December 2024 WDAA Scholarship winner - Harper Cadotte of Dunkrik MD

Hello! My name is Harper Cadotte, I am a western dressage youth competitor. I earned the second WDAA Youth Educational Scholarship. While my show season has not yet started, I look forward to using this scholarship to further my education and horsemanship. I hope to use the scholarship to attend a clinic hosted by Lynn Newton in late August. This will be my second year of showing western dressage on my lease of three years Tommy. Tommy is a registered American Paint Horse and at sixteen is still the goofiest boy. We have continued to learn together and are progressing through the levels together. He will now be showing level One in addition to Basic this show season. Additionally, I have been riding a half Arabian half quarter horse mare named Cece and developing her education under saddle, she is currently three and will be making her entrance into western dressage at Intro level this show season alongside Tommy. This scholarship will help me further my education with both of these special horses and better educate me in western dressage. 

Read about Harpers experience,

In September I had the privilege to work under and show under Lynn Newton at a Double Edge Dressage Show and clinic. For Western Dressage, I ended up taking a young mare named Rosie. It was not only our first show together, but also her first time ever trying western dressage. She took it all in stride, we both learned a lot working with Lynn Newton, and it was the first step on our way of being a team together in western dressage. I want to thank WDAA for making this opportunity possible and awarding me the WDAA youth grant.