Carlisle Academy Integrative Equine Therapy & Sports to Offer World-Class Paralympic Training Camp a | Events

Para Equestrians from around the country will spend a week at this inaugural training camp with international judges and professionals in preparation for the London Paralympic Games

LYMAN — Carlisle Academy Integrative Equine Therapy & Sports, a premier organization offering comprehensive equestrian educational services, announced it will host its first Paralympic Training Camp April 16-20, as well as a Train the Trainers Program April 20-21 at Spring Creek Farm, 65 Drown Lane. Developing Para Equestrians from around the country
-several of whom will be riding in the upcoming United States Paralympic Selection Trials this spring- will be training with top international judges and specialists right here in Maine to prep for the Olympic Games in London. Following the camp, an instructional program for trainers will be held. The event and all of the activities are open to the public.

Typically, different countries develop comprehensive national training programs in Para Dressage to prepare their athletes for competitions such as an Olympic Games. Carlisle Academy’s debut effort will mark the first time in this country a riding organization has focused and developed a similar highly intensive program to help develop Para Equestrians for international competition. Ten riders are participating, from those who are newer to the sport, to seasoned international competitors who have ridden at the World Equestrian Games.

“We have a true interest and commitment to Para Equestrian activities,” Sarah Armentrout, Head of Carlisle Academy Integrative Equine Therapy & Sports, said. “Our panel of experts is first-rate and is committed to help riders meet their goals, whether it is to step up their game at national competitions, or make a slot on Team USA. This event will offer people a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of this growing sport and what is taking place at the grassroots level in an Olympic year.”

Athletes training at the camp will be immersed in a week of technical training, workshops and consultation with top coaches and experts in various equine fields. Carlisle Academy is also offering other non-mounted viewers an opportunity to get involved and learn. Featured specialists at the camp include World-class FEI “O” Judge and Olympic Technical Delegate Hanneke Gerritsen of Holland; International Clinical Sports Psychologist Jenny R. Susser, Ph.D; Hope Hand, President of the United States Para Equestrian Association; and James S. Warson, MS, FACS, physician, neurosurgeon and specialist in equestrian medicine.

During the camp Dr. Warson, a neurosurgeon with a specialty in the spine, will be observing riders in lessons, teaching mounted lessons and lecturing. He is the author of The Rider’s Pain Free Back. Unmounted camp activities will include stretching and strengthening classes; therapeutic sports massage for athletes and their horses; occupational therapist consults; discussions in equine nutrition; and lecture topics in sports psychology and Para Equestrian theory.

Directly following the camp Carlisle will host the Train the Trainer Program. This event is designed for local and regional trainers who wish to increase their skills and knowledge of working with competitive and recreational Para Equestrians. Classroom and lecture time Friday evening will segue into live riding demonstrations on Saturday to highlight the different levels of the sport based on riders’ physical disabilities. The following riders will highlight the different levels:

• Mary Husty of Newark, Delaware, Grade 1A
• Abbott Philson of Portland, Maine, Grade 1B
• Barbara Adside of Acton, California, Grade 2
• Holly Jacobson of Ipswich, Massachusetts, Grade 3
• Mary Jordan, of Wells, Maine, Grade 4

It was just a year ago Carlisle kicked off its new program in April with a premier two-day riding clinic with Gerritsen of Holland. It marked the time when Carlisle moved from offering strictly therapeutic riding to a more diversified business model, still offering their hallmark equestrian hippotherapy and adaptive programs, but adding the new programs of Para Equestrian sport, as well as traditional equestrian training opportunities for educators, practitioners and riders alike.

“It is amazing how this dream of ours has taken root and grown. We have come so far in a year and the momentum continues to build in these diversified areas. It has been so exciting to see people from all over the world and all over the country come here, whether it is to ride and train, or receive certification in fields such as hippotherapy,” Armentrout said.

Paralympian and President of the USPEA Hope Hand praised the development of Carlisle Academy’s training opportunities and becoming the first of its kind to offer high-caliber programming of this nature.

“Our sport is seeing unprecedented growth after the last World Games, and this type of programming is distinctly needed for the riders and coaches,” Hand said. “There is no other organization -private or national- that has taken this important next step in the way Carlisle has to better prepare our athletes. We are gaining from their commitment to developing riders from the grassroots to the elite levels of international competition.”

For more information on Carlisle Academy Integrative Equine Therapy & Sports and the training camp please visit us at www.carlisleacademymaine.com, or on Facebook; call 207-985-0374; or email us at info@carlisleacademymaine.com.