TESTIMONIALS

Thank-you for your time, patience and knowledge. What you have to offer is amazing...in one week I gained more information than I have in the last five years.

Jenifer Fortin, FEI rider and coach
Virginia, USA

Every step I get the sense that she wants me to get it just as desperately as I want it for myselfPenny is truly gifted in her ability to teach a subject so predominantly based on feel. With every step I get the sense that she wants me to get it just as desperately as I want it for myself, and her persistence tells me that she cares so deeply for, not just dressage as a sport, but for the horse and his sake.

Darryl Cherry
maryland USA

Thank-you Penny for making so much about riding clear to me. You have opened doors and given me the opportunity to develop riding skills. I have acquired more understanding about what I am supposed to be doing than I have from any other instructor....

Dr. Lorraine McDermott
Maryland, USA

Penny, you are just so amazing! Thank-you for all your great teaching. I am also thankful for when you offer me a roof to sleep under when I come.

Josee
Whitehorse, Yukon

I would like to pass on that I thought the Penny Paulgaard clinic sponsored by the St. Mary's Chapter was utterly fantastic.

I have been struggling for years to figure out how to get the hollow out of my back and sit on my seat bones without tensing my butt muscles and her lecture finally gave me the information I needed in order to succeed. I concur wholeheartedly with her that your position has to be correct in order for the horse to use his/her back properly.

My horse is already much happier and is going forward to the bit and carrying my seat. Wow, what a difference. I can't wait til she comes back. Thank-you PVDA for sponsoring this clinic.

Debbie Purvis
Maryland, USA

At the core of Penny's system is the rider...she focuses on developing an effective seat and light aids. She is a beautiful, successful rider, but more importantly to her students - she is a dynamic and clear communicator who can teach you step-by-step how to improve your riding. Just ask any of the participants from her jacksonville clinics.

Elizabeth Anderson
jacksonville, Florida

...Penny has helped me regain confidence in my abilities, increased my knowledge of all aspects of riding and has shown tremendous patience and empathy to me while I regained lost suppleness and motor skills.

...she manages to change her teaching style to accomodate the riders age, knowledge and skill level. She has an uncanny ability to impart just the right amount of information at the right time. For the first few months my horse and I worked with her on the lunge line, during this period we made some tremendous advances, I was able to concentrate on my seat and body position, meanwhile my horse learned to relax and favor a long and low outline, something that had eluded him since a bad jumping accident had damaged his back.

...her approach to good riding is based on studying and refining the best techniques from the best riders from all over the world and all times through history.

...Her system is aimed at improving the riders position and abilities, but the biggest impact I have seen is that my horse is more relaxed, willing and supple. I have learned to pay attention to my horses favorable responses to my aids and as a result he tries harder with less work on my part.

Ted Harvey
Alberta, Canada

...Her system has been particularly helpful to me in addressing problems with my stubborn sometimes bossy horse who enters the arena each time with his head in the air and his back hollowed. He is constantly rubbing and trying to get into my space, he pulls on the reins, sometimes jerking them out of my hands. He appears very tense and restless; always bored and wanting to get going.Understanding the "why?" of effective and ineffective riding gives the rider a concious choice, thereby making it easier to change old habits.

When Penny rode him, he became infuriated because she had equal weight in her stirrups and placed her inside seatbone over his inside leg, thereby exerting control. In spite of his side-stepping, jigging, rearing and crashing through a bench she never changed her position. Gradually he submitted and accepted the bit. After dismounting, she did join-up with him which further demonstrated his submission. He followed her everywhere on the ground, acknowledging that she was, indeed, the "better horse".

...Penny's system of instruction and riding is so easy to comprehend because she constantly reminds the student how he/she s influencing the horse and how human and equine anatomy form a connection in the riding experience. Understanding the "why?" of effective and ineffective riding gives the rider a concious choice, thereby making it easier to change old habits.

Dr. Lorraine McDermott
Maryland, USA

We think of you as Canada's best kept Secret!

Well, everday someone is calling to ask when you are returning, I think I should just make a permanent place for you here! You know, we think of you as Canada's best kept Secret!

Courtney Guild
California, USA