WDAA is proud to announce that the Thoroughbred Makeover will now include Western Dressage!!

Retired Racehorse Project Adds Western Dressage to 2019Thoroughbred Makeover: Apply Now! Contact: Kristen Kovatch Bentley (215) 589-0993 | kbentley@retiredracehorseproject.org   Retired Racehorse Project announced in December 2018 that western dressage would be a new addition to the popular Thoroughbred Makeover competition for 2019. The inclusion of western dressage has been met with great support from past Makeover competitors, with hopeful trainers currently applying through January 15th to compete in the 2019 Thoroughbred Makeover. Dressage and western dressage will compete side-by-side in the Dressage division at the 2019 Thoroughbred Makeover in a standard arena before one judge; western dressage competitors will ride the Western Dressage Association of America 2017 Basic Level...

Looking Back on a Successful Show

Competition with camaraderie: That’s what summed up the sixth annual Western Dressage World Championship Show, held Sept. 27-30 at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Okla. There was camaraderie between fellow exhibitors, amongst the cadre of volunteers who showed up to make things happen, and most especially between horses and their riders – the most important beneficiaries of this sport that fosters that essential partnership.Final numbers showed nearly 900 rides, 202 exhibitors and 178 horses, hailing from 32 states from coast to coast, as well as Canada. Forty breeds of horses were represented, everything from stock breeds to gaited horses to POAs and ponies – and even one mule.Competitors were...

Western Dressage in The North Texas Horse Review

Trailer Tire Safety

Besides encouraging others and being great advocates for WDAA, Nancy and Randy Conley are actively giving back to the organization. They generously sponsored some classes at this year’s World Show, and they also donated a set of Goodyear trailer tires to be raffled off at the show. They hoped that the proceeds from the tires would help WDAA fund more educational projects, but they also wanted exhibitors at the show to be talking and thinking about their trailer tires – because far too many people don’t pay enough attention to them. The Conleys own a Goodyear franchise, Northwest Georgia Automotive, and Randy sees a lot of people traveling down I-75...

Your First Western Dressage Show….A DIY Experience

Your First Western Dressage Show....A DIY Experience If you are reading this you are probably at the same point my husband and I were three years ago. It was at this time that we wanted to try something different with our horses. Something that would complement our trail riding as well as the ranch riding classes we were showing. We wanted something that would build on the training we have always done with our horses here on our farm. We also wanted something to stimulate our senior brains; a challenge for both memory and learning. We wanted something that was, like our trail riding and ranch shows, an event where...

A Good Sport

By Barb McLintock He’s one of the youngest competitors at the Western Dressage World Show. And he’s riding the oldest horse in the competition. But, boy, is 14-year-old Korbin Eckert bringing home the bacon. Riding at Introductory Level in the junior division, in the first two days of the show Korbin has picked up two world championships, one reserve world championship and one third, all in classes with more than 25 competitors. As icing on the cake, Korbin’s friendly, helpful and unfailingly cheerful manner earned him the Youth Sportsmanship Award for the show. And all this for a lad who started riding only 18 months ago. Unlike many of the...

Day 2 – WDAA World Championship Show Story

Growing Up Together, Making It to the Western Dressage World Show By Barb McLintock She was an 11-year-old kid, just starting to take riding seriously, and he was a gangly, awkward 5-year-old who wasn’t even sure you could canter on both leads. But the bond was instantaneous. “I loved him,” Jessica Swenson says of her partner, Jubilee Banjo, known as “Banjo.” “I didn’t care that he was goofy looking.” It’s now 14 years later, and their bond has continued to develop under the tutelage of Banjo’s owner-trainer Frances Carbonnel in their hometown of Denver. This year, at their first Western Dressage World Show, they’re topping many of the Level 3...

The story you likely won’t hear

By Barb McLintock With his pure white coat with just a black “sun visor” for a marking, Smokin White Gun, known as “Danny,” has become one of the best-recognized horses at the Western Dressage World Show. But Danny is unique for another reason: He is deaf. Deafness can be associated with lack of skin pigmentation, says his rider, Joanne Haughan from Pennsylvania. Joanne, who is a veterinarian, explains that the cells governing a horse’s pigment and its hearing have a similar origin in the embryo and genes responsible for skin pigmentation are associated with deafness in some Paint horses. Working with a deaf horse does pose some unusual challenges, Joanne says....