Houston, TX – In the saddle is a natural place to be for Keely McIntosh, a vibrant young woman with a passion for horses, equestrian sports, and a full life ahead of her. Keely has ridden since before she could walk and competed in Pony Club before she could read. Older girls had to read her the written Pony Club ratings tests, and her family jokes that Keely learned her letters from the dressage arena. By age 6, Keely was showing in the Hunter ring in Welsh Pony classes. Her riding...

Eduardo Menezes flying on La Fleur 4 (McCool) San Juan Capistrano, CA - On yet another great day in Southern California, a small but stellar group of international competitors took on the challenge presented by world-renowned course designer Linda Allen in the $30,000 June Classic I Grand Prix, sponsored by St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort. Previous to this event, Hannah Heidegger dominated the final qualifier for the 2013 North American Junior & Young Rider Championships and young...

Like the tale of a great cowboy story, a monumental journey began in the kitchen of a house in a small town in Texas. It was there that a gathering of horsemen and women begin to discuss the merits for the use of Dressage for the Western horse; “Western Dressage” emerged. Understanding the need for an organization to provide education and resources for this discipline, the Western Dressage Association® of America (WDAA) was formed as the first national entity for Western...

Lexington, KY – The top young dressage horses on the east coast will demonstrate their talents this weekend at the VADA/NOVA Summer June Dressage Show which hosts the 2013 Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Eastern Selection Trial. These five- and six-year-old horses will be vying for a spot to represent the U.S. at the FEI World Breeding Championships for Dressage Young Horses in Verden, Germany in August, as well as a spot on the Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Short List. Combinations...

Western horses jog. English horses trot. Dressage horses trot. Everyone knows that. What does that mean for the western dressage horse? The western jog was a gait that could be ridden for long distances over the range or on the trail that horses could sustain without exhaustion and which could be sat comfortably. The trot is a gait that covers more ground at a reasonable tempo. To deal with the dynamics of the gait and to unload the horses back, some riders learned to post. Western riders bred...

As with all new things, as they develop, there are certain glitches and bugs that inevitably crop up. NAWD reviewed its 2012 tests for 2013 and has corrected errors and last week the WDAA announced that there were errors in calculating the point totals on some of their tests. An important notice to competitors who have ridden USEF Morgan Tests at 2013 shows came out in the WDAA newsletter and emails to members. They “…discovered minor errors in preparing the WDAA Western Dressage...

Recently on the NAWD Facebook page, discussion has centered on the terms “connection” and “collection” with riders, trainers and instructors piping in with comments. If you have not checked in with the Facebook discussions on the websites for all the organizations, I encourage you to do so. All of these comments are so valuable! This is a critical conversation and is truly at the root of the discussion that surrounds WD videos that are currently out there. Dressage...

The top three individual riders from the CDIO were Christilot Boylen with gold, Cesar Parra with silver, and Caroline Roffman with bronze (Susan J. Stickle). Wellington, FL - Canada's Christilot Boylen rode Dio Mio to another victory Sunday in the FEI Intermediaire-1 Freestyle CDIO 3* and ended up as the top individual rider of the week. American Heather Blitz collected yet another top prize for the United States during the last day of competition for the Wellington Nations Cup CDIO/CDI 3*,...

Western Dressage clinics are rolling all over the nation. Here in the Pacific Northwest one clinic series has been endorsed by our USDF Region 6 Director, Donna Longacre. Her lifetime of experience in the dressage world combined with her judging experience in both dressage and western disciplines makes her uniquely qualified to comment on Western Dressage training and judging. I am so excited to have created a clinic series that carries such an endorsement as I continue to try to present...

John Pearce and Chianto (McCool) San Juan Capistrano, CA - On a couple of cool, breezy afternoons, Blenheim EquiSports presented two stellar high performance events, the $50,000 Blenheim Spring III Grand Prix, presented by Equine Insurance, and this season's first $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby, both on the International Grand Prix Field. Exciting twists and turns captivated competitors and spectators alike. With grand prix prize money increased by over 20% for week three of the...