second year in a row and earned eighth place at the IDA National Championships in Massachusetts. Several students also earned high individual honors. In 2006 and 2005, the team was second in the region. At UF, students may be part of the dressage competition team and also study dressage as an academic discipline for the entire four years of their college careers.
   
Janet Harms is the head dressage instructor at the University and also the coach for the IDA team at UF. Harms also competes in freestyle reining, a western equestrian discipline. Amanda Smith also is a riding instructor within the dressage program and assists with coaching the IDA team.
   
Dressage is a sport in which riders train horses to use their natural movements in a more balanced, supple and obedient manner. In dressage competition, the horse’s natural movements are repeated as exercises in the show ring, and judges score the performance, giving each rider a gauge for their quality of the performance. The rider must compete using an unfamiliar horse, drawn at random. In a true test of skill, the rider is given just 10 minutes to become familiar with the horse before they enter the show ring.
   
There are many levels of dressage competition that range from the low levels within the reach of any horse and rider, to Olympic-level competition. Dressage emphasizes the role of the rider to be as correct as possible in his or her poise and flexibility, as the horse will act as a mirror of the rider’s strengths and weaknesses.
   
The University has a strong equestrian tradition, offering both English and western equestrian studies as an academic major. In addition to the dressage competition team, the University also has both English and western equestrian teams, which compete in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA). The English equestrian team earned reserve IHSA national champion in both 2007 and 2008. The western equestrian team earned reserve IHSA national champion in 2008 and national IHSA champion in 2007, 2005 and 2001. The University of Findlay remains the only institution to have claimed the English and western national championships the same year.
   
The University also is the first IHSA school to claim four High-Point riders four years in a row.
   
For more information regarding the IDA championships at Findlay, please contact the Child complex at 419-434-4364 or for more information on the program, please click here or visit www.findlay.edu, KEYWORD: Dressage.