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Together with her 16.3-hand, 11-year-old Hanoverian mare
Gigi, Wilson competes at the Prix St. George level, the first in a
four-part series of federation levels. It’s an accomplishment some
riders work their entire lives to achieve, just three steps below
Olympic caliber competition. Riders at this level must master
the pirouette and flying changes. With a pirouette, a horse must
twirl in a tight, inner circle with its hind feet almost in place,
as its front feet trace a larger, outer circle. Flying changes occur
when a horse switches leads, the leg the horse throws forward first
at a canter, without transitioning to a trot. At this level, flying
changes are required every three to four strides, creating a movement
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that resembles skipping or dancing.
To be successful, riders practice rigorously. Wilson is no different.
She rides daily, and attends clinics both close to home and
overseas to learn from dressage professionals like Susie Weidman
and German FEI Judge and Grand Prix competitor Harald
Cornelissen. She does this because to her, dressage is a journey.
At her farm, that remains her focus. Although Gigi is recovering
from a suspensory injury, she continues the practice of partnership
with her other mare, Rosie, a big-hearted, but even bigger statured
17.3-hand, third level dressage horse.
“It takes time,” Wilson says. Wilson is a natural competitor
who loves to show, and recently earned her silver medal at Prix
St. George. She says, “I fell in love with dressage because it’s about
building a relationship with your horse — finding that partner
who has the heart and will to listen.”