Founder — about me

Judging a dressage show

Every Fall I book shows to judge for the next year. Please contact me to book for officiating at classical dressage shows, para dressage, western dressage, young sport horses show, and Spanish working equitation shows. On my judge path I study in-depth national and FEI systems in different countries. I run seminars about horse development. Working on “hints for breeders of sport horses”.

Training plan

This is the very core of working with a rider, horse owner or breeder. I offer a unique methodology of creating a training plan for your horse that pivots from age, abilities, and skill levels of both horse and rider, available facilities, and aspirations. Training plan gets outlined for 365 days, with implementation details for near 2-3 months. This can be substituted with a couple clinics per year or coaching, or even mere mentoring touch points. 

Coaching and clinics

Coaching and clinics are complementary to Training Plan design, really. There are many clinicians who take “incremental improvement in movements” approach or work on finessing basics, which is super difficult, and few professionals can do that exceptionally well. I come for clinics for the riders with whom we have already covered the training plan topic. I coach live in your arena or remotely (via live video) once we have designed a training plan for a horse. 

Our equestrian center is looking for a dressage judge

I officiate at dressage competitions in USA and Russia. I judge recognized shows and schooling shows, classical Olympic dressage and a show with a mix of dressage disciplines including para dressage, western dressage, in-hand classes and sport horse classes. Per your request I judge schooling shows either in a formal recognized show format (~10 min per pair), or in ride-discuss-ride again format (~14 min per pair). With my judging you will find a lot of comments and training hints in a scoresheet for your rides, both in technical scores sections, and in cumulative scores sections, and in final remarks. I always look for an opportunity to reward any hints of higher quality, and I am honest when I see that something did not work that day. I share a judge box with listeners with pleasure, and very grateful to scribes, who always make judging so much more fun! In Russia I judge mostly in Moscow region and will fly to Regions. In the USA I judge in New England (Region 8). I look for opportunities to judge back on the West Coast (Region 6, etc.), and in mid-states. In the USA, I judge online schooling shows as well, which is not a custom yet in Russia, but maybe we will try this format and it will land well, especially for remote from cities equestrian centers.

How to ride for 8 and above in dressage?

Answer to this question is worth a million! Blood (breed), conformation, natural talents all play a huge role. Fine horses are very expensive, and it takes a good riding resume to qualify for purchasing one (and they are typically not for auctions). However, a managed system can never be finer and more complex than a managing system. A rider needs to be developed first of all, learning it all on riding material available, and somehow exceeding it. Then it makes sense to think of acquiring a very fine horse. Professional Bereuter’s and trainers have hundreds of horses go through their hands, and adult amateur may have 3-5 horses only on average in a lifetime (from almost breaking to Grand Prix). Therefore, thorough, guided learning and mastering riding skills, feel for a horse, and equine development cycle in dressage in critical for adult amateur’s ability to produce high-scoring performance. Together with rider and trainer we create a training plan for a horse, which is supplemented by clinics, online consultations (via recorded videos or live). 8 mark = wonderful base of biomechanics * nuances of gates and elements * rider’s talents and feel * competition experience. What is 9-10 for every horse, it is individual. I look at horse and rider abilities and think how for them to achieve maximum of possible performance with complete health and soundness for a horse. In this podcast on Anne Axell’s channel, I share some points of gates evaluation in dressage and how to achieve high marks with precision in gates in mind. youtu.be/UDVliCUgQ4U? si=xmySTMuVCSgavwPV

I teach a talented young rider overgrown a school pony, how to help his family to transition to private sport horse?

Often a young instructor/trainer has an abundance of talent to teach a rider and a horse, but upgrading a rider to a more capable, powerful, expensive and long-term sport horse ownership is a different skill that a young trainer would not have yet. This skill is from investment and family relations subject areas, because a private sport horse becomes (or at least should become) a rightful member of rider’s family and a member of the “barn village”. Years ago, I wrote a book in English with my dear friend Debra Mead of Hidden Springs Ranch in California, USA How to Buy a Horse, which I may republish in Russian language as well. The book is available in hard cover on Amazon and is a free read as a digital copy for Amazon Kindle users. In my consultations I advise trainer and rider on how to determine right horse type, ways to search, gather photos and video. We analyze together personal trial experience and vet check plan and results. Once a trainer and rider have had such a buying experience with my supervision, they grow confident in this topic, purse their next “horse finding tours” with confidence themselves, and become mentors to others on this journey. This horse finding and upgrading skill is vital, because it takes 10-12 years for dressage horse to develop to its peak, and then serve well as it for another 10 years, thus it becomes a long-term family member.