Classical Dressage Art in Motion

My husband Paul Alvin-Smith is also a Grand Prix trainer As a professional dressage competitor/coach/clinician and trainer the wait on the State of New York to enact the Equine Inherent Risk Law has been a long and patient one. Finally, after a collection of corrupt individuals were removed from the NY Assembly, the bill was finally enacted. What does this mean to horse owners and trainers and folks involved in the horse business? Will everyone enjoy lower insurance premiums for the services they provide and the liability to which they are exposed. Possibly and possibly not.  What is important as a trainer and as an individual or any sort that spends time around horses is still the same, safety first. This law will not protect you from law suits. Anyone can sue anyone at anytime, we are all aware of that. The new law may help the decision that comes down from the bench if a suit is filed, but it is yet untested. It is still imperative, for moral reasons and also for rea

I was recently talking to a group of students who asked about preference in breed of horse for a successful dressage horse and why Paul and I didn't breed registered warmbloods much anymore. While we bred, imported, trained and loved our 20+ years as a Hanoverian dressage breeder (with a few Oldenburgs thrown in), we came full circle in our breeding program and came back to the beauty of the cross bred horses. Why? The soundness and great temperaments that crossbreds can produce I believe comes from their genetic variety. After so many visits to Verden to purchase horses, the 65% statistic for OCD that was given me by their own vet, Dr. Gerd Bruncken was validated at every turn. Our operation in the U.K. where we also bred many Donnerhall, Lord Sinclair and other warmblood lines and imported them as part of the Willowview Hill International Collection every Spring, also taught us that OCD was a sincere issue across the German lines. We moved into Dutch Warmblood breeding as