DRESSAGE TALK

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my fellow equestrians! As I write this it's the day before Thanksgiving and by this time tomorrow I hope to be sitting fireside sipping a cranberry margarita as my boy rests cozily in his stall. While I reflect on everything that's happened in the past year I do so with a positive outlook and a sense of humor. Here's an incomplete list of things for which I am thankful this year... 1. That at 28 I was able to afford riding again after taking ten y

When eventing trainer Terri Rocovich decided to make the switch to dressage with the purchase of her first "official" dressage horse, she searched for a horse with whom she felt a connection. That connection was found in an unexpected package - Uiver, a 10 year old, 3rd level Dutch Warmblood gelding who had a flair for resistance and a nasty habit of "exiting the dressage court on his hind legs". Rocovich first laid eyes on Uiver through an intriguing ad online. The stunning

If there's one thing you can say about horse people it's that we're a passionate bunch. We eagerly board the emotional coaster that is horses, buckle our seatbelts, and get swept away with beaming grins. But what goes up must come down. The sky scraping highs of blue ribbons and training hallmarks can be followed by the disheartening plummet of lameness issues or bad falls. Such is the equestrian journey. We come to know it too well, but then again not recognize it at all. Re

Olympic Bronze medalist Allison Brock isn't turning a blind eye to the plight of working equines in third world countries. As a passionate ambassador for Brooke USA, an equine welfare charity which helped over 1.8 million working equines just last year, Brock is making the most of her platform as a decorated dressage rider. In addition to spreading the word about Brooke USA's work whenever possible, Brock is facing her most emotionally challenging responsibility yet. "They (B

Just recently Shannon Peters gave a clinic from her home base in San Diego, California. Nothing about this is unusual, except for the fact that Peters' students were riding thousands of miles away in Canada. At the request of her clients, Peters had agreed to try real-time, virtual coaching. Utilizing a system that allowed her to watch the students' rides in real-time, she was able to provide immediate feedback via a microphone, to an ear piece worn by the rider for an experi

During the four years that I worked in marketing for a major equestrian brand, I was inundated daily with sponsorship requests from amateur riders to burgeoning professionals. As I've warned any friend who has thought about letting their child "try out" a few riding lessons, this is an expensive sport, and trying to support it can prove challenging. Many of the letters we received were from teenagers and young riders who were looking to be competitive in their discipline but

I try to avoid describing what dressage is, and even more so, why I do it, at all costs. It's not that I don't like discussing dressage (I do!), but after the words come out I realize that I have hardly done the sport justice. Instead, I end up embarking down a rabbit hole of explanation that to the non-equestrian just simply doesn't add up. I've been through countless conversations with very well meaning individuals who upon hearing I ride ask automatically "Do you ride West