Education backgrounds of members?

BSc in Ecology, and 15 years later a BSc in Management Science (which may be an oxymoron but pays waaaaay better than ecology ever did ).

Oh, I think many horses, not just the best, can learn everything they need to do all of the Gand Prix movements. Most of them will never be anywhere near good enough to compete, of course, and some will never have a proper passage or be able to sustain the level of collection required for a whole test. Dressage is such a progressive, "build upon what you already can do" kind of sport that as long as he stays sound and mentally happy, why not go as far as you can?

You're right of course, Schraf. After all, dressage is nothing but making horses do horsy things. (Just the movements that is, no shit.) Only the timing is ours. You know, Anky van Grunsven once said: "There's nothing we ask of horses in dressage that they don't also do in the wild." The complicating factor for the horses is of course that they have to do these things while carrying around some eighty-odd kilos. I suppose it's a bit like doing ballet with a well-filled rucksack.So they can all do the Grand Prix movements, granted. But, as you said, to compete at that level is quite something else. The most important thing, as you also said, is that the horse stays healthy and happy. So long as Mexx still whinnies when I appear on his radar, I think we're doing fine on that front.But please, tell me something about your riding experiences. Do you own a horse?

I don't own a horse at the moment. Husband's in graduate school, you know.I have a Bachelor's degree in Equestrian Studies, and I've worked at many differnt kinds of horse jobs.I actually haven't ridden much at all in the last several years. I became burned out, not from teaching and not from riding, but with having to put up with the always crazy, sometimes abusive people who owned the stables I worked in.I had always been interested in food and cooking, and I took a job at a small fancy food store. I eventually became a manager and the cheese buyer there. When Jim and I moved to our current location, I started work at a rather famous and very well-respected Jewish Deli/specialty food retail shop which is also well-known for it's progressive and innovative training and management style. Here, I have become the manager of the packaged goods section.I have surprised myself that I don't miss horses more than I do, but I am very lucky in that I have more than one passion in my life (horses and food) and that I have, at different times, been able to make a living doing each.So, when my husband graduates and his starting salary will be equivalent to my salary and his stipend combined, I have definite plans to get back into the horse world, but this time as a student and competitor, NOT as a professional. I'd like to take lessons and get my skills going again, and I'd like to someday buy a nice young event horse and see if I can get him up to Preliminary.[This message has been edited by schrafinator, 09-26-2003]

I always get my info. from the "horses mouth". I have a BA in Liberal Studies.

I'm currently on my last class for my Environmental Studies degree (Bio/Chem multidisciplinary +tons of field courses). I'm also finishing up minors in Spanish and Philosophy. I'm currently working on setting up a research project for next semester studying the endogen fauna of caves in NW Oklahoma.

B.Sc(Hons) Math/Theoretical Physics Univ. London
M.Sc Theoretical Physics Cambridge
PhD Theoretical Physics CalTech[This message has been edited by Eta_Carinae, 11-15-2003]