Bill Woods (not his real name) comes to the Dallas area several
times a year. He and his wife, Onyx, are members of the Federal
Dressage Witness Protection Program; thus, their true place of residence
is unknown. Both train and compete most of the year in central Florida,
often in disguise.
Bill has been teaching in Texas since the mid ‘80s, having
been brought here by Lisa Brown. They had met in New Hampshire some
years before, drawn together by a mutual love of hybrid roses which
they tended on summer afternoons at the institution. Lisa, whom
DDC veterans may remember, reminded many of us of current club member
Lisa Avila, only on 78 rpm.
Orphaned at an early age and left to roam the gutters of Darien,
CT-- forced to collect aluminum cans and discarded cigar butts to
pay for his classical dressage education-- Bill nonetheless rose
rapidly in his chosen discipline. He went to his first Olympic Games
in 1976, sitting near the top of the bleachers right behind letter
S.
Bill attended many National Instructors’ Seminars through the
1980s, and when it became apparent he would never get it right,
was made a member of its staff. Recruited by Lowell Boomer to head
the born-again (it had croaked in 1978 after a brief and bloody
false start) Instructor/Trainer Council, he spent seven years dutifully
passing the ammunition as the USDF shot itself in the foot.
Now devoting much of his time to monk-like contemplation, judging,
and other scholarly endeavors, he emerges from seclusion periodically
to monitor the progress of his Texas students. Usually he sits quietly
in a helium-filled glass booth, gazing serenely through his spectacles,
occasionally summoning a rider to offer cryptic advice-- sometimes
in English, but more often in unintelligible grunts or in a high-pitched
whistle audible only to dogs. His students report that their horses
go lighter, with more engagement and self carriage. One woman swears
that the lumps on her head have gone away.
Bill welcomes auditors at his clinics but requests that you
turn off all portable electronic devices and leave any large magnets
at home.
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Underlying
Relationships - Kyra's ABC's From the May 1999 issue