A Personal note from Editor/Catskill Horse magazine, Nikki Alvin-Smith
I do confess that I cannot wait to get back to giving dressage clinics, coaching at competition and offering dressage training at our farm here in Stamford, New York.
Everyone has endured a very turbulent and strange 2020 and as we canter into the last month of the year I cannot but hope that next year things return to some semblance of normalcy.
For my husband and I, both international level Grand Prix dressage competitors/coaches/clinicians, the year has been a very quiet one. Our decision was to postpone our busy clinic tour, including trips abroad as there was no way the necessary quarantine needs could be met once there - and the idea of masking up to give instruction for 10 hours straight a day was an impossible ask.
We LOVE our clients and missed the hugs, conversations, and frankly income, that our horse business provides. But, patience will hopefully pay off in the long term with a return to good health and better times.
Our life probably mirrors that of many other trainers. A mix of clinic giving, boarding/training, travel and ongoing personal education with other colleagues.
Here's a snapshot of ours:
Hubbie Paul coaching an accomplished hunter jumper rider. 
Paul at a Finger Lakes clinic training Kim Preston - a dressage trainer in her own right. 
Kim Preston visiting on site at our farm for a few days dressage retreat. 
Another hunter/jumper rider gets some help on the flat. 
Young Riders are all part of the action.
As we look forward to getting back to giving clinics we also look forward to welcoming boarders back that seek dressage training for their horses.
Once again being Covid careful we halted on site visits and training for others at our farm for 2020. It just seemed the right thing to do. But in Spring 2021, as vaccines hopefully become widely administered and the pandemic crisis abates, we expect to be back to full training at our farm.
Paul training ANCCE stallion Celesto V at WVH.
We also look forward to training time with our own horses of course. We have sold off all our breeding stock but we have kept two special horses in our private yard, a 3 year old Lusitano/DWB homebred gelding called Extravaganza WVH and this beautiful soul, Tiberio Lafite aka Tigger, who we have owned since a youngster and is now 26 years old and still going strong. Though his Grand Prix moves are not requested anymore!!
Travels abroad should also be back in play (we fervently hope!) as the year of 2021 progresses. We sure miss our friends, family and clientele abroad. The opportunity to take in some ongoing education from some of the world's best trainers is always a treat.
Paul and Stal Andre outside Lisbon, schooling on the great late Lusitano stallion Rico - as Portuguese dressage master Antonio Borba looks on at his retired stallion go.
Certainly all of us wish to be back at it all and busy with our chosen career paths. It is a great time to set plans in motion, to dust off any depression, and encourage our hearts and minds with positivity towards the future.
So don't be shy to get on it! The winter in the NE is the perfect opportunity to set the hooves in motion for 2021 and canter down the centerline in an optimistic frame of mind.
Don't forget to send news of your forthcoming shows/clinics and other horsey events to Catskill Horse magazine for free inclusion on their events page.
