Cricket Hill Farm

Academy and Gardens

Centered Riding

Big Cricket Hill Contingent goes to D4K Educational Program!

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Academy Education Trip 2-2-14Eleven assembled at the barn this morning and were off by 7 am to Woodbury CT for the 12th annual Dressage4Kids Weekend Educational Program for kids, their parents and trainers. Ours was an enthusiastic group – 8 kids and 3 instructors. Our contingent pictured from top to bottom: Instructor Anna Bloxsum, Lyla Andrick, Mia and Sophia Emy, Erin Feiner, Paris Levy, Lula Langdon, Head Trainer Kira Steines, Senior Instructor Jami Wallace, Lulu Levy, and Tasha Mitchell. Mia tries trampoline with Laurie Inglis

Jami was a presenter at the workshop for the sixth year in a row, giving participants a fun intoduction to Centered Riding.  She is a certified Level III Centered Riding Instructor and Clinician. Everybody got the chance to try the exercises to help balance. Here’s Mia Emy on the right working with Laurie Inglis, also a certified Centered Riding Instructor and judge at our Holiday Show. Jami is offering Centered Riding Clinics at Cricket Hill. See Upcoming Events. Today was a great start for the Youth Dressage Festival July 11-13, 2014!

Welcome Jami Wallace – Senior Instructor & Director of Academy Programs

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We are thrilled to add Jami’s wealth of experience to our Cricket Hill Team. Over the past 30 years, Jami has been the Head Trainer and Barn Manager in three different facilities, developing lesson programs for both adults and children in each and managing horse shows. She has worked with a wide range of breeds and disciplines, including Dressage, Eventing, Hunters, some Western.

Jami Wallace, Director Academy Programs, Senior InstructorInstructor and Educator. A Senior Instructor at Cricket Hill, Jami has been teaching riding lessons, giving clinics and instructing college undergraduates for years. As faculty at Post University, Jami teaches in the Equine Business Management program; specifically, Riding Instruction, Equine Event Planning, and Equine Business Ethics, the first course of this type in the country.

Centered Riding Instructor. Jami is certified as a Level III Instructor and Clinician, one of only 33 of the 1200 instructors worldwide. Centered Riding is an organized way of teaching riding, based on body awareness, human and equine anatomy, and horsemanship. Jami’s teaching will provide a firm basis for Cricket Hill’s advanced dressage-based riding and training program under Kira’s guidance, as it uses balance, body awareness, centering and imagery to achieve classical principles, while helping to improve the communications between horse, rider, and instructor. Recently, Jami was President of Centered Riding, Inc. and a Trustee. She has given clinics in many states, including Lendon’s Weekend Education Program for Dressage4Kids, which she will repeat in February 2014.  

A Lifetime with Horses.  Early in her career, Jami was a mounted Urban Park Ranger in New York City, and taught riding at Claremont Riding Academy in Manhattan. She has been a 4-H leader, trail association board member, and local Extension Council board member for 27 years. Recently, she worked with the USEF on the training of the U.S. Endurance Team. 

We are fortunate to have someone join us whose career epitomizes what we believe at Cricket Hill: riding is a lifetime sport, we are always improving, and we learn from our great horses and instructors! In Jami’s own words, “Learning to ride takes a long time. I’ve been doing it for nearly 50 years and am still learning how to be better. My teachers have been my horses and folks like Lockie Richards, Eric Horgan, Robert Dover, Kim Walnes, Dominique Barbier, all of whom have been patient and inspiring.” Jami arrived with her dog Manfred and her retired horse, Shoeless Joe Jackson. And you might see Jami in the garden, too, her favorite spare time activity!