Hampton Green Farm Hosts Dressag 4 Kids

On Tuesday evening, March 23rd, Hampton Green Farm hosted a gathering for Lendon Gray’s Dressage4Kids Foundation. Over 100 people attended this evening of food, wine, and information about this wonderful program for youth riders. Founded in 1999 in New York, D4K offers seminars, clinics, scholarships and events for youth riders of all ages, many of whom are introduced to Dressage through D4K, and through D4K are able to find a horse and participate. D4K was founded as a result of the success of its flagship event–the Lendon Youth Festival–an all-youth horse show held every summer in New York State that today draws in over 400 kids from around the world, where they compete at all levels, take written and oral tests about a pre-assigned reading list, are graded on their horsemanship, grooming and stable manners, meet Olympians and top judges who attend to help the kids, and qualify for scholarships for continued training. Many of the United States top trainers and Team riders are graduates of Lendon’s Youth Festival.
In 2008, a High Point PRE award was started at the Youth Festival, and Lendon has been an outspoken proponent of the P.R.E. horse for competition, being the owner of one herself, which she has placed with one of the top-ranked Junior Riders in the United States. At the HGF gathering, Lendon announced her plans to bring the Youth Festival to Florida, with hopes of bringing in kids from all horse backgrounds to join in and learn about Dressage!