Cara Klothe Dressage

07/20/2026

Sometimes winning has nothing to do with the show ring. Sometimes it’s about picking the path that gives the horse the best life, even if this doesn’t line up with your goals.

In different situations this can look different. It could be selling a horse to a home that’s more suited, changing a horses discipline or even retiring a horse to a field.

This last option was my reality earlier this year. Shavane, a horse I have loved from the time he was a young horse, told me it was time for a change. We never were able to keep him quite comfortable under saddle and living out his life with other horses in a field seemed the best option.

One small problem— Shavane had been a breeding stallion until the time he was 12. He had little experience with turnout before coming to me and no experience, in his adult life, being turned out with others. This was a hurdle that took some brainstorming.

Luckily my friend Hannah Heritage has a beautiful farm in VA and is very well versed in this. After a little accumulation period, Shavane is living his best, *feral* life, out in a huge field with lots of friends. This cannot make me any happier. I miss seeing his face (it’s the cutest face 🥰) but I know in my heart this is the best life I could give him. I am a huge turnout advocate for all my horses, so being able to give him the gift of just “being a horse” is winning in my book.

03/31/2026

Blood tells…

We have all heard the sayings “Blood Tells” or “You don’t ride the papers”. However, in the case of Dhamia, blood did tell, I DID ride the papers. In her case I had ridden so many horses with close relation to her that when I swung my leg over, it felt like home.

It’s not that she wasn’t an individual, she absolutely is and was treated as such, but almost all of her traits and how she reacted to situations was so familiar, I could tell you what parent, or grand parent, the trait came from, simply because I have had the privilege of riding so many of her relatives over the years.

A little backstory on Dhamia, she is a 2020 GOV mare (Dheputy x Sp. Pr. Qhuiver [Quaterback/Widmark]) bred by Rolling Stone Farm. Her owner, Beth Ann Berwanger bought her as a foal directly from RSF. This was Beth Ann’s first foray into WB’s and she did all the work herself. She started her and taught her how to both ride and drive! She did an excellent job but felt like she needed a little help with the next step, which is when she brought her to me for a little “college education”.

I had a very near and dear relationship to Dhamia. I not only owned and rode her maternal half sister for 10 years, I bred and rode her paternal half brother as well as breaking and riding her mother, and riding her father from the time he was a green broke 3 year old onward. Not to mention that I have ridden probably a dozen other Dheputy offspring over the years as well as a handful of offspring from BOTH of her grand parents. All in all I’d say I have ridden close to 35 horses that had a very close relationship to Dhamia due to my many years as a trainer at Rolling Stone Farm.

So what does that mean? For me it shows the importance of buying horse from very well known lines. If the breeder is advertising a horse, or foal, as the best riding horse there is, but no data on the mareline ever being ridden or producing riding horses, its a big old red flag! Buy from breeders who not only have ridden their mares (performance tested at the very least) but have generations of mares that have been ridden and producing good ridable horses. This is not to say that new breeder is not a good resource to buy from, but even new breeders can go find mares that have a history of being riding horses or come from a long line of mares producing riding horses. Both buyers and breeders need to be responsible for doing their homework to help produce the most ridable, soundest horses we can.

I realize not everyone has had the opportunity, like me, to sit on so many bloodlines, and even better multiple horses from certain stallions and mares lines, but find people who do have the experience of riding what you are looking to buy and take what they have to say on the bloodlines into consideration, because blood does tell. If you are an amateur looking for a nice horse to ride yourself don’t buy from lines known for producing hot, professional quality horses. I guarantee no matter how well they move you would have been happier and more comfortable riding something with smaller gaits and a calmer mind.

I also hope breeders will take into consideration what riders and trainers have to say as well. I think we are at a presuppose with current breeding practices, but that’s a post for another day…..maybe 🤪

The Distinguished Rider
saddles

02/11/2026

Forward is your friend! I think Lauren makes a great point about how their behavior on the ground leads to the saddle. Keeping a horse “in front of the aids” on the ground is a place every single person can start and work on.

The number one most dangerous thing a horse can be is behind the leg. This includes being behind the forward aid from the ground; horses who are sulky to lead or want to walk behind the rider have any number of life-threatening tricks they can pull from being behind the aids. And of course there are any number of physical reasons why a horse might be sour to the leg or unwilling to go forward, but it is imperative that a horse learns - first and foremost! - to go like hell from driving pressure. We joke-not-joke around here that we’ll slow them down when they’re 8. (Maybe.)

And that’s forward, by the way. Not fast. Fast isn’t forward. I know plenty of horses who go fast behind the leg, and piaffe or canter pirouettes are forward. In order to be safe, a horse has to accept the driving aid with a smile. If he doesn’t, he’s not properly backed yet. The kindest thing to do for your horse’s long term safety and security is to make sure they go forward when they’re told, both under saddle and in-hand.

01/26/2026

Sharing this again as it’s very poignant this week.

01/13/2026

Be nice!

Remember the old adage “you can’t judge someone until you walk a mile in their shoes.”? Perhaps more fitting for this post is, “rode in their tall boots”. Just like finding a perfect tall boot (if you have The Distinguished Rider in your back pocket that particularl problem is much easier 😉) the “dressage journey” is a personal one.

When you audit a clinic, watch another rider —be it in warm up or a test; it can be easy to judge, but you don’t know that rider’s journey. You don’t know what baggage they carry or what history they have with that horse.

If you watch a rider and feel inclined to say something, just be positive. You don’t need to add a qualifier to the statement. Such as:

“So and So is really moving great, for a *insert breed here*”. You can just say “Wow, their trot has really developed!”

“That was really a great ride, except for that left half pass.” I guarantee you they KNOW the left half pass wasn’t good, you saying so isn’t going to fix it.

“What a nice horse, it’s too bad the canter transition is such a struggle.” Again, the rider knows!

With all of these examples though remember, you haven’t been on that journey with them. Maybe that non-traditional horse is what that rider needed to feel safe. Developing horses to be better athletes is what dressage is all about.

Perhaps the left half pass is hard because that rider had chronic pain and the left side has been compromised. You don’t know!! Sometimes just being able to ride could be an huge achievement.

The horse with a tricky canter transition, you didn’t ride it as a 3 year old when it got tangled in the legs in that transition and would fall. You don’t have the baggage of that.

I get how easy it is to judge. As a trainer and judge it’s my job to look for weaknesses and try to improve on them. However when I watch people I don’t know, and im not being paid to jude or train them, I try to shut the judgement off, because I don’t know what they have gone through to get here and, frankly, it’s none of my business!

Stick to your own journey; respect and support your fellow riders, without adding qualifiers, make dressage a positive and safe place for people no matter what baggage they bring into the ring.

05/14/2025

Super fun KWPN mare (Sir Sinclair x Bergamon) 8 weeks under saddle!

04/05/2025

Just keep showing up!

Dressage doesn't demand perfection. It demands perseverance.

This sport will humble you. Confuse you. Occasionally betray you. You’ll ride one day like a future team rider, and the next like someone who just discovered horses exist.

But here’s the thing: the ones who make it aren’t the flashiest or the most naturally gifted. They’re the ones who keep showing up. Who ride through the mental spirals, the sticky transitions, the “why do I do this to myself” days.

The quiet, gritty ones? They’re the real ones.
Because dressage doesn’t w**d out the weak, it builds the strong.

Keep going. You’re probably doing better than you think.