Lusitano Festival at Sons of the Wind Farm to Showcase Long Lining

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Sons of the Wind School of Equestrian Arts will be hosting their annual "Pride of Portugal; the Lusitano joins the Ride for Life" Festival on Saturday, June 4, 2011. Photo Courtesy of the Client.

Merrimac, MA – May 19, 2011 – The Sons of the Wind School of Equestrian Arts is currently gearing up for their third annual Lusitano Festival, scheduled for Saturday, June 4, 2011. This year, the Pride of Portugal; The Lusitano, joins the “Ride for Life”. This exciting event showcases the beautiful Lusitano horses and highlights the amazing Portuguese culture, and will now also be helping to try and raise $50,000 for the Johns Hopkins Avon Foundation for Breast Center. Each year during the “Ride for Life,” Sons of the Wind demonstrates the quadrilles and athletic aires above the ground to the thousands in attendance for this worthwhile cause.

One of the highlights at this year’s event will be a long lining demonstration conducted by Sons of the Wind founder, Vitor Silva. Using just a snaffle bit and long lines, Silva and Niquel, a Lusitano Grand Prix mount, will demonstrate numerous dressage movements, including the piaffe, passage, and pirouette.

“It is going to showcase the bond between the trainer and horse,” explained Silva. “Here we have a stallion in front of a crowd with just a snaffle. He will be doing all of the lateral movements, all of the collected movements, receiving just a simple command from the trainer from behind him.”

Silva continued, “The crowd will have the opportunity to see us to have a relationship with our horse. We don’t just have to use a big set of spurs and a saddle to do it. There are multiple different ways that you can relate to your horse when you use the correct horsemanship.”

During the Lusitano “Pride of Portugal, Rides for Life” Festival, visitors will experience Lusitano exhibitions, kids’ activities, music, along with authentic Portuguese food and drink. The horse show starts at 2:00 p.m. at Sons of the Wind Farm in Merrimac, MA.

The Lusitano was best known for its amazing athleticism as a loyal war horse, and then as a brave, bold mount in the bullring. Today, the modern Lusitano has found its way in to many disciplines including dressage.  The Lusitano Horse Festival ­will not only feature the magnificent Lusitano history, but Lusitano school masters performing mounted presentations by the Riding School trainers and their students.

In addition, after the show, there will be farm tours for visitors, a presentation of their Lusitano breeding program and foals. While dressage enthusiasts will enjoy the more technical aspects of Lusitanos trained through the levels, everyone will enjoy sharing the upbeat displays of the Portuguese culture at one of the premier dressage teaching and training facilities in the United States.

About Sons of the Wind:
Sons of the Wind School of Equestrian Arts currently has locations in Merrimac, MA, and Palm City, FL. Founded by Portugal’s Vitor Silva, Sons of the Wind and its affiliated schools were incepted in response to the need for an establishment capable of providing the rider the opportunity to experience and understand the correctness of all the movements of dressage.  These establishments offer the training and schooling to horses and riders of different backgrounds and levels. Sons of the Wind is also a full service breeding facility for the talented Lusitano breed as it is very important for the growth of the school to keep training horses that could be great mounts and prospects for lessons and for sale.

For more information about Sons of the Wind School of Equestrian Arts please visit www.sonsofthewindfarm.com.

For more information and PVDA’s Ride for Life please visit http://www.pvdarideforlife.org/.

Media Contact: Mason Phelps
Phelps Media Group, Inc. International
phone 561.753.3389  fax 561.753.3386
pmginfo@phelpsmediagroup.com

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