Equestrian Professional Member Spotlight - Gina Duran of Topline Training
Just outside the historic town limits of Livermore, California and nestled within the surrounding wine country, is a bridle path along the vineyards that leads to the Greenville Equestrian Center, home of Gina Duran of Topline Dressage Training. So how did this USDF gold, silver, and bronze medalist and certified USDF dressage instructor make it to this point in her career?
Gina remembers her childhood with family members who had no interest in horses at all. "It wasn't until I was about 30 years old that my mother and father knew what I did and began to understand the level of my expertise." She recalls having a neighborhood friend with a horse when she was in the fifth grade. "One day, my mom yelled for me, 'Linda Earl is here,...and she is on her horse'. I ran out to see her and her horse. Linda asked if I wanted to go to the barn. I thought cool I get to ride on a back of a horse; 'Sure,' I said, for which she replied, 'Get your bike.' From there, the love affair started and I never looked back."
That first barn was very rustic, which Gina described as a "back yard" barn with no supervision, and just rented pasture boarding. The owner would come by in the morning and evening to feed horses from the back of his pickup truck. There, in the pasture, was a horse named Windjammer that no one ever came to attend to, so one of the kids at the barn suggested Gina ride him. And with that informal invitation, she hopped aboard Windjammer bareback and rode all summer long from 8 a.m., when her mom would drop her off on her way to work, until 5:00 p.m., when she would pick Gina up on her way home. "It was a great summer of riding, none of us knew what arena riding was then. We only rode in the hills and the walnut orchards of the San Ramon Valley, in California."
Windjammer's owner got word that Gina was riding him, and offered to sell him to her, but with no money, they could not afford him. Gina relocated up the road to Circle E Stables where she was able to afford another riding horse. With the long days at the barn, she learned firsthand horse behavior! She explains how she didn't know about herd instinct until one day, racing their horses through the orchards, the gang made a left and Gina planned to go straight. Ha! Gina did go straight but the horse followed the herd to the left. Another "pick yourself up and dust yourself off moment." The learning experiences happened throughout her life with horses but that never stopped her from riding. Gina has many stories of horse learning events in her young life that have helped shape her into the expert that she is today.
At this point, her childhood friend was doing Western Equitation classes and Gina had the bug to start riding in competitions. Unfortunately, she didn't have the funds necessary. So as a 16 year old, she made the decision to sell her horse to purchase a car to be able to get a job so that she could earn money in order to compete and buy her next horse. She convinced her mom to co-sign a loan to buy her next mount. And with that, her process of buying and selling her horses to get to her desired goal to be a successful competitor in the show arena began.
Her competitive nature had been awakened. She was fascinated with watching animals move and had a natural curiosity about biomechanics. Her mind worked in detailed fashion whenever she observed horses in motion. This was aided by her father and her great friend and mentor, Karen Peck, an adult who began to teach her about refinement in movement. It was at this point that Gina decided she wanted to concentrate on a disciple that required technical more than subjective judging. Her two choices, in her mind, were Cutting/Reining and Dressage. Dressage won the decision when she was offered an injured x-race horse Marcel.
With her goals set, Gina worked to buy her first "English" saddle. It took a few tries to realize that there were different ones for different disciplines. Gina never lost the love of trail riding in the hills and one day, on the drive to a trail ride, Gina had noticed a large stable and decided to stop in to see if she could get her first dressage lesson. Well, she never made it on the trail ride that day and the dressage enthusiast was born.
She had many strategic moves along her journey, all keeping her goals of being a successful competitor as her compass. She continued to work a full time job as well as clean stalls on the weekends to be able to afford to stable at a top notch dressage facility, Baywood Equestrian (no longer around). This gave Gina the opportunity to watch and learn and have international Olympic caliber clinicians to work with.
She built a relationship with her first real clinician, Hilda Gurney with whom she rode with for a year and a half before meeting her next mentor and European coach, Andrea Salacki. Andrea offered Gina the opportunity to come to Europe to train with him and his horses while he competed on the Volvo World Cup series. Since this was a written goal of Gina's to go to Europe to ride with one of Europeans leading riders, she was thrilled to experience yet another goal in her journey. With that offer, Gina packed her bags, leased Marcel out to a loving home, sold her truck and trailer, left her boyfriend behind, and caught a flight to Poland! It was a rough journey with the language barrier and the recent fall of the Iron Curtain, but Gina made the best of it and learn a lot. "I learned more about life on this trip then about horses, but wouldn't change a thing! I met the world's leading riders while there and had unbelievable opportunity's to watch them all train and compete." Gina currently makes many trips to Europe to buy horses for her clients.
When Gina returned home, she met and developed a relationship with USDF Gold medalist and USDF Faculty Member, Rachel Saavedra. This is when her dressage riding was really defined and refined. Rachel was and is a great influence on Gina. "Rachel is a great mentor to me as well as a very dear friend, I am thankful to have her in my life, there is a little of Rachel in everything I do in my daily riding."
Her next plan was to get another horse and start her training program. Again, everything seemed to fall into place. She was offered a great dressage instructor position at a facility she had always admired and wished she could teach at one day! Denville Kanani Farms, Danville CA, (it's since been sold). She worked there for 7 years. She was able to touch many riders' lives! "This is where I learned how teaching really affected me in a positive way, I am thankful for all of my students, past and present, for what they have given to my life."
Her next goal was to get the next competition horse. Gina bought a 17.1 hand, 4 yr. old Hanoverian gelding, Limon Tvist on her credit card! She trained him from Training level to the Grand Prix level and then sold him to one of her clients, who still today comes and trains with Gina. "I am so thankful to have found such a great home for "Twister" and that I still get to see him every week. He is one of the most generous horses I know!"
Gina now finds the most satisfaction in being a mentor, instructor and trainer. She offers riding lessons at Greenville Equestrian Center in Livermore, CA. She is sought after to teach clinics and does so as her schedule permits. "A great day for me is when I can help my students learn the technical aspects of riding. I pride myself on the fact that I make "thinking" and "compassionate" riders. I love to walk into the arena and see my students training their horses and problem solving on their own! I am whole when I can teach new concepts to horse enthusiast. I love to teach, and I am a teacher at heart. When I was a kid, my dad built me a doll house to play in, I made it a school house!"
Gina's lesson program accommodates riders and horses at all levels of knowledge and competition. She offers private lessons to competing dressage riders, and those seeking to improve their horses and their riding through a greater understanding of dressage techniques. She offers beginning lessons to riders of all ages and has school horses available through her saddle2ride program. Gina is one of the few in her area that provides schoolmasters that she has trained for riders to learn the feel of the FEI levels of dressage.
Today Gina is embarking on a new goal and adventure; she has bred her Hanoverian mare, DaLana. DaLana is due in April of this year, 2012. "Now I just have to be patient and get through the next 3 years of raising my new foal to stardom." I have no doubt that Gina will be successful in this endeavor as well!
What does Gina Say About Equestrian Professional.com?
Equestrian Professional.com has been a great resource for me as a professional. I enjoy their webinars and appreciate their well-designed website and high-tech modes of getting all present and past information shared on their site. This is great for a busy professional that doesn't always have time to make a live webinar. Thank you Equestrian Professional.com for providing your expert help in many avenues of our horses lives!
