Candace Clemens' Bareback Dressage (Methodology and Kit)
BarebackDressage™
Allow Your Horse to Become Your Most Valuable Instructor
Allow Your Horse to Become Your Most Valuable Instructor
Candace riding in a clinic with no saddle, due to recent foot surgery and a leg injury. This experience, along with training many students and horses, inspired her to create the Bareback Dressage Kit.
Candace Clemens is an FEI level dressage trainer, occasional low-level event rider, 1977 graduate of and former instructor at the world-renowned Morven Park International Equestrian Institute. (From 1967 - 1991, Morven Park IEI was "considered the most prestigious riding school in the United States.") She is a USDF Bronze Medalist and has earned the required scores for her Silver Medal. During her more than 40 years of riding, teaching, starting and training horses of all levels, Candace has developed her BarebackDressage™ methodology which, along with the BarebackDressage Kit™, dramatically accelerates learning to ride on the bit, and is also a fabulous supplement to all traditional riding and training styles and methods including: Western, Hunter and Jumper, in addition to being useful in evaluating your upper level dressage horses.
Instructors especially will find the BarebackDressage™ Kit an
invaluable teaching aid while working with students on and off the longe
line. Working with her local tack shop, Candace is now excited to
announce her BarebackDressage Kit™, exclusively available through The
Complete Equestrian Saddlery in Carlisle, MA. Call 781-275-0233 and ask for Nancy Kean. Click HERE if you are interested in purchasing The BarebackDressage Kit. And click HERE to contact Candace about her methodology.
VIDEO:
1. A student's pony responds exceptionally well after just two rides in the Bareback Pad.
2. BEFORE & AFTER: A visiting college student had just four days to learn how to ride an exceptionally difficult and explosive Grand Prix jumper. Candace gave her just one lesson. The student then worked on her own using the Bareback Dressage Kit. Click HERE to see the impressive transformation.
3. This same student on several different horses, from dull to very hot, using the Bareback Dressage Kit.
4. Before creating the Bareback Dressage Kit, Candace Clemens attended a clinic riding an exceptionally large moving Hanoverian. Still recovering from foot surgery, stirrups were still painful, and she asked to ride with no saddle. This Intermediare I Test would have shown more brilliance, and her position would have been better if she had her Bareback Dressage Pad. Still, this sometimes explosive horse was relaxed and obedient for a demanding FEI level test and contributed to her decision to promote the BarebackDressage methodology.
VIDEO:
1. A student's pony responds exceptionally well after just two rides in the Bareback Pad.
2. BEFORE & AFTER: A visiting college student had just four days to learn how to ride an exceptionally difficult and explosive Grand Prix jumper. Candace gave her just one lesson. The student then worked on her own using the Bareback Dressage Kit. Click HERE to see the impressive transformation.
3. This same student on several different horses, from dull to very hot, using the Bareback Dressage Kit.
4. Before creating the Bareback Dressage Kit, Candace Clemens attended a clinic riding an exceptionally large moving Hanoverian. Still recovering from foot surgery, stirrups were still painful, and she asked to ride with no saddle. This Intermediare I Test would have shown more brilliance, and her position would have been better if she had her Bareback Dressage Pad. Still, this sometimes explosive horse was relaxed and obedient for a demanding FEI level test and contributed to her decision to promote the BarebackDressage methodology.
5. Here is Hamilton, a huge 17.2+ Percheron/Oldenburg cross. Before working with Candace, his 15 year old rider was being hauled around to places she didn't always want to go. The big guy responded exceptionally well to the side reins in our kit and the BarebackDressage pad. In just a few sessions using the kit, his owner got some beautiful collected canter, good lateral movement, and great transitions, as you can see in this video. Eventually, she got back to the saddle, and enjoyed riding her "new" horse.
In addition to the Pad, multiple hooks on the side reins allow for easy and fast adjustment (great for use with saddles, too); the improved girth on the Bareback Pad adds comfort and stability; extra padding protects the horse's backbone and the rider's bottom; a tacky material under the thighs provides extra security for the rider. Everything in the kit is easily washed or hosed down. A breast collar is recommended.
Anita is in her mid-60's and has had two hip replacements. For her first horse, she selected a recently gelded and unbroken 15 year old Morgan. After watching her get bucked off and fearing Anita might get hurt, Candace intervened, and helped get the Morgan started under saddle. After the horse was under saddle for 8 months, Candace introduced Anita to the Bareback Dressage Kit. In just 3 lessons, the senior-but-novice Anita mastered shoulder-in, and was able to canter on the bit. All thanks to the Bareback Dressage Kit (as well as having selected an unlikely but surprisingly good mount.)
