Cynthia Spalding Dressage

06/16/2026

As you might know, I've created a blog about my journey to become a dressage rider. It can now be found at Cynthia Spalding's Dressage Journey at blogspot.

It begins in 1958 in Ecuador, and so far has 46 entries about things I learned from trainers and horses over the decades. As well as overcoming injuries that made me start over.

I will put a link for you at the end of this page, as it will not be on my dressage page anymore to make it easier for me to write and easier to find for you as well.

There is a way to print the entries, if you should feel the need to make a book out of them for your selves.

Don't expect fancy editing, and all typos taken out. It is as real and honest as I can make it for you.

Cynthia Spalding Dressage Journey

Cynthia Spalding, a recognized expert in dressage riding, showing, training, and riding instruction, shares her insights from her 68 year journey of learning Dressage from horses and instructors.

06/10/2026

# 46 Coin Again

In the late 60s, I was asked to come teach a lesson at a big barn. The husband wanted me to come help his wife with her horse. Their horse was a huge ottb that was very inconsistent. At times he would be really lazy and at others, he seemed crazy.

The horse was the most stunning horse, he was a deep red chestnut with four high white socks, and a big wide blaze. He was chunky with a short wide head and huge eyes! He was the most stunning tb I had seen. His name was Coin Again.

Tacking him up was like giving a cat a bath, he wiggled everywhere, he snorted, pawed, and kicked out. He was just beside himself with angst. He didn't seem to be mean, just really nervous and a bit angry.

Right as we got him tacked, the trainer came hustling over, and with an angry voice, he said that we couldn't ride because the horse had not had his vitamin shot. I was only 18, and still, I knew something was weird about the whole situation. The trainer was angry and stated that their agreement was that she had to schedule her rides with him, and not just show up.

The woman said that the horse was much calmer after his vitamin shot, and that we should wait for a half an hour. We did, and the horse was totally different. He was sleepy, dull, and didn't look around, even when the stable dogs ran up to him. It was my first experience with someone drugging a horse.

I told them that I suspected the vitamin shot was actually a tranquilizer. They confronted the trainer and he kicked them off the property. They brought the horse to my place, and quickly discovered that the horse was way too much for the novice wife to handle without his "vitamin" shot.

They ended up giving me the horse, and we became friends. The wife never came to watch me work with Coin, but the husband always did. Interestingly, they were divorcing, and he had bought her the horse during the process.

Life is strange. Years later I saw that trainer giving shots to his horses at a show. I was braiding horses at shows to finance my showing, and I was in the showbarns very early in the mornings, so I saw a lot of things people were not supposed to see. I did report him to the drug tester at the show. Nothing seemed to happen to him at the time, but eventually he was caught and suspended for a while.

So, Coin Again was another of my gift horses. I got him detoxed and he became a fun ride. A few years later, he actually became a lesson horse for beginners. He loved kids, so I sold him to a friend that taught kids. Coin loved the hugs he got from kids that were just happy to be around a horse!

Coin Again never had to be drugged again. It took a lot of hairy rides to teach him that no one was out to hurt him, but underneath all his angst he was a really sweet horse... a kids horse. I only have super 8 film of him, unfortunately. I really need to get my films digitized.

06/04/2026

# 45 Making Sense Of It All

The journey to understanding dressage is often a twisted ball of contradicting information. Not everyone has access to a quality trainer to teach them for decades with a consistant system. Often we have to rely on taking instruction from traveling clinicians, or travel abroad to work with someone who can dedicate years to teach us consistently. We will have to hit the books and learn academically what a movement should feel like. I have heard it said that teaching dressage is like explaining what a peach tastes like without ever tasting one!

The few lucky ones are able to ride an advanced horse, and work with the person who trained it. The horse can teach you feel, and the trainer can teach you technique. That is the fastest way to learn to ride dressage... and it still might take decades.

Riding a dressage horse is not the same as training a dressage horse. Do not be fooled by people riding horses trained by others who promote themselves as trainers. Dressage means training, so to be a good rider it also means that you need to be able to train.

Many of the top trainers in the world actually don't show, so you might not find your instructor in the show ring. But then, some great trainers do show, so check them out first.

There are different methods of training, and sticking to a method can yield good results and be less confusing than hoping from one instructor to another who is perhaps using a different system.

You might be told that a supple mouth is paramount, while another instructor says the noseband needs to be tight to keep the mouth still. One might say to ride with a very long stirrup and keep your legs off the horse, and another says to have a good bend in your knee and keep calf contact. One says to arch your back, and another says to push your pelvis back and brace your back.

A young, tall instructor might not understand how to teach a short older person. Instructors with long limbs will tell a short person to shorten the reins, and then complain when their short arms are too straight. Some instructors want a rider to hold the reins with a fist and use the wrists, others want straight wrists and flexible fingers.

Most of the older books were written by men, for men, so many of the body positions recommended do not work for women.

I started comparing information in books when I was about 11, after having a consistant coach for 4 years. I compared what Podhajsky said against what the German Federation said. I read the United States Calvary manual. I read Froissard, Seunig, Blake, Wright, Littauer, Jackson and many others. Later I found more information in books written by women. All this reading helped me understand when to use the instructions I was given by different instructors, and what to save for later. I have over 2500 books on my shelves, and all of them are important, even if I don't use the techniques they write about... they are tools in the toolbox.

I have decided that almost all techniques can have their place, depending on what you are trying to do. There are books showing you how to force a horse into a dead subservient broke horse (if that is what you want) and others showing you how to relax a horse's mind and body into willing participation. It is all out there for the learning.

The most important thing is to know what you want to have in a horse partner. If he is hot to the leg, you need to close your legs on him, if he is lazy to the leg you need to take them off. If he is afraid of contact, you need a steady hand and arm, if he is heavy in the contact, you will need to be flexible in your fingers, and loosen the cavasson.

It is the correct application of the knowledge that makes the difference. So, in reality, it is the constant assessment of the horse, his mind, his sensitivity, his understanding or lack thereof, that dictates what you will use. So listening to the horse will tell you what to do. Instructors will tell you how to do it...and books will often tell you why you do it, and when.

You cannot blame an instructor for teaching what they know, it is up to you to put the information to proper use. You cannot blame the horse for being difficult...he can only speak with his body. It is up to us to listen to his quiet complaints and not ignore them until he needs to shout it out with dangerous behavior.

05/23/2026

# 44 Driftwood

Living on the coast most of my life has given me plenty of opportunities to reflect on life. I've always noticed shells, and especially driftwood.

Driftwood on the beach is just water scrubbed wood...but Driftwood in a shop is valuable and expensive. The people who pick up the Driftwood are promoters. They understand proper positioning.

As a rider, you can remain on the beach, or you can position yourself properly to give yourself the ability to advance.

A fish will not grow large in a small tank, it will need a large tank to fully develop. So being a small fish in a large tank is better than being a large fish in a small tank.

When I was training in South Florida, I was in a relatively small pond. I produced but was not promoted. I become a good producer and was noticed by the big pond people.

I became the trainer at Mile High Horse Ranch, who was owned by Vanda Werner, a Trakehner breeder and importer. Being surrounded by wonderful horses and people who had been Olympians and Hall of Fame football players was so inspiring.

Vanda had been married to the Skiing Olympian, Buddy Werner. Buddy was killed in an avalanche. His sister, Skeeter Werner, was also a skiing Olympian. Skeeter was married to Hall of Famer, Doak Walker.

I can't tell you how amazing it was to have Vanda give me top horses to ride, with Skeeter and Doak grooming for me at the Steamboat Springs show! Everything in Steamboat Springs is named after the Werners. I have a Sports Illustrated magazine with all of their photos on the cover. I was in a VERY large pond!

Driving a big horse trailer up Rabbit Ears pass as a flatlander is daunting to say the least! But it failed in comparison to being in the huge pond of greatness. It was amazing how much they understood about competing!

People talk about having imposter syndrome, and feeling like they don't belong, or aren't good enough. I have never felt that. Everytime I jumped into a bigger pond it always seemed that I had found my people.

When I went to the USET Screening trials on a free horse that had cataract surgery and pulling my horse trailer with a F100 truck, barely able to climb the hills, my foot wrapped from a broken ankle, I felt at home. I was inspired by the quality of the riders and their horses. I was proud to be there.

My son put it well, he said "some people are busy make excuses for not being where they should be, and others are busy working to be more than they should be".

05/22/2026

# 43 Silly Sally and Reina

When I lived in Oak Hill, in Florida, we had a neighbor, Jim. Jim was an odd guy. He was practicing his quick draw and shot himself four times with one bullet! It went into his hip, out his hip, into his thigh, out of his thigh, into his calf, out of his calf and into his foot! He proudly told this story to anyone who would listen.

One day I was riding by his house and I watched him fall off a red mare over and over. He was trying to train her to be a roping horse, but every time he would try to throw the rope, she would swing around on her haunches, run off in the opposite direction and he would fall off. He tried going faster, and she would just turn around faster!

After a while of watching, I said that she doesn't want to be a roping horse, does she? He called her a bunch of names and declared her useless. So I asked what it would take to buy her. He replied a nickle ninety eight - with a hateful expression on him.

I told him that I had $125 at home, if he would take it...he handed me the reins, took off the saddle and said it's a deal. I was to pony her home and he would drive by to collect his money!

I did pony her home, and gave him the money and his bridle, and he wrote me a bill of sale. I was happy that she wouldn't have to suffer his anger anymore.

I started riding her along the edge of the many sod fields in the area. I discovered that although she had a nice jog trot and a nice long trot if I posted, she absolutely did not have a slow canter! It was a dead run or nothing with her, but she could do a hair pin turn at full speed! I named her Silly Sally.

I decided to try my hand at barrel racing. I bought Martha Josey's book and set up some barrels. She did not wrap around the barrel like I had seen and read about, but boy, was she fast and quick. I worked hard to stay with her, and got used to the speed somewhat. So I entered the rodeo barrel races.

We started winning, and I started traveling to rodeos out of state. It was in Quitman, Georgia, that I was approached by the police. It seems that the mare was a famous barrel horse, stolen right off the grounds in Quitman, Georgia!

I learned that I was not a barrel horse trainer after all! I had my bill of sale, and the cops knew no one would be stupid enough to show up at the very show grounds she was stolen from, if they were the thief! I gave them Jim's info, and the owners had their brand inspection papers, so I handed Sally over. They did say how great she looked, and how happy they were that she didn't end up in a bad place.

So I called Jim and told him what happened and that he owed me $125. He yelled..."OMG you took her to Quitman?!"

When I got back home, he was already out on bail and I went into his house to get my money, which he said he didn't have. I saw a roll of money rolled up in a rubber band, so I said, what about that, pointing to the roll?

He grabbed it up in a flash and said "you don't want that stuff", and said "look around in the yard and see If there is something you would like." His yard was a collection of junk. Junk cars, bathtubs, all kinds of stuff. But there was a dog, chained to a rustedout car chassis. A Doberman, skinny, full of ticks, and evidently mean as all get out. Jim had been pushing her feed bowl to her with a stick. So I took the dog as repayment.

Getting her to my truck was like a scene in Hatari, with both of us leading her from each side while she growled the deepest, meanest growl I ever heard. When she saw my truck, she drug us to it and jumped in the front seat!

She stopped growling once she was in the front seat, so I slipped in beside her for the drive home. I sweet talked her all the way home, hoping she would not attack me, and thinking how dumb it was to not to have chained her to the passenger door.

I stated calling her Reina, and when I got home, she would not come out of the truck. I just fed her in the truck, and the next day she was out, looking for me. It took a while to get her collar off, she growled and grabbed my hand everytime I touched it. But eventually I got it pryed off and a new softer one put on.

Reina turned out to be the best dog, ever. She was a one person dog until she passed after years of being my most loyal protector. She would not let anyone touch me... never bit anyone, but she would put her hackels up and growl like a tiger, and she could send chills down your spine with that growl. She would stand still in a ready to pounce position, and never had to take a bite!

I tried to find out who she was, and where she belonged, but I was unsuccessful. So she was mine forever, it seemed. Jim went to jail for counterfitting. I never had to testify in court. I was happy to have Reina, I'm sure the cops would have had to shoot her.

05/19/2026

#42 Cheerleader

One of the nice horses I found was a 4 year old ottb. She was not a big money maker and never broke her maiden, so she was for sale. She was another $500 purchase, which was possible to find in the 70s!

We lived very close to several races tracks, Calder, Hialeah, Gulfstream, and Tropical Park, so very nice, slow horses were easy to find. Over the decades I purchased many horses for under $1000 dollars from these tracks. Quarter horses were way more expensive than thorobreds in those days in my area. But in the 80s, you could buy appendix Quater horses, due to the fact that the racing blood in them made them not responsive or tolerant of the old "sack them out and mount up, and buck them out" method.

I do believe that the introduction of Tb blood in that breed was what spawned the Natural Horsemanship method. When you meet your match, you adapt or die.

So, I bought a cute little ottb, a dark chestnut with white socks behind. She had nice hock action and those little white socks would pump up and down as she trotted. She had separation anxiety when I started with her, and she would call out as she worked. She would get every horse within ear shot to answer her, making the whole area an endless steam of her calling, and everyone answering! So, I named her cheerleader!

Once I started her over fences, she stopped calling, but she still would when we first arrived at shows, so the name stuck. She really took to jumping and had a really amazing bascule and a powerful take off. I had a whole set of show jumps from the gift of Gucci and all his equipment and jumps, so I was able to have her see and jump just about anything she would face at a show.

The result of that gift enabled Cheerleader to win at her first show! She caught the eye of Mrs. Ebelhare, who bought her on the spot. I hated to see her go so fast, but it was the best ever owner since her daughter was a fabulous rider, and they were both great horsewomen!

I learned a bunch working with Cheerleader, but the thing I remember the most was how helpful it was to have the tools to prepare a horse for competition.

Racehorse are used to the crowds and activity from the race track, but they are not used to being alone or jumping things. To have a field of show jumps was crucial to her training and confidence building, as was working alone. I have seen dressage riders trying to train without a dressage arena, and hunter riders trying to train without anything more than a few rails.

You can't be accurate without a dressage arena, and horses can't be expected to jump well without jumps.

Home bred horses need to take trips to learn how to handle traveling and meeting new horses and environments. Something race horses already have adapted to. I learned that race horses train up very fast due to their early exposure to galloping too. Dressage riders can benefit from galloping their horses. Hunter riders can benefit from learning how to collect their strides from dressage.

I have always jumped and galloped my dressage horses, and have done dressage with my hunters and jumpers. I have always thought that specialization too early will wear out the horse. In dressage it will be ligaments that give out, in jumpers, it will be the joints, the knees and fetlocks. There are exceptions, but this is what I see.

05/10/2026

# 41 Coop's Cool Eyed Max

All four of my old guys passed away in a year and a half. I knew it would happen that way since they were all very old. It happened during the pandemic, so traveling to try horses was not possible. I vetted a few horses, but couldn't find a sound new horse. I considered the possibility of retiring, but it made me so sad to think of being horseless. So, I kept searching.

I got the idea to call Heritage Livestock to see if they had something for me. I had looked through their sales catalog, and there were no warmbloods, but close to 100 nice stock type horses in their upcoming auction. There was only one horse with the type of muscle and build that I liked, but he had a bald face and two blue eyes. I sighed, I really did not care for bald faces and blue eyes.

I decided to call and ask if they had something an old lady could ride and play at being a trainer! Mariellen laughed and told me that she had just the horse....but I would hate him because he had a bald face and two blue eyes! That made me laugh also! He was the same horse I had seen in the catalog! I arranged to come try him.

Heritage was only 5 miles down the road, and I kind of chuckled that after searching all over the US and Canada, I might find a horse 5 miles down the road! As I drove to go try him, I was thinking about all the positives. He was already acclimated to this area, he might cost less, no one would recognize me at shows...lots of good things!

I watched Meghan ride him at walk, trot and canter. He looked like a really sweet fellow. Several people had tried him before I did, and I heard through the grapevine why they kept looking, and didn't plan to bid on him. I mounted up and started doing serpentine to get him to get off his forehand and be less laterally stiff. At the trot he was so smooth, it was devine. He covered a lot of ground, and had a responsive trot, but he really wanted to put me on his shoulders. I didn't know why, I was using her tack...maybe I was heavier?

Then he very quietly took over and planted us where his friends were. It wasn't fast or tricky, he just used his strength to plow me away. He was used to being ridden in a western curb, and now he is in a snaffle, so I thought about that. I loved how he tried to solve his problem.. first, I was asking him to do things he didn't understand, and second, he just used his weight and strength to make me stop asking.

I told Mariellen that I loved how he solved problems. They probably thought I was kinda nuts. But after riding warmblood stallions for decades, I was totally fine with a horse using his weight as a strategy. It was the clever, tricky, scooting ones that I was not used to. So he felt like a big Hannavarian stallion, only smaller and smoother to ride. I mentioned that you couldn't see his blue eyes when you are riding him!

It reminded me of a poem:
As for beauty I am not at star, there are others more handsome by far. But my face, I don't mind it, for I am behind it. It's the people out front that I jar.

Interestingly, I was beginning to see just how handsome he was. His black coat and high white socks made him look like he was wearing a tuxedo. The kind look in his eyes made his blue eyes seem really attractive. They were kind enough to let me vet him before the auction.

By the time the auction started, I was so worried that I would not have enough money to buy him! People were bidding on him over the phone and one TV horse trainer was on site bidding. But I won the bid with only 500 dollars left in my purse! I had hoped to keep my horse purchase quiet, since I didn't think any of my students would understand what I was doing or why. But that didn't happen since he was reserve high priced horse of the auction... and it was advertised! I read all the comments from the peanut gallery, which ranged from - "way too much for that horse", to "that old lady will never ride that horse!" I had to chuckle... nothing new here..

I had been riding Coop with no problems for about 3 months, when he launched into a bucking fit. I stayed on all three of his bawling bucking, head between his knees sessions, each one consisting of 6 to 7 attempts to put me in my place. This was the very first time he had done anything wrong. I got him stopped each time and he looked terrified. I tried to untrack him but he just bent his neck and looked at me with both eyes with a terrified look in his face. So, I just sat there. I felt a wave of tension come through him and I just stopped him.

Back in my younger days I would have probably made him canter it out, but this time it didn't seem like the right thing to do, so I waited.. after a bit, he just walked off, and we continued to do our work. It has been 3 years and he never offered to do that again. But, I can tell you that ever since that day we trust each other completely. He knows that I can ride his best efforts and that I won't hurt him.

I started doing some ground work, and he had a lot of angst about it, so I was able to work through some of his knotholes. And now that I am going through chemo treatment, he is just the sweetest, easiest horse to live with, even if he isn't being worked. Just the best horse I could ever have bought for myself!

05/09/2026

# 40 Laurentino

When I sold my indoor facility in 2000, I bought a 15 acre place with a garage building that I planned to turn into a stable. My plan was to have a really nice horse, a stallion, who could finance our show career with shipped semen.

I saw Laurentino advertised and he was living very close to where I was doing monthly clinics in Loveland. He was a Holsteiner by Le Santo and 6 years old, if I remember right. So I set up a time to come try him. It was winter and really cold and snowy.

My first impression was that he thought very highly of himself and was pushing his handlers around for fun. I watched them lunge him for a good while, and asked to see him under saddle, before I mounted up. Laurentino was built wonderfully, but did not move as freely as it looked like he should be able to. His hocks were swollen like footballs due to him escaping and running free after a hock surgery.

I did decide to ride him, and got him to put out more than he had been willing to do. He was the right width for me, only 15.3 with a big neck and short body. He could articulate every joint, so it felt like you were riding in a kid's big wheel. It was the first time I had ever felt power and elasticity at the same time. I was intrigued.

I bought him and arranged to pick him up as soon as I got back home to bring the trailer in a week. It was not easy to get the owner to let him go, evidently, by the problems I had with the transfer paperwork, and pick up. But, I persisted, turned my case over to the Holsteiner club, and got everything settled.

My friend came with me to pick up my horse and one she was buying further up north. But when the sellers found out that I was coming, they confessed that their horse had broken its neck as a young horse, and yet they were trying to sell it for a big price as a dressage prospect!

What is it with people? So, she didn't get to pick up her horse, and I had to stop mine from being collected before I arrived! It was not a fun time and a big eye opener for both of us.

We had planned to overnight in Sedalia. When I opened the trailer, Laurentino had slipped his halter..evidently he was a master at that, and I had to use a neck rope to keep him from escaping anytime I tied him.

I started calling him Tony... The Tony...He would get very angry when he couldn't slip his halter and we would paw the ground ferociously and try to put his elbows on the ground. He also would crowd you and get pretty pushy. I ran my lead rope through a short piece of PVC to keep him off of me. He really needed some guidance.

I started with lunging, but he did not have a work ethic, instead he was all about goofing off. He was not muscled and rather thin, so I started my groundwork conditioning for around six months before riding him... and this hocks were still huge, so I wanted to take it a bit easy on him.

Eventually the hock swelling went down, he got muscles, and I started riding him. The owner told me that he would rip any blanket to shreds, but what I knew was that stallions often will not tolerate stuff with the scent of other horses on them. So I just bought him new stuff and new gloves for me to use with him and he never ripped one single thing up!

He was the most fun horse to ride...very smooth, powerful and elastic all at the same time. He could feel you think, and he became a very forward thinking horse.

Unfortunately Tony developed a bad case of EPM. He started falling. So I treated him with two rounds of Marquis, rehabbed him for a year, but he was never quite right. Eventually he had a stroke and could not function or remember where he was. A very sad time.

He is buried up by the arena.

05/07/2026

# 39 Freidrich

I first saw Freidrich in a for sale add. He had Vanda's stallion lines in his breeding. He had Both Pregelstrand and Mozart in his pedigree, so I attempted to buy him. I missed getting him and later he came up for sale again by the new owners. I called and set up a vetting. He had some issues, and I found out later that he had failed several vettings already, but never for the same reasons.

The owner was very nice about it, and I told her my history with his relatives, but I couldn't pay a bunch in light of his vetting, but I would be happy to have him retire here with me if she needed a place for him to go. And her new horse was coming, she needed his expensive stall for the new horse.

It turned out that it was more beneficial for her to take a loss on him, give him to me and continue her daughter's riding career with the new horse. I was pretty ecstatic to have him arrive. I worked on getting his stall all ready, right across the hall from Murino, another Mozart bred Trakehner given to me. My little three stall barn was full of big beautiful free horses with issues. I was so happy to have those guys and work with them for the rest of their lives.

Freidrich arrived and calmly and I could see he was a really wonderful horse. He was lacking muscle when he arrived, but looked pretty sound. We spent that day watching each other and exploring the farm on a lead. I called Falk Peter to tell him that I had a new horse. I signed him up for Falks next clinic in a month.

My first ride on Freidrich was at the clinic. My good friend, Starla, was there too. Freidrich had put on some muscle that month and looked a lot different than when he arrived, but he was still needing more fitness and time. My work in the clinic was to test him out, test the buttons, see how he felt to ride, and come up with a plan.

I had seen some stiffness in Freidrich's left front, and he really leaned over to the left on the lunge. It really showed up when I rode him. Falk chuckled and said "that is why he wasn't $100 thousand dollars!" So, I had three really nice horses that can use some help and be nice little rides for me. I could not have been happier. Falk had big ideas, but I was just happy to live with the horses and not get caught up in the showing crowd again.

I knew that I would never sell my three freebies. I knew that they had already been thought of as not good enough, but for me at that stage of my life, they were perfect! I was able to pay my karmic debt to those horses that carried the blood of horses that I owed everything to, even my farm. So I was going to give them a show home without the stress of showing. I was happy. I had a family of relatives.

All I ever wanted to do was make horses better, happier, and proud of themselves. I wanted to ride wonderful horses, beautiful horses, and every move I made led me here. I had showed these guys fathers, and I would take care of their sons.

I learned so much from rehabbing those three beautiful creatures. The twenty years of taking horses back really made sense of my life path. Yes, I loved to show. No, I didn't like having to work on sponsored schedules. I had always wanted shows to be more of a celebration of horses and less of a competition. And now, I could live that life. I was the owner, I set the rules.. and they were very simple... treat horses as champions without having anyone else to declare it at a show. And I never had to pass these horses along. They never had to earn their way by anything other than being here.