Ottawa, ON -- Dressage Canada regrets to inform the dressage community that it has

been unsuccessful in its bid to retain the services of Team Technical Coach/Advisor Robert Dover beyond the one-year contract that expired October 15, 2010. While efforts have been made over the past several months to extend this contract, the two sides have been unable to reach

an agreement for this position due to financial constraints and time commitments.…

This month, both on the forum and on video, there have been discussions on whether use of bits constitutes abuse of the horse.

Let me be clear, if the rider does not know how to keep proper contact with the horse's mouth using a bit is abusive. From the pictures and videos I've seen in the last few years VERY FEW riders know how…

So, we've been working with little Maggie on the longe line, with sliding side reins, then she moved on to long lining, which is tough and requires quite a bit of finesse. So, last night, I gave it a try. It's way harder than it looks, lemme tell ya! But, you can see immediately what you've messed up. And, conveniently, you tend to do the same things wrong on the ground that you do in the saddle. So, I get to see what the impact of what I do is, there's no cheating…

Riders often ask me, "How do I know it's the right time to start training something a bit harder?"



This is a big topic so I'm going to cover it over two blogs. In this blog, I'll give you a way to come up with a logical plan for introducing new work at Training Level. Next week, I'll show you to plan to move up to Second and Third Level. I'll also show you how you can use feedback from competition to help you decide whether or not you're ready to move up.



First, I…

My darling Maggie has been in some intense training of late, with me riding on weekends and her getting training during the week. She's progressed to long lining and it's going quite well. So, then it's up to me to keep everything moving forward, but I hadn't had a lesson in weeks. Now that doesn't seem like a long time, but really, we're trying to move forward and I don't want to be hindering progress.

So, last night, I rode and had a lesson. I KNEW IT, I was NOT riding quite…

2. Protect Your Horse:

While protecting yourself and your space, you need to protect your horse. This means protecting your horse from any human, animal, or objects that could hurt him.

This responsibility starts as soon as you enter the paddock – you need to make sure that no other horse…

10 Diet Tips to a Healthier You, Tip 3:



Add Vegetables to Your Day - Start by adding one more vegetable to your day until you reach more than 5 servings of fruit and vegetables per day. The adult recommendation from Canada’s Food Guide is 7-10 (7-8 servings for females and 8-10 servings for males) servings. Vegetables have a…

Women Riders Who Could ... And Did: Life Stores of Top Level Equestriennes

Author: Karma Kitaj Publisher: Huckle Hill Press 2010

" ... It's a worthwhile book for young riders who aspire to be professionals. ..."

Cindy Sydnor, Long-listed for the U.S. Olympic Team, Dressage instructor, "R" dressage judge, USDF Examiner for Certification Program

It may seem odd to start an independent…

After 33 years of marriage, I decided to leave my husband in June of this year. We are still living together and our farm is up for sale so we can go our separate ways. This is why you have not heard from me for a while, it has been hell to say the least, and very hard on both of us. Sometimes people just grow apart and I realized that I wanted more out of our relationship than just being business partners. It has been the saddest and hardest decision of my life, but I feel a right and…

Brody had stopped whinnying to me. In the paddock, he greeted me every day with his “cranky face”, ears back, nostrils wide, and tense wrinkles around his mouth. Then Friday, a full blown bucking bronco show when I waved him away from the door of the feed shed while I filled his dish. Brody was sour. How could I get him sweet again?…

Recovery...thats the word of the day. My hand that I cut open 10 days ago is healing very well. It still hurts to hold a hair brush, use a squirt bottle or use a body brush using downward strokes. Up until 10 minutes ago I couldnt take the cap off of my water bottle.

Part of my healing has been just getting back out to the barn to interact with my horses. Im a little nervous around them, since I am so protective of my hand right now, but thats fading away each time I go down…

“Ridden hard and put away wet!” This age old expression brings to mind an image of a horse that worked rigorously and was not properly cared for. You can picture the animal galloping along, doing her…

Well, I have given up on going back to using regular bits for now, it is back to learning all the subtleties of the Wellep bits! Mia had behaved quite well when I used the Mullen mouthed snaffle, but she communicated to me that she MISSED the mouthpiece of the Wellep. So I got the regular cheeked Wellep snaffle out and sat there trying to figure out how I could use the bit on Mia and still have the stability I needed to keep good contact. Finally I decided on bit…