Classical Dressage Art in Motion

  One of the many things you learn as a professional trainer/clinician is that your own horses won't wait. It is almost inevitable that if you are retired from competition but making a living training and working with other people's horses and training other riders, your own horses will come second or even third in the priority lineup. Sadly though, you may learn the hard way that horse's won't wait. While keeping your own horses happy and healthy, maintaining their training routines and programs will always happen, the time spent with them on adventures out together my be limited. The net result is your horse(s) and even your partnership never reaches its full potential. I don't even have many photos of me riding Charrington because I am the photographer in the family and during that time a camera was needed, the cell phone camera was not invented.   This has happened to me. The regret that I should have done more. Although it hasn't really 'happened' t...

It was inevitable that the avid reader and writer that I was as a horse crazy child, would eventually become an author and release a book that includes some horsey fiction. The Dutchess of Chadwick - Literary romance set in the Gilded Age While many of my wonderful dressage and eventing/showjumping clientele know me as their trainer/clinician/coach, and my horsey endeavors reached the climax of international level Grand Prix competition and breeding high caliber performance horses, the realm of writing fiction has always been on the books. I am thrilled to announce my first published work under my own name, The Dutchess of Chadwick. has arrived. While as many of you know I am a professional content writer and have written under pseudonym and ghostwritten for several celebrity clients, this is my debut novel and it is a very exciting time indeed. Beth and Gary Lerner - the 1st to buy!   People talk a lot about bucket lists, and I suppose for me this is certainly one of them. A red-...

Working horses long hours The reality of living year around in the North-East USA is that snow and cold weather are coming to visit. This year has been particularly difficult for working the horses in our care, as the temperatures have been wickedly cold and snow has been on the ground for many days since November 15th - before winter season was even supposed to begin.  This coyote in our side field, is also perplexed by winter. On the hunt for something to eat...   For folks that are setting up a horse facility, the indoor arena is not something to overlook when mapping out needed structures. It will earn its keep (given you maintain it well and properly utilize it). We have conducted many lessons, training sessions, and clinics under its roof, among other things. As equestrian professionals that offer dressage training services 365 days of the year, hubbie and I are well-used to schooling horses all day and sometimes into the evening hours if necessary.  The very first ...

I was recently approached by a well-known dressage trainer to compile his articles on dressage training to formulate an online training course. Well at least I think that was the scope of work - it was all a bit airy fairy. One of our senior Grand Prix horses that we recently lost to colic. As many of my readers know, aside from dressage training I am also a professional content writer and PR/Marketing professional. I field many such calls from varietal trainers worldwide across many disciplines, equine and other industry manufacturers and service providers, all interested in capitalizing on the spend of the consumer through video content and instruction. This particular call was different to most, in that the trainer was totally uninterested in any writing help at all. It was almost impossible to get a word in edgewise during the conversation. He spoke partly to horses he was longing one after another, and partly in a dictatorial manner to me. A strange way to conduct a conversation. ...

Many horse owners embark on the journey of horse breeding and an inescapable fact is sooner or later the progeny of your beloved mares will need to be started under saddle. Keeping one of your homebreds to replace your aging personal horse is a common reason to hang on to a home bred horse. This photo is Tiberio Lafite aka Tigger, my husband's Grand Prix horse that he trained from start to finish. Tigger is now 28 years young, (sometimes he still believes he is 3), and in retirement. The plan to hold back a home-produced young performance prospect as a replacement was always in the cards.   Even if your business plan is set to market the foals rather than raise the young horses to adulthood, there are often issues such as injury, market changes or simply the temptation to wait and see if a particular horse is one you'd like to keep for yourself, that result in a homebred horse in your own backyard to start yourself. Over the decades as a horse breeder, first Hanoverians, then D...

    Like many professional trainers, I've spent a fair amount of time during my career both listening from chairs and taking direct instruction in the saddle with Olympic level clinicians. I've also been blessed to have friends that compete at this iconic level in other sports such as rowing and swimming. My time spent with these bright stars of international sport has always been highly educational and I have always been fascinated by how they manage to achieve their heady levels of success.   Whatever the sport, the answers are similar. I thought it might be helpful to share what I've learned here in my blog, as amazingly the attributes needed to achieve your goals are surprisingly simple to master once you have the keys. 1. Accept Mistakes This may be a bit harder for some folks than others. The ability to accept mistakes is hard for those that are perfectionists at heart. In my clinic giving role I have seen many riders that exhibit the signature of being over-achieve...

As we push through into month 9 of no international clinic giving or even national clinic giving, and the welcome mat for US visitors across the world is now thrown down by only about 3 countries, it is ironic that my hubbie and I renewed passports at the beginning of the year and signed up for expedited airport and global travel access.   As a result of the travel restrictions we were forced to postpone our entire 2020 clinic season.  Frankly, we miss the adventures abroad like shown in the video above, and the fun and education of meeting new and familiar faces both giving instruction and taking it. It's truly weird at this point to not have seen students in person, and to have to rely solely on Apps to keep us connected to the ongoing training of our riders. My husband Paul and myself are very grateful for the hosts that have simply postponed and not cancelled the clinics booked. Meantime, all our remote training session fees are donated to charity, as we do our little bit ...

Hubbie and I have been out and about giving clinics as usual. We just returned from our last tour which was in England and Scotland, which naturally included staying in a castle. It was awesome and fun but also very tiring. I think we've just about recovered! It was grand to work with fellow Brits again and their wonderful horses We traversed more then 1600 miles in our gallant rental vehicle. The roads were sometimes single lane and difficult to navigate, especially across fells and around lakes in the Lake District.  Our trip took us from a clinic in Buckinghamshire up to Lincolnshire, then onto Scotland just South of Edinburgh. We crossed over to the West coast of Scotland to Aye, before heading South to the beautiful Lake District for another clinic and then on to Shropshire for a day or two. Then it was back down South to Buckinghamshire before we headed back home from Heathrow.  The horses and riders we saw were a broad mix of talent, from those starting out...

As many of you know I make regular trips to Europe to work with my FEI coach Greta Kemmer in Switzerland, visit England to see family and to work with some other noted names in the dressage world, and visit Portugal and Spain from time to time. I consider myself truly blessed to have the opportunity to enjoy these travels and to broaden my equestrian education and life experiences. A month ago I was thrilled to take another trip to Portugal and Spain with hubbie Paul, for multiple reasons. We were honored to be invited to give two clinics. One in the Sevilla region in Spain, and another in Portugal. We also had a super visit with family in The Algarve, and searched far and wide in both Andalusia, Spain and Portugal for horses for students. A search that was most successful and included a visit with the head of the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art, Antonio Borba Monteiro at his farm in Lisbon.  This farm is the where Nuno Oliveira began his apprenticeship in his magnificent c...

For more than 25 years I have been involved in a very 'hands on' and sometimes ' bods on the ground' part of breeding, starting and marketing high quality horses for the discerning dressage competitor. I am very excited to report that after a brief hiatus due to importation airfreight costs and market softness in the U.S.A. we are back at it at Willowview Hill Farm International. Back at some point in the early '90's, when magazines such as Dressage Today sprouted and replaced the venerable Dressage & CT ( Oh, I miss Ivan and his smarts), we were importing our WVH horses from the Elite Hanoverian auction ( not the leftovers at Winter etc. auctions), horses we had purchased in Germany as weanlings, Donnerhall sons we had bred in the U.K. under contract etc., and presenting them at 'site' parties for discerning buyers. Over the years we made partnerships happen between both new and already Olympic accomplished riders and new mounts. A brand new...