This may not be a photo likely to win any photographic competitions but it was taken at 2:30 a.m. from my bedroom. No, I am not some weird stalker or peeping tom but this is a photo of the merry bunch of selfish insomniacs that decided to have a very loud speaker (top right quarter of the photo) playing until about 3:30 a.m. Yes, I kinda wish I had something more persuasive to hand than a Canon camera… in fact a canon would have done very nicely. The eventing horses have settled in very...

“ Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted ” the saying goes and that proved true to form today as we set forth to Deodoro for Boot Camp Day 1. Our driver spoke no English and being British clearly I had never seen it as a priority to master a foreign language, in this case Portugese. Add in to the mix that this was the opening day for the TransOlímpica and it was a voyage of adventure. The TransOlímpica is the new road linking Barra (Olympic Village / main...

Molly Schiltgen and Leisl TF earned their first ribbon today from the 2015 US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®. Photo by Susan J. Stickle Under glorious skies and with unseasonably warm temperatures the third edition of the annual US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan® got underway Thursday at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Riders took advantage of a full day of open competition with Dressage in the Bluegrass classes to prepare for their Championship performances over the...

Lexington, Ky. – Bruce “Buck” Davidson Jr. and Sydney Hagaman held on to their first place positions, following the show jumping phase, to secure the USEF One-Star Eventing National Championships as part of the Hagyard Midsouth Three-Day Event & Team Challenge. Davidson led the victory gallop with Legion Kat as they claimed the USEF One-Star Eventing National Championship for the Richard Collins Trophy on an overall score of 41.50. Hagaman and Diablo Tejano secured the...

Boyd Martin and Trading Aces over the table at fence 19 (Hannah Bennet/USEA) Richfield, MI - All the action at the Richland Park Horse Trials CIC3* came to a roaring climax Saturday as the horses and riders galloped through the cornfields across Ian Stark’s massive cross-country test. Time was a major factor due to the twisting nature of the course, and not one pair was able to avoid the sting of time penalties. This weekend was also a part of the exciting Adequan USEA Gold Up and PRO...

It's official. NAWD has applied for recognized affiliate status with the USEF. Supporters have until June 11th to let the USEF know that North American Western Dressage is the right choice of organizations to build the future of Western Dressage. NAWD President Jen Johnson states: “Western Dressage is coming. Over the past 3 years we have watched it grow at warp speed from the hint of an idea to not just one but three major organizations with very different ideals. Throughout, NAWD...

Note to Self: 1. Prepare classical instructor that you will be appearing before him in western tack and riding an Appaloosa stallion, NOT your third level Westfalen import and 2. Don’t ride in a clinic without a photographer A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…. I got a book from the library called The Schooling of the Western Horse by John Richard Young. It was published in 1945 (practically the dark ages) and outlined progressive training for western horses. Critically...

The Western Dressage world is abuzz with dressage talk. The hot topic of the moment seems to be progressive training, especially as it has to do with pyramids and scales. Pyramids are extremely stable structures that rely on strong, broad foundations and which rise to a point, a pinnacle if you will that represents a point of focus. Without the foundation, the pyramid loses strength. The intrinsic nature of the structure itself necessitates culmination in a point. The pyramid is the perfect...

Today’s post comes from Sin City, Las Vegas Nevada. Since I am here in the region of Southwest Western Dressage, I decided to write the blog as an interview with someone from the Las Vegas equestrian community who was doing Western Dressage. So I opened up the phone book to call a local barn. Every barn number but one was disconnected or no longer in service. The one that was working was a casino! So I called a feed store, thinking that at the feed store would be someone who knew someone...

Happy New Year everyone! I am glad to be here and since it is obvious that the Earth did not tip over on its axis turning our mountains into oceans and our oceans into mountains, I have to wonder what 2013 will bring to Western Dressage. Maybe the better question is “What will Western Dressage bring to the world?” Indeed it is an intriguing question when put this way. As our fledgling discipline begins to feather out, the directions in which western dressage may fly continue to...