Dr. Cesar Parra – Dressage Young Horse
Dr. Cesar Parra and Michael Davis’ Simply Nymphenburg came in Reserve Champion at the 2012 Markel/USEF Six-Year-Old Ranking List Final. The Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Program (for 4-5 and 6-year-old horses) promotes the importance of selective breeding and the correct training of horses in the United States, and encourages participation of breeders, riders, and trainers of young horses in dressage competition.
Dressage, sometimes called horse ballet, is an equestrian sport that requires both the horse and its rider to perform a series of predefined movement from memory. The sport enhances the athletic ability of the horse while also encouraging a willingness to perform. The primary goal for any competitive dressage rider is to make it seem as though control over the horse while it performs a requested movement is effortless.
In a dressage competition, a horse and rider are required to demonstrate their skills through a defined series of movements performed in a standard arena. Horses and their riders advance through a linear series of increasingly difficult tests, and are judged on an 11-point scale. Zero indicates complete failure to execute a task, while a score of 10 indicates exceptional excellence. A horse and rider will progress to the next level when they have received a minimum score of six (meaning satisfactory) across the board.
Dr. Cesar Parra is a dentist by trade, but his true lifelong passion is working with horses. He founded Piaffe-Performance to specialize in the selection, showing, and sale of equestrian sport horses in 1999.. Parra’s Piaffe-Performance is also an expert resource on classical dressage methods.
Dr. Cesar Parra – Dressage Recognition
Dr. Cesar Parra is an active member of several professional associations that recognize membersthat make great contributions to the sport of dressage. Dr. Parra is regularly involved with the International Dressage Riders Club, the International Dressage Trainer Club, the Unites States Equestrian Federation, the United States Dressage Federation, and the Colombian National Equestrian Federation. His own Piaffe-Performance riders have won numerous awards, most recently taking home 73 blue ribbons during the 2012 winter season.
Outside of developing horses for dressage, Dr. Cesar Parra is also a winning rider himself. He and his horse Linder earned the Overall High Score at the Wellington Dressage Classic Sunshine Challenge, held in conjunction with the World Dressage Masters. Dr. Cesar Parra also rode away with The Horse of Course High Score Award after earning 80.676 percent in the First Level Test 2 with Lindner. Dr. Cesar Parra is a trainer, rider, and instructor, and has dedicated his life to the sport of dressage.