I searched but haven’t seen Ecole de Légèreté mentioned here recently, though there are some older threads. (Based on the evidence in my Facebook feed) there was a teacher training recently in Germany with Philippe Karl.
I’m now in love with this 20 year old Connemara Pony, St. George
Well, all international travel for the instructors and clinics was cancelled this year in North America and Australia. There are American certified instructors doing clinics as allowed by regional Covid rules. I expect clinics in Europe are happening to some extent again as permitted.
No clinics allowed here (Germany), we are on lockdown starting today. We were previously in lockdown light and some lessons were taking place but no clinics. It sucks. Competing and training this year has been tricky. Dressage clinics fill up super fast anyway, and with them being more scarce this year, you had to be “in the know” and fast! Technically we can have 1 on 1 riding lessons outdoors, but the whole people gathering thing is not allowed so that makes it tricky. Of course there are some stables or people that just say F the rules 
really nice for those of us that have been following them, hoping to see an end to all of these restrictions and infection rates, but that’s another subject entirely.
There is a Légèreté stable 10 min from me and another not much further and…ohh boy. Interesting to say the least. Not something I can personally get into…and their reputation in the area is, well…most just stay away.
I see people traveling in the US (mostly to Florida) and friends in the UK going to clinics and competing and I am envious.
I’m guessing that riders doing piaffe and passage aren’t taking group lessons, and everybody looks far enough apart so… I am going to assume that The Rules are being followed otherwise they probably wouldn’t be posting pictures publicly.
On March 13th I canceled a trip to a show to groom for a friend. Since then it’s been masks and curbside pickup or delivery. Since then I’ve been to watch one clinic at an outdoor arena. No one else was masked, so I just decided to stay home until this is over.
I do think dressage clinics are lower risk than others. It is just one rider and one instructor at a time, and even less risk outdoors.
As opposed to jumping clinics usually done in groups.
We are allowed to exercise horses here for their welfare…and many stables don’t turnout in the winter so it is very important. Honestly, supervised exercise in the form of a riding lesson might even be safer in certain ways, so I suppose there are a few ways to look at it.
I agree that riding lessons and clinics are very low Covid 19 risk for the participants, but the risk is going to come when people are off their horses, spectating or auditing or hanging out by the catered lunch.
Our province just suspended adult recreational team sports, but not children’s sports. The reason was that adult teams spend so much social time together. There was a big outbreak with some adult beer league hockey team that traveled for a game.
Anyhow, international clinics all got cancelled because if you travel you need to self quarantine for 2 weeks in Canada at least.
People are still giving local riding lessons and I have not yet heard of a transmission event at a barn in North America. Jockeys in dorms, yes. But not riding stables.
Yeah, I think it is sort of a given (then again, common sense is not so common) that there would be no spectators or gathering.
I’ve no idea what is happening in the USA though. Based on my friends living there, they seem to still be holding events at their stables, get togethers, and clinics. Possibly varies by location since the US is quite large.
North America is very diverse. Covid 19 hit the big cities hard in the spring. Rural North America felt immune from big city problems, and there was a large urban/rural divide in terms of how seriously people took it, which played into existing political divisions in an election year
However this fall and winter, Covid 19 arrived in smaller more remote communities and the death rate is skyrocketing.
Regulations vary by state and town even, as do infection rates and death rates.
Isn’t that the truth. I live in a rural area and the anti mask / COVID is a hoax group is an utter embarrassment. As infection rates rise dramatically for the first time in our area, many still cling to their embarrassing positions.
More on topic, one of my personal real life friends travelled to France to study with the school of lightness. She was horrified to find that the treatment of humans was not up to snuff. It ended poorly.
This makes me sad. Because those photos are what I want dressage to be. And, it’s a Connemara!
I also know that each instructor is an individual and that they cannot be judged by other members of the same school/philosophy/discipline/whatever. Case in point, we have a hidden gem out east of Atlanta in Ed Dabney. He is the real deal when it comes to classical riding. But his resume includes a name that would send the COTH crowd screaming in the opposite direction. I’m glad I didn’t make the connection before I went to that first clinic with him.
What is it, exactly, that you want dressage to be?
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