Lyndon T. Rife
Lyndon
Rife, a USDF Gold, Silver, and Bronze medalist brings over twenty-five years of
dressage training experience to his students. He began his dressage
career under
the tutelage of USDF Hall of Fame inductee Chuck Grant. Grant,
a noted author, is well known and respected for being one of the driving forces
in the introduction of dressage to the American masses.
In addition to competition dressage he also specialized in training horses to perform High School dressage movements and Circus tricks while studying with Mr. Grant. Lyndon trained many of the popular movements such as Spanish Walk, Trot, Rearing, Bowing, and many more, during this time.
After his time with Mr. Grant, Lyndon became a trainer at Tempel Farm in Wadsworth, Illinois where he trained and performed with the Tempel Lippizans and received instruction from the European trainers who were based out of the farm at this time.
Following this tenure with Tempel Farm Lyndon based himself in Michigan and went about building a successful training business. He was able to study with noted trainers such as Melle Von Bruggen, Walter Zettle, and would eventually develop a long lasting rapport with Kalman De Jurenak.Lyndon studied with Kalman De Jurenak for over eight years. Kalman, a former Olympic coach for the Australian and New Zealand Olympic dressage and three-day event squads and the director of the German Hanoverian Verband auction horses and riders, brought a great compassion for horses, and tremendous emphasis on correct basics. He instilled a desire to find ways to make the horses love and understand their work so they could "bring out the charm" in the competition movements. He has published articles, and has a wonderful series of video tapes, "Classical Schooling", that are widely available.
After
successfully dedicating Lyndon to using his motto for training,
"First comes the rhythm, then the
outline, and
then the movement",
Kalman retired in 2000.
Since this time Lyndon has trained steadily with US
Olympian, Michelle Gibson. Riding with Michelle in clinics, and
during the Florida season, he has further advanced his knowledge and training
techniques. Michelle has also provided Lyndon with the opportunity to ride with
her world-renown coach Rudolf Zeilinger.
Never one to shy away from an opportunity to learn Lyndon has taken the time to ride and learn from many excellent trainers and coaches over the years including US Olympian Hilda Gurney, Jan Ebeling, Carole Grant, Erik Herbermann (author of The Dressage Formula), Hans Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen, Pamela Goodrich, and, most recently, Ulla Salzgeber.
He has also participated in USDF Trainers symposiums and conferences over the years. Lyndon has trained many of his students and horses through the levels to FEI success. In 2004 Lyndon married his long time partner, Julie Madriguera, and they have formed Alliance Dressage together. Alliance Dressage is the perfect name for a business that combines horses and riders, trainers and students. Beyond a general understanding, Alliance explains the type of business that Lyndon promotes: Helping riders to find partners to achieve goals on and the education to succeed, regardless of location, simple or complicated goals, and amateur, junior, or professional status.
Some of Lyndon’s partners:
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