Category Archives: dressage

Stamina isn’t just for horses

Yesterday morning started out with icy roads and overturned cars. Fortunately I wasn’t among them, but I came close to it. My destination was a seminar on horse and rider biomechanics, presented by my trainer Karin Bielefeld. In spite of … Continue reading

Posted in dressage, horses, riding clinic, Willow Tree | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

From Secret Agent to Pink Panther

A little notice: this embed from Facebook starts playing with sound muted. At this point I can’t change that, so you will have to turn on the sound by clicking on the little “speaker” icon in the lower right hand … Continue reading

Posted in dressage, horses, pas de deux, Willow Tree | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Bouncing rider should have worn a Raggedy Ann costume

I’m going to cheat here with my tale of the weekend’s pas de deux. Mainly because I can’t recall ever looking so floppy as a rider–hence the rag doll reference. So except for the little movie clip at the end … Continue reading

Posted in bad riding, dressage, horses, pas de deux | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Short interruption for some swag

OK, enough about painting for a couple of minutes. I belong to two dressage GMO’s (group member organizations) and at the end of each year they give out awards for that year’s show season. So— Champion high point for Quadrille … Continue reading

Posted in awards, dressage, horses, quadrille | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Sun dance vs rain dance

If you were to look back over several years of my posts about the Reins of Life benefit dressage shows, you would notice a consistent theme having to do with rain on show days. This year threatened to be the … Continue reading

Posted in art, dressage, exhibit booth, horse portrait, horses, oil paintings, Reins of Life, watercolor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The long-awaited…2017 Rockin’ Riders Quadrille video

No, I wasn’t lazy. Even though this performance was in early July (after our rather dismal performance in June) and I promised video of it “soon”, I didn’t get the complete set of two video camera angles until a couple … Continue reading

Posted in dressage, horses, quadrille, Willow Tree | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Charm and I love the number 5

It couldn’t have been a more perfect weekend for a horse show. Cool, dry, breezy. Overnight on Thursday it rained probably a couple of inches at the showground, but by the time we arrived on Friday evening the wonderful sand … Continue reading

Posted in dressage, horses, quadrille | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

A Saturday date with Charm

This past Saturday I took temporary leave of my senses and rode Charm in the first of Karin Bielefeld’s two annual spring dressage clinics at Willow Tree. These events are valuable because they give you practice riding with an audience … Continue reading

Posted in dressage, horses, riding clinic, Willow Tree | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Rockin’ Riders rocks the quadrille…again

OK, I have no video, or even photos, to prove this. But we did rock our world at the horse show yesterday. We’ve tightened up our moves since early June and junked one awkward-looking sequence for something much more elegant. The … Continue reading

Posted in dressage, horses, quadrille | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

New! Improved! 2016 Quadrille!

First, a few words about our innovative new product! The Rockin’ Riders quadrille is now in its third year. It was time to up our game a little, so our team leader (who is responsible for mainly our entire existence … Continue reading

Posted in dressage, horses, quadrille, Reins of Life | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments