Mary McGuire Smith

Mary loves to teach. It is all about the everyday trials and tribulations of both horse and rider as they learn the theory and practicum of the Principles of Dressage, and the progress in building the athlete in both horse and rider. It is also about those lightbulb moments; the grin of pride when the student feels what "contact" means, or gliding across the arena in a correctly balanced and cadenced half-pass, or the feeling of that wave rising underneath you as your horse takes you across the diagonal in extended trot, or the perfectly balanced power as s/he learns to sit in piaffe. She focuses on understanding the "why" of riding, with different ways of explaining, an endless list of exercises to employ for the horse's gymnastic training, and support in the theoretical foundation for them.

Graduated	1979 at Troy University