Long-legged, black coat glistening over defined muscle, a horse moves in measured lines around an indoor arena, guided by subtle pressures from its rider. It holds its neck in a tight curve, breath huffing against the bit, its concentration betrayed by gritted teeth clacking rhythmically as it trots in place, a difficult command in dressage riding known as piaffe.Jan Ebeling, a 2012 dressage summer Olympian, stood in the arena observing the movements of both horse, Dante, and rider, Lori Barrett. Ebeling’s visit from his home in Florida is in honor of this barn’s official opening — a 10-stall boarding facility named Whileaway Ranch with a heated, indoor arena in Silver Creek, five years in the making.Owner and founder Val Geist said the idea to open her own barn came from her own experiences owning, boarding and training dressage horses in the Park City area — experiences that at first weren’t great. Owner and founder Val Geist, with guest horse Lily at her new facility, couldn’t find a barn that could maintain the level of care her dressage horse needed when she moved to the Wasatch Back a dozen years ago. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park RecordOriginally from Pennsylvania, Geist, an experienced horse rider in all disciplines, moved to the Wasatch Back permanently about 12 years ago, bringing along her dressage purebred Spanish horse, or PRE. But when she got here, she couldn’t find a barn that would maintain the level of care the animal needed.It’s not that dressage horses are especially fragile and pampered, she said, — actually, all horses are fragile — it’s that dressage horses are extremely valuable.“A dressage horse sometimes won’t even reach its potential until it’s 12 years old. … It’s a very long time to train a horse. And so then they become very valuable. If you imagine you spent $2,500 or $3,000 a month to train a horse for five years, what would the value of that horse be?” Geist explained. “Are they delicate? That’s why they’re delicate. Because the cost of them breaking is way more than the cost of your backyard Quarter Horse breaking, even though they’re all equally loved.”There’s a lot of labor that goes into maintaining that high level of care, she said, and mitigating as many risks to the horse’s health and well-being as possible — mucking and cleaning stalls multiple times a day, keeping the best-possible “footing” or flooring in the arenas, feeding best-quality food throughout the day and washing and brushing them regularly are just some of those tasks.For Geist, who also lectures at Utah State University on horsemanship, this type of horse care is connected to classical philosophy as detailed in ancient Greek philosopher Xenophon’s treatise “The Art of Horsemanship.”“One of the things that Xenophon wrote about … was the care of the horse and how to keep them in their environment so that they can be happy because, if a horse is not happy and fit and comfortable in its health and its mental health, it will not perform,” Geist said.This is true of all horses, she said, but it’s especially essential for competitive dressage horses, who’ve undergone years and years of training. And many of the values of dressage riding are also founded on elements of Xenophon’s writing, which dictates what is known as classical riding.Andrea LeRoy puts away her saddle and gear after a lesson with Jan Ebeling. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park Record“Classical riding is really the way we trained horses for war and the way we trained them for the cavalry, so that we could teach the horse to carry us with the lightest of aids and cues and basically ride with our seat and our legs,” Geist said.The equestrian sport of dressage, an Olympic sport since 1912, is focused on showing a mastery of training between both rider and horse — dressage literally meaning “training” in French. The exercises seem simple enough, a horse prancing around an arena, moving diagonal at times, trotting in place in a full 360. There’s no jumping, not much speed, no bucking broncos or racing after cows, lasso in hand — but if you know what to look for, it’s clear how difficult these routines can be.“If people say, ‘Oh, you’re not doing anything on the horse, it’s boring,’ then you’ve probably seen a really good ride,” said Ebeling, who will oversee the barn’s training program. “Dressage is a little bit hard to understand sometimes … because you have to have a very educated eye to get it. But what anybody can get, that is an animal lover or a horse lover, I think it’s easy to understand the beauty of it.”The beauty found in the mastery of this sport, which Xenophon also describes in his book, is the emphasis on horse more than rider.“The idea of dressage is basically to take the horse’s natural ability and school it so that the horse’s ability to carry weight gets basically improved by making the horse carry more behind and less in front,” Ebeling explained. “So everything is about balance, rhythm. It has to look easy, but it really is not.”As Xenophon writes, “The man who knows how to manage such a creature gracefully himself at once appears magnificent. A horse so prancing is indeed a thing of beauty, a wonder and a marvel; riveting the gaze of all who see him, young alike and graybeards.”The reason the routines are so subtle, and so difficult to learn, is because the communication between horse and rider happens through what Ebeling calls a “sign language based on reflex.” The fundamentals? Pressure from legs makes the horse go forward, the reins have a stopping effect, and shifting weight is used to turn, he said.This style of riding is an intellectual discipline as well as a physical one, said Geist, and it’s a sport she’s determined to carry on. “My mission is to keep classical riding alive. I feel like it’s a dying art,” she said. “It’s very expensive to maintain and keep horses, and people just don’t have the standards that are necessary.”Those standards primarily start with daily, consistent, individualized care of the horses in her facility, which is why she only has 10 stalls.For a while, she ran a barn business out of a rented barn in Silver Creek, but she decided she wanted to build her own space with an indoor, heated arena. She found the property off Whileaway Road, just shy of 3 acres and backing up into an open space and trail system owned by Park City Municipal, and began what would become a challenging and expensive five years to open.“I spent more money than I ever imagined I could spend on something. And I’m not a trust funder. I’m a ski patroller. I’m a person who’s worked, owned my own small businesses all my life,” Geist said. “Fortunately, I was able to complete this project with what I have.”Whileaway Ranch is officially open and accepting clients, she said, and anyone interested in boarding or training their horses in dressage can give her a call at 301-787-4730 or email her at [email protected] to make an appointment. Geist also operates High Altitude Saddlery, a custom saddle-fitting company — learn about those services at highaltitudesaddlery.com.Andrea LeRoy rides her horse Chrevi’s Ramour while getting direction from coach Jan Ebeling. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park RecordThe post New barn in Silver Creek opens, provides high-level care for high-level dressage horses appeared first on Park Record.