Come explore true connection through body, mind, psyche and spirit with Dr. Sherry Ackerman's Dressage in the Fourth Dimension Clinic, July 16-19 in Langley! Her book Dressage in the Fourth Dimension is featured in the May edition of Dressage Today.

Dr. Sherry L. Ackerman has long been considered a teacher with an exceptional eye and a crystal clear way of explaining dressage so that riders “get it”. Riders come away from her clinics inspired and informed. It is not unusual for participants to claim that she is one of the best teachers that they have ever experienced. She has the ability to “drop the penny” in every single lesson, helping riders demystify concepts such as getting their horse ‘on the bit’, the classical seat and position, embodied alignment, transitions, bending, half-halting and the interplay between forwardness and balance. Dr. Ackerman brings an extraordinary background to her work, having worked under the direction of Herr Egon von Neindorff and Dr. Henri van Schaik.

Her ability, though, to “see” exactly what each rider needs to “do” (or “not do”) in order to reach their riding goals is a product of a system that she self-developed, over three decades of teaching. This has developed into a very systematic method of consistent instruction whereby she explains dressage competencies in a clear, step-by-step, easily understood way. She not only identifies what the rider needs to learn, but has the ability to patiently explain how they are to do it. In these clinics, Dr. Ackerman systematically outlines how she sees what she sees and how she chooses the particular correction to apply. In other words, she is going to teach riders how to use a very methodological means to identify their riding problems, and a schematic system for choosing what correction should be applied to solve their problem. Dr. Ackerman’s polished and effective pedagogy reflects her many years of being a successful college professor!


If your training process has felt like a maze, or worse, been an exhausting struggle, rather than enlightening and empowering, you will enjoy Dr. Ackerman’s clarity and positive, supportive style. You will not only be given permission, but encouraged, to respect and honor your emotions, trust your intuition, develop empathy and compassion and expand your awareness.

The Introductory Clinic will cover a preliminary evening session, followed by three full days of wholistic instruction. Each rider will receive a companion workbook for use throughout, and after, the clinic. The preliminary evening session will feature a lecture by Dr. Ackerman in which she outlines the goals and objectives for the three days to follow. After the lecture, participants are invited to an informal wine and cheese book signing reception, where Dr. Ackerman will read selections from Dressage in the Fourth Dimension and engage the participants’ questions.

Each of the following three days will follow a format whereby each morning begins with a collective yoga and meditation session, followed by small group riding lessons in which Dr. Ackerman delivers, in real-time, the dressage concepts outlined in the previous evening’s lecture. These small group lessons will be approximately 1 ½ hour long. Immediately following each group lesson, all riders will work together in dialogical process where they reflect, share and interpret their riding experience in light of more transpersonal considerations. They will explore whether or not, in the riding session, their horse affirmed or denied their self-perception, whether or not their horse found them to be sufficiently authentic and what their horse had to say about who they, in this Moment, are. The process groups are designed to assist participants in improving focus, clarity and intention as a rider, improving communication and integrity between riders and their horses and deepening the horse-human connection.

These process groups will be approximately 45 minutes long. These riding and process groups will continue all day, punctuated only by a communal lunch where Dr. Ackerman will facilitate discussion among the whole clinic community. After the riding day has finished, Dr. Ackerman will give an evening lecture exploring various philosophical and spiritual aspects of the Way of Dressage and its potential for the evolution of consciousness. These are long…but fulfilling…days from which riders will take home a lot of food for thought and practice!

Please contact: Marcy 604-614-9211 or email: mmarcy@yahoo.com