The
Centerline Arizona Dressage Association
www.azdressage.org
Vol. 21, Issue 12
December 2021
My Obstacles In Dressage By Virginia K Williams
Another injury… another surgery… an unexpected life event. Sometimes it feels as though this sport is more like approaching an obstacle course than just entering at A. I took on this sport because I felt it was the closest discipline to riding a horse with the human’s natural aids, the way I rode bareback as a young rider. My husband said to start looking for a horse, I found two! That was nine years ago (2012). I am an Adult Amateur rider, I really felt I’d take on this sport like a duck to water. Boy, was I wrong. My original goal was to work for my bronze medal in five years, on a younger horse. My first horse was a four-year-old, Oldenburg gelding. A Black Beauty! Three months after purchasing him, I competed in my first dressage show! I told my trainer at the time, “Just teach me what I need to do and I’ll go do it.” The first day we showed a Training Level Test. The second and third day we showed our First Level Tests. Just like that, we obtained qualifying scores for that Level!!! We even placed Reserve Champion in the Rocky Mountain Region. I thought at the time, I should shorten my time-line for that Bronze. As of this time I still do not have my medal. Yes, 9 years later I still need two scores. Obstacle #1, my Black Beauty equine companion acquired an injury that eventually required him to be euthanized. He had injured his suspensory tendon kicking through fence panels. We spent years trying to defy the odds and make him comfortable, we just couldn’t. I did have that second horse to consider riding, so I took on the challenge. He was above my skill sets, so he had no problem with moving me on. I took on second level training process. Then, Obstacle #2 showed up! I had to have two partial knee replacements (2013). After my recovery and rehab, I was back in the saddle (2014). Obstacle #3, we had a couple of set-backs with boarding facilities in 2014 and 2015 due to sales of the facilities or changes in management. It also required us to seek out a new trainer. I felt like we were starting over. Each trainer has their process. This one took over my upper level horse! So I eventually moved my horses home. Yes, I said “horses”. I had purchased a Holsteiner Mare, we had her bred and were able to produce our first and only foal. Obstacle #4, 2016. We decided we’d move south to AZ. So I packed up the horses, 2 dogs and a cat and headed South. We settled into a trianing facility and I immediately Continued on page 3
