If you haven’t already entered our Project Centerline contest, now’s your chance. May 20 is the deadline and we already have a lot of great ideas—but we want more! Remember, you don’t have to draw well (or even draw at all) to enter.

Do you have a great idea for an opening ceremony outfit or a new helmet? How about an awesome shipping blanket for one of the team horses? All you need is a great idea and some team spirit. Then write a detailed description, drawing if you want (including colors) and submit it at equisearch.com/projectcenterline. We have five categories this year: Horse’s Shipping Attire, sponsored by Shires Equestrian; Rider’s Jog/Opening Ceremony Outfit, sponsored by Kerrits; Horse’s Team Attire (think saddle pads and brow bands), sponsored by Albion Saddlemakers; Rider’s Team Attire, sponsored by FITS and Rider’s Team Helmet, sponsored by Charles Owen.

So be sure to show us your team spirit by midnight next Sunday, May 20. And remember … winners in each category will receive prizes from each of these sponsors. That alone should inspire you to submit something! Have fun and good luck!

I recently heard a “joke” about the half-full/empty glass. “While some say it is half empty and others say half full, I say it is half empty of water and half full of air.” That, I say, is dressage. I spent many years looking for the thing that would give my riding quality, until one day I learned that it was the absence of what I was paying attention to that would give me the result I was looking for. Let me give an example: In an effort to make our horse more forward and active off the leg, we put our leg aid on. Until one day we find our leg has not left their side and we have created a horse that is, in fact, slow to the leg. The day that we can get our horse forward without that constant leg is the day that we are riding correct dressage. We spend so much time paying attention to leg aid (the water in the glass) that we forget the air that surrounds it. Sometimes, when I am teaching students, they are so good at applying the slowing aids that their horse will not stop. The key is to tell them to relax their aids so that the horse can actually feel the difference. Without the moment of nothing, the horse cannot tell if the rider is applying an aid or just tight/nagging/unsteady. Again, the aid (the water) is only half of what is in the glass! So next time someone asks if you believe the glass is half empty or half full, tell them that you are a dressage rider and you are certain that the glass is half empty of water and half full of air. How true that self-carriage, an ultimate goal of a dressage horse carrying himself without our constant support, is often compared to floating on air. On that note, happy riding. I challenge you to find all of the ways that air can be your new, most-helpful dressage aid!

I promised myself that if I ever had a horse that could take me safely around the hunt field, hunter paces and maybe even a baby cross country course that I would in fact do just that. Well, Woodrow has been a solid citizen (most of the time) and has allowed me the pleasure of doing all three. This year I went out with the local hunt twice, have teamed up with a friend to ride in three hunter paces and attended my first Ultimate Equestrian schooling—an opportunity to train on a variety of obstacles, including a couple cross country jumps. Each outing has helped me regain my confidence, and has brought back that giddy feeling I use to get when I was a kid. That excitement and love of riding that you sometimes forget about when you’re caught up in raising kids, working full time and trying to make every ride perfect. I know I am far from perfect, but that’s okay. It just gives me a good excuse to practice it over and over again!

Hello from horse paradise. Dr. Clayton hasn’t seen the working equitation ring, so this morning, we joined the working equitation guys and watched them putting their horses through obstacles such as opening gates, riding through chutes, picking up a pole from a barrel and spearing small rings and riding over a bridge. With great skill, they ask their horses to step completely sideways over a thin rail about six inches high. In a competition, points are deducted if they knock it over. They do most of this at a canter and make it look easy. The horses are very quick to the aids and are ready to turn on a dime. It’s really beautiful to watch. One of the riders is Cecelia’s husband, Chris. I was amazed to learn that Chris has only been riding for six months. It is a testament to a good instructor, a talented rider and these wonderful Lusitano horses.

Then they ask us if we want to try it. Dr. Clayton climbs aboard, Badamir Interagro, a beautiful gray/white gelding. She tries every obstacle at the walk and does quite well. We clap and egg her on. Kerron Psillas, DT’s on-site photographer, tries next and also does well. It looks so fun that I take a turn. I love the feel of the horse ready to do whatever I ask, but not explosive. I’d like to pack him into my suitcase and take him home. Cecelia is so proud of the three of us, she says we have to form a female working equitation team. We laugh and agree.

Dr. Clayton and Interagro’s head rider, Pia Aragao, go to the dressage ring to ride another horse, while Kerron and I go to the main stable and indoor ring to take photos of the traditional Portuguese tack. Martina, another wonderful trainer, shows us the beautiful leather saddle with a seat like a sofa. It was originally designed for bull fighting and now is used for ceremony and parades and such. The craftsmanship and details are great fun to ohh and ahh over. They put the tack on a lovely bay and what an amazing sight he is. Dr. Clayton gets a ride on him as do others who have just arrived from the U.S.

Later we went on a ride around the farm. I hoisted myself onto Zingaro Interagro, a black stallion! I think he would be great starring in another movie about the Black Stallion. He is trained do all the high school movements including Spanish walk, but he is Cecelia’s own horse and she says she cannot ever part with him. We all rode stallions and they behaved so well, taking us down country dirt roads past coffee plants, mango trees and fields of sugar cane. Glorious!

Tomorrow we are going to a satellite farm about 15 minutes away where we will see the yearlings, 2-year-olds and 3-year- olds. When ready, the 3 yr olds will come back to the main farm to begin their training. Until next time!

Today I talked a little with Dr. Hilary Clayton about Lusitanos and conformation in general. She said that her new Lusitano youngster, purchased in Florida and now in training with Bettina Drummond in New England, is similar to several horses she has seen here of the Vega bloodline. Originally bred as bull fighting horses, they are quick and agile and have good temperaments. Cecelia Gonzaga, the head of the farm, calls them sports cars. Anyway, Dr. Clayton likes this type for upper level dressage because they are able to lift themselves and their front ends as they move–good prospects to do collection. The ability to collect is more important than showy movement in the front end, such as an extended trot.

We have seen more beautiful horses here today. This afternoon we went for a carriage ride around the farm. It seemed like every time we turned a corner there was a new vista–10 miles of gorgeous rolling hills and pastures dotted with yearlings, mares, mares and foals and weanlings. There is a big lake, too, with white egrets flying around. A matched pair of buckskin Lusitanos pull our cart over what looks to me like fairly rough roads. I got to sit in the front with Antonio Souza, who heads the driving section of the farm. Dr. Clayton sat in the back with Carla, a friend of Cecelia’s, and a groom who holds the horses each time we stop to take pictures. It is even more idyllic as we come to a pasture with 20 or 30 curious weanlings who crowd the fence to see us.

Tomorrow we will see three groups of horses typifying the various bloodlines; Vega, Andrade and crosses of these lines. After dark, I checked the sky and saw the milky way! Wow. Fabulous!