As an FEI “O” judge, Linda Zang has judged some of the most prestigious of equestrian competitions – Olympic and World Equestrian Games, Dressage World Cup Finals and more.

Photo: ENYDCTA President Joy Black with Linda Zang and Claire Glover

While many of the world’s most successful dressage competitors have ridden before her, a group of riders in Upstate New York recently learned that Zang is just as happy to help developing professional and amateurs as she is seasoned professionals.

“I’m really thankful that Joy Black, the president of ENYDCTA (Eastern New York Dressage and Combined Training Association), reached out to Linda and was able to work with her to find room in her schedule to get her here,” said Jeff Lindberg, a professional dressage trainer based at Bishop’s Gate Farm in Ballston Spa, New York and vice president of ENYDCTA. “We don’t usually have instructors of her caliber come on a regular basis to this locality. So, having the opportunity to ride with her was something I was eager to do. It was an amazing opportunity.”

Claire Glover, a successful amateur competitor from Millbrook, New York said she was quite excited when she learned that Zang was coming to teach “because she is a respected “O” judge and I thought, ‘yes, I’ll drive three hours or four hours to ride with her’.”

Zang, who was a successful international dressage competitor before embarking on her judging career, spent four days at Spa Equine in Ballston Spa, New York working with professional and amateur riders with ENYDCTA simply because “they asked me and I thought, why not?” Zang said that she enjoys “working with amateurs and lower-level riders just as much. I think that if people like me get to a point where we don’t want to work with lower-level riders, then shame on us because we were all low-level riders and we all had to learn. That’s why I like to bring up stories when I teach. It makes people realize that even the best went through all this.”

Joy Black, president of ENYDCTA, said a goal of the organization is to bring in quality clinicians to help regional riders, particular professionals. “We started doing an instructors clinic last year. This year, I just wrote to Linda and asked her if she would come up to northeast New York and she agreed.”

The Violet M. Hopkins Fund – A Gift that Keeps Giving

ENYDCTA sought to offset costs of the clinic for riders by applying for a grant through The Dressage Foundation’s Violet M. Hopkins Fund. “We were awarded a generous grant and we were very happy about that. It made it more affordable for the riders. They only paid $200 a ride, which is good for someone of Linda’s caliber,” Black said.

Zang, who in 2009 was inducted into the Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame, found it particularly special that her four-day clinic was supported by the Violet Hopkins Fund. The fund was created by The Dressage Foundation in 1996 to support educational programs of USDF GMOs and GMO Chapters.  

“I was deeply involved with USDF when Vi decided to donate her land and possessions after she died and that decision really gave a great amount of support for education, which I’m sure has been building from that,” Zang said. “It was fun to come here and to see that Vi Hopkins’ support has lasted this long. Even now, Vi Hopkins does a lot for the United States.”

Zang says that more local GMOs around the country should reach out to clinicians like her to enhance educational opportunities for local professionals and amateurs. Improving access to training and education is key to developing the regional riders who will one day move on to the national and international levels and help grow the sport. “If local GMOs ask me to come, I’ll come because they want help. When we give regional riders help, they feel good because the quality improves and they understand things better and it keeps the whole development process moving.”

Zang’s Instruction of Big Benefit to Professionals and Amateurs Alike

Kiersten Vroman, a professional rider and trainer from Ft. Edward, New York, said that Zang was “hugely helpful with some issues I had been having that I hadn’t been able to figure out how to get over the hump. We don’t often get a lot of bigger-named clinicians and this was a really nice opportunity. It was great that ENYDCTA was able to get her here and that The Dressage Foundation helped to sponsor that because we sometimes feel we are in the middle of nowhere.”

Vroman’s student, Julia Rhyne, an amateur rider from Lake George, New York, also had the opportunity to learn from Zang and said the experience made her more aware of how her position affects the horse. “When I got it right, he came right,” she said. “I loved this opportunity and I loved watching Linda work with the other people. I was also trying to take what she had taught them and apply it. I would ride with her again for sure. She was tough on me but I appreciate when people are tough on me.”

Lindberg said that he could also attest to the benefits of having access to instruction from Zang. “The changes she made in my position were amazing. It’s harder and harder to find an eye that is critical enough to make changes. As a professional, most of the time when I take a lesson, the focus is on what the horse needs to do to improve and this was not that. The lessons with Linda were about what I need to improve, which is what I’ve felt for a very long time that I’ve had difficulty finding. I can’t really travel that far away to take a lesson because I have my own farm to run. So, it’s difficult to travel long distance to work with someone of her caliber. To have someone like Linda come here and give me that kind of quality education is fantastic.”

Lindberg’s students were just as excited for the opportunity to learn from Zang. Gail DiStefano, an amateur rider from Ballston Lake, New York who rides with Lindberg, said she also felt the impacts of changes in her position. “Linda picked up on the slightest needed changes in my aids, such as pick up your inside shoulder so that he could pick up his inside shoulder.”

Lindsey Battiste, another Lindberg student, said that Zang showed her that “we are capable of a lot more than we think we are. I definitely find that as an amateur I sometimes lose motivation with everything else going on in life and these clinics help to keep me pushing forward and give me a direction to go and something to work for.”

Glover said she came away with a greater realization of what she needed to correct in her body. “I’ve ridden with a lot of trainers and nobody has ever told me that I really have to keep my body up and straight. I always drop my left shoulder. That’s sort of how I’m built. And they always correct me on that but never told me where I should be and I really felt that on both of rides with Linda.”

Zang Encourages More Local Organizations to Reach Out

Amateur rider Crystal Murray, who got some help from Zang with her four-year-old Hanoverian/Welsh cross that she purchased just five weeks earlier, was a bit nervous but also excited to ride with Zang. She expressed the view of most all riders at the clinic – “I came because I want all the opportunities I can have!”

It is just that kind of enthusiasm from local and regional riders that Zang believes makes many instructors of her level happy to travel and teach regional riders. Hence, access to good instruction is possible if more local organizations reach out for help. Of more concern to Zang is access to good horses for developing riders. “It’s a little worrisome, and I think others would agree, that the prices of some of these horses have gotten so high that sometimes the more capable, better future riders that we have never find the horse to become what they could be. We do, of course then, depend on special people who are willing to support those riders.”

Black said that Zang’s instruction was so well received by riders that ENDYCTA is hoping to lure her back on a regular basis. “It was pretty unanimous, that we would love to have her back. We’d like to have her at least twice a year, possibly three times so that she can see the progression.”