DWR Dressage

DWR Dressage Personalized Dressage Training and Lessons by a United States Dressage Federation Bronze and Silver

Fun first show of the Sunsational Dressage Schooling Show Series! Thank you to all the volunteers, competitors and spect...
08/06/2026

Fun first show of the Sunsational Dressage Schooling Show Series! Thank you to all the volunteers, competitors and spectators for making these shows such a wonderful experience for the Bowling Green community. It was a great time coming up with summer theme awards….where else could you get a dressage rider beach towel!! Looking forward to the next and final show of the Sunsational Series August 15. Don’t miss out on soft serve ice cream and milkshakes, more creative show and series awards as well as a supportive, educational environment to get into the dressage ring. Entries close this week!! Tack and horse supply sale will also be onsite. Hope to see you there riding or cheering on all the competitors!

Thank you Barbara Strawson for a super fun and educational clinic. Can’t wait until the next one!
07/24/2026

Thank you Barbara Strawson for a super fun and educational clinic. Can’t wait until the next one!

07/14/2026

Just in case… Everyone, stay safe. Big day tomorrow. It’s official. Signed at 6:00am. It was even on TV. Mine really turned blue. Don't forget that tomorrow marks the start of the new Facebook rule (also known as Meta), which allows them to use your photos. Don't forget the deadline is today!
According to the show 60 Minutes:
Just in case you missed it: a lawyer advised us to post this. The violation of privacy can be punished by law. NOTE: Facebook Meta is now a public entity. Every member must post a note like this. If you do not publish a statement at least once, it will be technically understood that you are allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in your profile status updates.
I HEREBY DECLARE THAT I DO NOT GIVE MY PERMISSION FOR FACEBOOK OR META TO USE ANY OF MY PERSONAL DATA.
Hold your finger anywhere in this message and “copy” will appear. Click “copy. Then go to your page, create a new post, and place your finger anywhere in the empty field. “Paste” will appear, and click.@ in case… Everyone, stay safe. Big day tomorrow. It’s official. Signed at 6:00am. It was even on TV. Mine really turned blue. Don't forget that tomorrow marks the start of the new Facebook rule (also known as Meta), which allows them to use your photos. Don't forget the deadline is today!
According to the show 60 Minutes:
Just in case you missed it: a lawyer advised us to post this. The violation of privacy can be punished by law. NOTE: Facebook Meta is now a public entity. Every member must post a note like this. If you do not publish a statement at least once, it will be technically understood that you are allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in your profile status updates.
I HEREBY DECLARE THAT I DO NOT GIVE MY PERMISSION FOR FACEBOOK OR META TO USE ANY OF MY PERSONAL DATA.
Hold your finger anywhere in this message and “copy” will appear. Click “copy. Then go to your page, create a new post, and place your finger anywhere in the empty field. “Paste” will appear, and click.@@

Thank you to Maple Dell Ranch, all the volunteers, Martha, Mark and Greystone Dressage for putting together another fant...
05/19/2026

Thank you to Maple Dell Ranch, all the volunteers, Martha, Mark and Greystone Dressage for putting together another fantastic show. It was a super fun day full of firsts on many levels, goals short and long term accomplished, many awards and ribbons and most importantly, a group of women supporting and cheering each other on in a way you are reminded of what a team and community are all about. Congratulations to Holly Moyers, Anne Dottore, Jacqueline Hollandsworth, Kelsey Richey, and Mary Termer. I am so privileged to be part of your riding journey!! Well done!

05/15/2026

As riding instructors we spend a lot of time managing the gap between what new students expect riding to be and what it actually is. Most of that gap could be narrowed significantly with one honest conversation before the first lesson ever happens. So here is everything I wish every new student and every new riding family walked in already knowing...

1. Riding is harder than it looks
This is the one that surprises people most. Watching a good rider looks effortless but it is not effortless. It is years of muscle memory, feel, balance, and body awareness built through consistent work over a long time. Your first lessons will feel awkward and uncoordinated and that is completely normal. Every rider you have ever admired felt exactly the way you feel right now when they were starting out.

2. The horse is not a bicycle
It is a living animal with its own personality, its own opinions, and its own good days and bad days. It does not always do what you ask the first time and that is not always your fault but it is always your responsibility to figure out the communication. Learning to work with a horse rather than on top of one is one of the most valuable things riding teaches and it starts from the very first lesson.

3. Progress is not linear
Some weeks you will feel like you have jumped forward three levels. Other weeks you will feel like you have forgotten everything you learned last month. Both are completely normal parts of learning to ride. The students who improve consistently are not the ones who never have bad lessons but they are the ones who show up anyway and keep working through the frustrating ones.

4. One lesson a week is a start but not a program
A single lesson per week gives you exposure to riding. Two lessons per week builds skill significantly faster. The riders who progress quickest are the ones who ride consistently and frequently enough that their muscles and nervous system have time to develop real memory around what correct feels like. If budget allows for more than one lesson per week it is worth it.

5. Your position will feel wrong before it feels right
Correct position in the saddle feels deeply unnatural to most people at first. Heels down feels like you are pushing your foot through the floor. Sitting tall feels like you are leaning back. An independent hand feels like you are doing nothing. Trust the process and trust your instructor. The things that feel strange now become automatic eventually but only if you commit to doing them correctly rather than defaulting back to what feels comfortable.

6. The time around the lesson matters as much as the lesson itself
Grooming your horse before you ride. Learning to tack up correctly. Understanding how to read your horse's body language in the cross ties. This is not the boring part before the real lesson begins. This is horsemanship and it makes you a better rider than an hour in the saddle alone ever will.

7. Bad rides happen to every rider at every level
Including the ones you look up to most. A bad lesson does not mean you are not cut out for this, it just means you are learning something hard and doing it on the back of a living animal that is also having a day. Come back next week and it will be different.
Your instructor is on your side.

8. Every correction we give is in service of your progress and your safety
We are not pointing out what is wrong to make you feel bad but we are pointing out what needs to change so you can get where you want to go faster and more safely. The students who improve fastest are the ones who hear a correction as information rather than criticism and apply it without taking it personally.

9. Riding changes you in ways you will not expect
The patience it builds, the confidence that comes from communicating with an animal ten times your size and being understood. The resilience that develops from falling short of a goal and coming back for it anyway. The community you find at the barn. None of that shows up in the first lesson or even the tenth but it will show up at one point. For most riders it becomes one of the most significant things in their life and not just what they do on Tuesday afternoons but part of who they are.

If you are a riding instructor share this with every new family who walks through your gate. If you are a new student or a parent of one - welcome. You picked something genuinely worth doing!

What do you wish someone had told you before your very first riding lesson?

05/14/2026

Be 𝓗𝓮𝓻 🖤🐴

Address

406 Elrod Road
Bowling Green, KY
42104

Telephone

(410) 404-5299

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