Local horses earn top awards at North American Online Dressage Championships
CHEBOYGAN COUNTY — Fierte Rosa, a mustang shown by Tim Younglove, and Bella, a Gypsy Cob shown by Kathy Johnson, won top awards in the North American Online Dressage Championships in August.
Rosa and Younglove are the 2023 national western dressage high point champions in the open division. Bella and Johnson won first and second places in classic dressage.
Rosa is a 14-year-old mustang mare, born wild in Wyoming, rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management, and sent to the prison in Canon City to be part of the Wild Horse Inmate Program. Johnson adopted Rosa to help with veterans in equine assisted psychotherapy at Medicine Horse Program in Boulder, Colorado.
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Bella is a 10-year-old Gypsy Vanner mare, a breed developed by the Romani people in Europe as family horses to pull their caravans. Bella is also a former equine therapist from Medicine Horse. She has a one-year-old daughter, Molly Macmillan, the first Gypsy Vanner horse born in Cheboygan.
Both horses followed Johnson, a dressage trainer and former executive director at Medicine Horse, back to Cheboygan when she returned home in 2017.
Younglove, also known as the Michigan Cowboy, is a professional trainer specializing in natural horsemanship and starting young horses. Younglove is also an accomplished farrier who recently moved to Northern Michigan.
Dressage is an Olympic sport where horse and rider seem to dance. Online dressage, a new medium that began in 2017, is a fusion of the 2,000-year-old form of horsemanship and modern online technology.
“Online dressage is the wave of the future and the hope for the masses," Johnson said. "We are 300 miles from any dressage show that would have me. Championships shows can cost over $1,000 a day, with all the associations to join, show fees, classes, stabling, transportation and hotel rooms. It’s not in the budget for most of us. I paid $35 per class in online dressage, and I’m judged by the same level of judges.”
Western dressage is a hybrid sport, first organized around 2010. Western horses are trained in dressage but shown in western tack with the goal of making a better balanced, more athletic western horse.
“I’ve really enjoyed my experience showing western dressage online," said Younglove. "Being able to hone the skills of quality horsemanship with a show team without the traveling costs and time constraints is extremely valuable."
All that is needed to compete in online dressage is a computer, a videographer and a dressage arena. Riders video their rides, upload them to Youtube, complete the entry online and send the links to the show administrator. Ribbons and score sheets are mailed back to the winners.
To see Tim’s western dressage test go to: https://youtu.be/3u1Xfpx01Bs?si=ZQHP4-Ok36MwHV7U
To see Kathy’s classic dressage test go to: https://youtu.be/C1T-qCh8T6A?si=JoOhjOBhKIGsVCZr
To make it into the North American Online Championships, riders must first score a 60 percent or higher at a qualifying show.
“The scoresheets with the judge’s comments, are the most valuable learning tooI for the rider. It’s a process, but we really exceeded our goals in one summer,” Johnson said. “The horses had never shown and Tim never did much dressage before. Bella is a saint and Rosa is a rock star.”
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Local horses earn top awards at North American Online Dressage Championships
