Across The Diagonal Farm

05/11/2026

Four of the five buckskin Lusitano’s I imported sometime ago are now all sold…. And now everybody wants a buckskin.!
Remember a good horse has no color but it doesn’t hurt lol……

04/27/2026

ADRENALINE rush !!!

The moment I really understood the true necessity of dressage movements and effective riding LOL.
Bloodless bullfighting they use Velcro… they don’t really kill the bull.
But the Bull can still savage the horse and rider😳

The day after the IDOC judges seminar in Seville ..and
After a wonderful morning at the Spanish riding school in Jerez, Spain
I was one of three judges that chose to ride ,when offered the opportunity at Alvero Domeq’s Hacienda.
Carpe Diem … but I’m not sure I would do that again!

04/27/2026

04/22/2026

Student Teri Byron has been working hard, learning the intricacies of dressage. Here she is performing piaffe on Diva, for the first time without assistance. (Jennifer was filming one-handed due to her recent shoulder surgery, so apologies for the wonky video, but have a listen to the commentary!)

04/21/2026

A very good article.
Today people are bombarded by social media advertisements .
 Often trainers look shiny and glam, but look at their horse’s eyes and behavior…..are they trained in a compassionate horse friendly way or front to back yank and s***k ….Beware of going down that dark road!

Finding a dressage trainer shouldn’t feel like a guessing game, but for a lot of riders, it does.

Just because someone rides better than you, competes at a higher level, or has ribbons on the wall doesn’t mean they can teach you how to get there.

And in a sport with no universal licensing system, figuring out who actually understands the systematic approach to dressage (and who doesn’t) can be incredibly difficult when you’re still learning yourself.

So how do you tell the difference between:
👉 A rider
👉 An instructor
👉 A coach
👉 A judge
👉 And an actual trainer who can develop both horse and rider?

This week’s Training in the Right Way dives into exactly that and lays out the red flags, green lights, and non-negotiables you should be looking for before you ever enter someone’s program.

Because the wrong trainer doesn’t just slow your progress, they can undo it.

🔗 Read the full article here: https://loom.ly/H0sqdUc

Let us know!
What’s the #1 thing you look for in a trainer? Or what’s a red flag you learned the hard way?

04/18/2026

Former working student Beth Bello is spending time at Across the Diagonal Farm helping out as Jennifer recovers from rotator cuff surgery. Here she is riding Badaro, owned by Anne Conover, in a lesson outside the arena on a beautiful spring day here in NC.

While Jennifer is sidelined from riding and judging, (one-armed travel is too tricky!), her calendar is wide open for teaching! Get in touch to schedule a lesson on your horse or one of our schoolmasters.

04/18/2026

Available for the 2026 breeding season: Frozen semen from Lipizzan stallion Maestoso XLIV-17.

🦄 Olympic dressage rider Lisa Wilcox called him "The best-moving Lipizzan I've ever seen".
🦄Austrian Grand Prix master and coach Guenther Zack called him "The perfect combination of the Baroque and modern sport horse."
🦄 Atjan Hop said, "He is descended from, in my opinion, the best Maestoso branch there is at this moment. His sire, Maestoso XLIV, delivers only good progeny. The branch leads back to the Slovakian stud, Topolcianki, which is one of the heirs to the imperial breed of the former court Stud Lipizza."

Available through longtime Lipizzan breeder and USEF 'S' judge Jennifer Roth at Across the Diagonal Farm in Rutherfordton, NC, USA

02/01/2026

It was a fabulous seminar!

Approximately 80 active participants attended the FEI Dressage Judges Seminar held in Frankfurt on 18 - 20 December 2025. The programme covered a wide range of topics, and participation was highly engaged, with lively and high-level discussions throughout.

07/21/2025

Three weeks of a working student/dressage "bootcamp" with Jennifer Roth for Emily Grosserhode, 15, who lives in NJ and was visiting for the summer, was capped off with a successful schooling show at FENCE in Tryon. In her first dressage show, Emily and Badaro, a Lusitano gelding owned by Ann C., placed 1st with 77% in Intro Test C, and second in both Training tests 1 and 2 with over 71%, just one point away from the professionals! She also had the highest percentage score of the day after converting the Intro test to a percentage - not bad for a kid who doesn't own a horse of her own!

Live Scores: https://evententries.com/ ==

Thank you Ann for so generously lending Badaro so that Emily could have such a great learning experience.

Photos: Heintzberger Media