Qualia Dressage LLC

02/06/2025

I could not be prouder of these boys! They were rock stars at our first outing of the year at White Fences.

Sierra Stewart’s Furst of All made his FEI debut, and brought his A game for a 67.5% and second place in his first Prix St. Georges. Sierra bought Furstie as a 6 year old almost three years ago, and has stayed the course through the highs and lows of developing a youngster. I can’t wait to see her ride him down the centerline at FEI herself.

Hans and I knocked the dust off with our first go at Grand Prix in three months. Some bobbles kept the score just under 65%, but he is feeling so much stronger and confident in the work. Now we keep working on refining the details! 💪🏻

Huge thank you to my friend .idol for making time to come be my eyes on the ground with Hans. 🩵

10/11/2024

So cool to get to see the northern lights tonight while in Lexington VA for Region 1’s championship show. The trailer parking area on the hill gifted me with some great shots.

07/29/2024

It’s hard to find words to express how proud I am of this wonderful mare. Flanell acted like a seasoned pro in only her second show of her life, and her first time showing off the trailer. I didn’t even take her to the show grounds to school the day before, just hand walked her around the arena for a few minutes during the lunch break on Saturday.

Saturday she had a great ride, scoring 73.6%, earning her second place and Reserve Champion High Score in the Professional division. Today she was able to show more suppleness and power and earned an amazing 77.8% (with a “10” on her stretch circle), earning her first place, Training Level High Score and Professional High Score.

Flanell has had some challenges in her life to get to this point, and I am so proud of the partnership we have developed. She’s the epitome of a mare that will walk through fire for you if she trusts you.

Huge thank you to her owner, Anita Brassart, not only for letting me work with Flanell, but for trusting the process and allowing me to take my time to help her shine the way I know she can. 🩵

07/21/2024

Here’s a chance to get a lesson from me and help out the Region 1 NAYC teams! 🤘🏻

Auction item 'Siobhan Byrne Lesson (MD)' hosted online at 32auctions.

07/18/2024

Dressage at Lexington is always peak summer to me! We had a great time, despite the intense heat.

My wonderful Hans and I keep chipping away at improving the Grand Prix and keeping his emotions in check—apologies to everyone who had to listen to him scream for his girlfriend for our entire schooling session on Thursday. 😂 He won his open GP class on Friday, and was 5th in a close Maestro Cup class on Sunday.

My super girl Hesselhøj Vamilja won the FEI 6 Year Old Prelim and Final tests, with nice comments on her talent for the future, including an “8” on her walk. We still have some work to do on rideability in the ring. 🤪 I also put her in the breed show for fun, and she won her Maiden/Yeld mare class, and was Mare Champion and Mature Horse Champion.

Last but not least, Jessie Ginsburg and Imperador were second in their Third Level class on Friday with a 65%+, and finished 5th overall in the SHAC.

Thanks to VADA and all volunteers for a fabulous show!

06/19/2024

We had a great time at the VADA/NOVA Summer show! I rode Anita Brassart’s lovely mare Flanell 18 to two wins at Training Level, with scores to 71%. This was Flanell’s first show ever, and I am so proud of how far this big girl has come in such a short time. Huge thank you to Anita for allowing me to work with the wonderful “Big Mama”. 🩵

Jessie Ginsburg and her new partner Imperador had their first show together, and it was also “Perry”’s Third Level debut! They put in a solid test for 65% and second place, a great start with plenty of room for higher scores.

06/04/2024

Amen. Water carves a path through stone by quiet repetition.

I read a theory about why so many riders lack a deep command of basics, and it was explained like this---

Correct basics are hard to master because there is an enormous amount of repetition involved, and if someone has tried something hundreds, possibly thousands of times, and still can’t do it, it is easy for the person to conclude that he/she is taking on an impossible challenge.

In his book “Mastery,” George Leonard wrote that on the quest to become good, there will be long stretches of “seeming non-improvement.”

Like watching grass grow, change is happening, but so slowly that it can’t be measured daily, weekly, or even monthly. But at some point, for those who stick with it, “suddenly” they can do things that before they couldn’t do.

The issue is giving up in frustration before putting in those many many many many months of practice.

That is ONE theory. I am sure there are many others, but this one does ring true.

04/22/2024

Extremely proud to say that Hans is officially a Grand Prix horse! He did his first two tests this weekend, with extremely consistent scores of 66.8% and 66.7%, winning his class on Saturday and placing second on Sunday. He did his absolute best for me, and I just love him so much. He definitely earned a few days off, and the giant bag of fancy horse cookies I bought him. 🖤

04/21/2024

When you and your friend are 1st and 2nd in the Grand Prix! 🖤💛🖤💛

04/19/2024

Roundness refers to the arched head, neck and apparent dorsoventrally rounded body posture acquired by the horse in correct dressage training.

It is characterised by self-carriage where the horse has learned to persist in his speed, directional line, and head, neck and body posture without support from the rider.

However, roundness is frequently a forced response where the rider increases tension on the reins until the horse shortens its neck, or uses concurrent rein tension and leg pressures to ‘drive the horse onto the bit’.

Although this is contrary to the tenets of classical and ethical dressage, it provides the illusion of roundness and collection and is known as false collection.

Dressage experts, however, can readily perceive the incorrect outline, where the neck is shortened and the loins are hollow. The result is that the rider’s tight control on the reins to maintain this posture and the incorrect neck and back muscles involved prevent correct development of the topline.

There are significant welfare issues surrounding such training, which manifest in a raft of problems ranging from tension and conflict behaviours to wastage.

In correct training, the horse’s head should be suspended from his withers in self-carriage and the weight in the rider’s hands should be the weight of the reins and a light connection to the lips and tongue of the horse.

Such lightness is the putative goal of Baroque training styles and modern ethical training.

It is imperative that, from the horse’s viewpoint, pain is escapable and controllable, so lightness, of course, is important for the horse at every stage of training, and those methodologies that embrace correct roundness training and constant self-carriage are more correctly aligned with the correct application of learning theory than coercive methods.

📖 'Equitation Science, 2nd Edition', by Uta König von Borstel, Andrew McLean, Paul McGreevy & Janne Winther Christensen.
Visit our website to order the book.

02/11/2024

Loving every minute of my time in Florida with my amazing ponies, and learning so much. 🩵

01/29/2024

We head out tomorrow for 5 weeks in Florida, and the treatment wash and salve from were at the top of the packing list. Hans has very sensitive skin, and is prone to scratches with his three white socks—Medica Equine is the only thing that has worked to clear his legs up.