Qualia Dressage LLC

09/16/2023

We had a great weekend at Dressage at Stone Tavern!

Jessie Ginsburg and her amazing partner Vodermus earned their Grand Prix Freestyle scores to finish Jessie’s Gold Bar for freestyles, which also earned Jessie the Diamond Achievement Award for riders who have earned all of the USDF medals and bars. So incredibly proud of this special team! ❤️

Sierra Stewart did her first Second Level tests with her super boy Furst of All, earning scores towards her Bronze Medal up to 65%, along with blue and red ribbons. So rewarding to see these two developing such a great partnership.

My wonderful Hans made his I-2 debut with scores of 65, 66, and 68%, in my first show back since having major shoulder surgery yet again in January. He hadn’t shown since August of last year, and I hadn’t shown since October. Very proud of my special boy who is feeling more and more like a Grand Prix horse each week.

05/27/2023

Congratulations to Grace Lotsikas on her Reserve Champion finish both days at the MADFest CDIJ with my Wachenheim. This was only Grace’s second show at this level, and her first CDI ever. While “Waki” is very experienced at this level, he definitely doesn’t give it away for free! After some nerves in the Team test, Grace rode a great Individual test, finishing second by less than .10. So fun to watch my boy teaching the next generation, and looking amazing at 19. Great job, Grace!

05/27/2023

Show season is in full swing! We started the year off at Loch Moy at the end of April, where Cassidy Hageman piloted Christine Langlois-Poirier’s Sven fan ‘e Goëngamieden to a second and fifth place in large First Level classes. Sven hadn’t shown for a year and a half, but he was a perfect gentleman despite some nerves.

Next up was First Chance at Dressage, By Chance? Cassidy Hageman rode Rhonda VanLowe’s Escritor HGF to a blue ribbon at 2-1 on a 64%.

We hit the PVDA Spring Show at the beginning of May. Christine took the reins on Sven this time, earning a 66% in 1-1 for her first score towards her Bronze Medal and first place!

Cassidy Hageman tactfully rode a nervous Escritor HGF to a first and second place at 2-2, with scores to 62%.

Jessie Ginsburg and Vodermus debuted their GP freestyle, earning second place and just under 65%.

Grace Lotsikas rode my Wachenheim in the FEI Junior tests, scoring up to 64% and earning 3rd and 4th place, with lots of room to go up.

I also got to watch Alex Robertson skillfully pilot my five year old, Hesselhøj Vamilja, in the FEI 5 Year Old test. Alex is riding “Milja” while I continue recovering from my shoulder surgery. She looked amazing, happy and confident. Huge thank you to Alex for doing such a wonderful job with my little pocket rocket! 🚀

05/08/2023

Decided to diversify my business—I am now training cats as well. Inquiries welcome! 🙃🤣

04/15/2023

Qualia Dressage has an opening for a partial or full training horse. Our program focuses on teaching correct equitation and clarity of aids for riders, and developing horses up the levels with thoughtful, systematic training. We have helped students earn USDF Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals and freestyle bars, and earn placings at regional and national championships such as USDF Finals, USEF Young and Developing Horse Championships, USEF Dressage Seat Medal Finals, and NAYC.

Trainer Siobhan Byrne has earned USDF Gold, Silver, Silver Bar, and Bronze medals. She has brought multiple horses up the levels to FEI, and endeavors to create thoughtful riders who understand the choice and application of exercises to improve the horse. She continues to build on her own education through regular work with Jeremy Steinberg and Allison Brock.

We are located at Locks Edge in Poolesville, Maryland. A premier dressage facility, Locks Edge offers extensive turnout, a large, bright indoor with dust-free footing, and numerous other amenities. We have a wonderful, supportive community of passionate dressage riders at all levels.

For more information, visit www.qualiadressage.com and PM or email [email protected].

04/15/2023

Now that she’s had a chance to share the news herself, I want to congratulate my friend and student Jessie Ginsburg on earning both the last scores she needed for her USDF Gold Medal, and to be eligible for the USEF “S” dressage judge training program.

This accomplishment is even more impressive because although I helped Jessie finish Vodie to Grand Prix (he was beautifully trained and competed to the small tour level by his previous trainer, Cathy Echternach), I never showed him for her. Jessie did it all herself, and anyone who has done it knows it’s hard no matter what, and extra hard when you and your horse are both green to that level.

Jessie contributes so much to our local dressage scene, putting in numerous hours of volunteer work, and is so supportive of everyone here at Locks Edge—it’s such a joy to see such a great person achieve her goals, and to be a small part of that. Congratulations, Jessie! 🥳

02/15/2023

I wanted to give a shout out to the amazing . I had major shoulder surgery two weeks ago, and this lady has busted her butt riding horses and teaching my clients. It’s a huge weight off of me to be able to step back and take some time to feel better, and know that my horses and people are in good hands. It makes a very stressful situation so much more manageable. Thank you Cassidy, for all that you do for me—I could not do this without you.

02/09/2023

Fun memories of flying with Waki at Tryon in 2019.
📸: .malmgren

01/16/2023

Self-carriage lies at the very heart of ethical horse training. It is all about training the horse to continue to offer cued responses without any further signalling from the rider. In other words, to keep doing whatever they’re asked to do until signalled otherwise. Of course, this idea does not make much sense because the question arises as to how long should the horse keep doing what you have trained him/her to do? That is where the rider’s seat and the handler’s steps are involved. The rider’s seat and the handler’s steps are the ‘keep going’ signals to continue ‘persistency’ of responses that was mentioned earlier in this text. Horses stay sound for longer when they are trained to maintain self-carriage because they are finding their own balance without support of the reins and because they are not subject to constant nagging pressures.

Self-carriage means that the horse maintains balance, speed, direction and posture without help from the rider/handler. Therefore, if the rider lets the reins go loose or takes their legs away from the horse for a stride or two, the horse should continue to travel at the same speed, on the same line and with the same head carriage. Although the term ‘self-carriage’ usually refers to the sport of dressage in walk, trot and canter, it also refers to any speed including the gallop and any horse activity.

This is an excerpt from 'Modern Horse Training: Equitation Science Principles & Practice, Volume 1', available on our website: https://esi-education.com/

01/11/2023

If you have a horse prone to scratches, like my cute friend with three white socks here, I highly recommend products . Hans has extremely sensitive skin, and is very prone to scratches. Last year, I struggled to keep them in check despite trying everything in my arsenal—keeping legs clipped, chlorhexidine, stints on antibiotics, and other topical treatments—including ones that have usually been successful for me. recommended I try Medica Equine, and the treatment wash and salve did an amazing job of clearing his legs up entirely. If you are struggling with skin issues, check this line of products out.

01/06/2023

A little dreaming for .
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12/23/2022

Grateful for the amazing people we have here at the Locks Edge. They got me a set of these beautiful director’s chairs with my logo on them for Xmas (I guess no one showing with us was impressed with my $10 chairs from Target 😂). I’m so lucky to have an incredible group of kind, generous people here at the farm. ❤️

12/15/2022

Waki doing his first I-2 in 2018 for . Always such a photogenic boy. 🖤
📸: .malmgren

11/13/2022

Now, for a belated report on the VADA Fall Show/Region 1 Finals in October.

Congratulations to Lucy Tidd on a win in the GP AA championship, and top placing AA in the GP Freestyle.

Grace Lotsikas was 6th in the Jr/YR Second Level championship on my Wachenheim—they had amazing trot work, but unfortunately Waki decided that he needed to spice things up with some piaffe and flying changes in the walk and canter tours. 🤪 Grace did a great job riding tactfully on my (as the judge commented) “talented but spicy boy”!

Sierra Stewart’s Furst of All and I did his first Second Level tests. He got a bit overwhelmed in the coliseum on Thursday, but came back strong Friday and Saturday, with scores of 70 and 71%.

Last but certainly not least, Jessie Ginsburg earned her first Gold Medal score at GP on her Vodermus. Incredibly proud of this team. ❤️

10/30/2022

Just another spectacular fall morning in the Lock’s Edge driveway. So lucky to be able to work in this special place. 🍂🍁

09/19/2022

“If you look at any field, whether it’s in business or sports, the best of the best all have one thing in common: they are students and always learning. If you are a good student you will never truly ‘lose’ a competition. One of two things will happen when that competition is over: either you’ve won or you’ve learned something, and if you’ve learned, you haven’t lost. You need to always have that mindset because success tends not to be a great teacher. Failure is a much better teacher. Accepting and utilizing that is a quality of a good student.” - Ian Millar
📸:

09/12/2022

Little Milja was a rock star for her first field trip! Huge thank you to Cassidy Hageman for giving her such a confidence-building experience—it’s so important for the youngsters. Really excited about this little mare, and can’t wait to get her in the show ring next year.

09/08/2022

That face! Sweet Vamilja (Vitalis x Sir Donnerhall II). 🥰

09/02/2022

Playing catch up on some show results! We had a super successful show at Dressage, By Chance? at the end of July. Rhonda VanLowe’s Escritor HGF was High Score Second Level on Saturday—really proud of this boy for his good effort after being out of the show ring for a year.

Sierra Stewart’s Furst of All was a superstar, winning First Level Test 2 with a career high score for me of 80.286%. 🤯
He was First Level High Score, and Professional High Score of the show.

Huge thank you to Rhonda and Sierra, for allowing me to show their super horses! And thanks Michele and team for a wonderful show, as always.

Photos 📸: InFocus by Bruce

08/29/2022

We had an amazing time at Festival of Champions. Qualifying was my stretch goal for this year, and to be honest I didn’t think we would. But we did, and it was such an honor just to be there. I’m so proud of Hans for handling the electric atmosphere so well. It was a wonderful learning experience for both of us. This was our last show for the year—time to focus on finishing the Grand Prix work.

Huge thank you to Ali Brock for coaching, and for the amazing lesson. As always, thank you to my long time coach Jeremy Steinberg (Jeremy Steinberg Dressage) for all your help developing Hans.

Cassidy Hageman was a wonderful groom and travel buddy. Thank you for giving sweet Hansi so much love.

Thank you to everyone who helps keep Hansi feeling good—body workers Rebecca Douglass and Courtney Molino, farrier Kevin Oyarzo, vet Dr. Lewis, and saddle fitters/sponsors Cate & Theresa - Maryland Certified Saddle Fitters and Custom Saddlery.

So many people took the time to call me or send me supportive messages—it made my week, thank you.

Photos by the amazing SusanJStickle.com Equestrian Photography & Design Services

08/23/2022

Lamplight photo dump part 1!

08/22/2022

Beautiful morning for a jog! We’re accepted and ready to compete this afternoon.

07/28/2022

So proud of this amazing horse for qualifying for the USEF I-1 National Championship at Festival of Champions in August. Chicago here we come!

07/18/2022

Dressage at Lexington is always one of my favorite shows of the year, and we had a great showing! Thank you VADA, Bettina and everyone involved in putting on such a big show—great job as always. I wasn’t entirely convinced I was going to be able to ride at this show—I got COVID a couple of weeks ago, and it really hit me hard. I wasn’t able to do much riding until Tuesday of this week.

Sierra Stewart’s Furst of All was a rock star, winning both of his classes on a 70% and 72%, and winning First Level High Score for Saturday.

Grace Lotsikas did her first show with my Wachenheim and did a super job, winning 4 out of 5 classes (second in the fifth class) with scores up to 67% at Second Level. They were also Second Level Reserve Champion in the SHAC.

Lucy Tidd was Reserve Champion in the GP Challenge, and fourth in the FEI Musical Freestyle Challenge.

My Hans won his FEI Musical Freestyle class on Friday on just under 70%, I scratched him from his other class and we had a nice schooling ride instead.

Jessie Ginsburg and Vodie had great schooling session on Saturday, chipping away at the GP work.

Huge thanks as always to my sponsors Custom Saddlery / Cate & Theresa - Maryland Certified Saddle Fitters

Last but not ever least, immense gratitude to the amazing Cassidy Hageman who kept everyone going at home, doing her usual wonderful job. She also busted her butt keeping everyone going while I was out sick for six days with COVID. I could not do this without her!

06/29/2022

It looked like a photo shoot in the arena today! 👯‍♀️

05/27/2022

“Success is a label that the world confers on you, but mastery is an ever-onward 'almost.'” - Sarah Lewis, The Rise 📸:

05/22/2022

Thank you SusanJStickle.com Equestrian Photography & Design Services for these beautiful photos of Hans competing in the inaugural CDI Lexington this weekend. We were second in both the PSG and I-1, with scores of nearly 68% in both. Especially proud of his I-1 test, as this was only his third time competing at that level. Lots to clean up to earn higher scores, but I couldn’t be prouder of him. This was a really busy, electric environment (there was a hunter/jumper show running concurrently), and he focused so well. Such a good boy. 🖤

Huge thank you to my sponsors Custom Saddlery Cate & Theresa - Maryland Certified Saddle Fitters.

05/06/2022

Pretty jazzed to run my first road race in close to ten years. A series of injuries have constantly set me back (e.g.: shoulder surgery 2014 x2, 2018, 2020, 2022, and hip surgery in 2016 and 2019), so I haven’t stayed sound enough to train and complete a race at any distance, much less this distance (half marathon). But I did it! And I even crushed my goal of running under two hours, completing in 1:52:37–a personal best for me, beating out the 1:53:36 I ran ten years ago. I’m for sure no elite runner, but I love the physical and mental challenge of running.

04/29/2022

Congratulations to Cassidy Hageman on a great start to the show season with Waki! First place in 3-3 and Third Level High Score. Thanks for riding my boy so well, Cassidy!

04/27/2022

Great start to the season last weekend at Loch Moy! Hans was a rock star Saturday in the Prix St. Georges, winning the class and High Score PSG with a 71.765%. 🖤 Sunday he became slightly unhinged by the cross country clinic going on at the showgrounds, but still managed nearly a 66% in his first go at I-1. Huge thank you to Cassidy Hageman for all of her help over the weekend!

04/26/2022

“'You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.”
- The Velveteen Rabbit
Happy 29th birthday to my Mouse. 23 years together. So many fun memories. I love seeing you so happy in retired life. 🐭💕

02/19/2022

A good reminder at the end of what was a tough week for me personally. Horses can really break your heart sometimes. 💔

Mikalea Shiffrin with a powerful message after a disappointing Olympics ❤️

(via Mikaela Shiffrin/IG)

02/14/2022

Today, my sweet Ghosty would have turned 27. Hard to believe he has been gone for almost 7 years now. These photos by Bob Langrish do such a good job of capturing his soulful eyes. 🤍

02/09/2022

Super clinic with Jeremy Steinberg last weekend. Hans felt amazing! We’ll probably stay at the small tour level this year to continue gaining confidence and rideability in the ring, but Grand Prix is getting closer. 🖤

01/31/2022

Proud and honored to be a part of this special team’s story. ❤️

Congratulations to our 2021 CDCTA Award Winners!

Jessie Ginsburg and Vodermus
Champion – Musical Freestyle
Reserve Champion – Intermediare I
Reserve Champion – Intermediare II

"Gratitude. In 2021, I was grateful that Vodie and I were both sound and healthy all year. Vodie, at 19-years-old just keeps getting better and makes every ride a joy."

Pics of You photo.

01/14/2022

Fun memories of showing my wonderful Waki in the Grand Prix at Tryon a few years ago for . Love this special boy so much. 🖤 📸: .malmgren

01/12/2022

I donated a lesson to PVDA’s silent auction. If you’ve considered trying a lesson with me, here’s your chance to do that, and support PVDA at the same time.

Auction item 'Lesson with Siobhan Byrne' hosted online at 32auctions.

01/12/2022

So proud of Jessie Ginsburg for receiving this grant! I can’t think of a more deserving person. Jessie gives so much to our local dressage community, in addition to being an all-around great person. ❤️

Region 1: Jessie Ginsburg (VA): "I am so grateful to The Dressage Foundation for awarding me a Gifted Memorial Fund grant, which is particularly special to me as I remember watching Carol Lavell and Gifted’s rides at Grand Prix and was so inspired by them. As an amateur with a challenging day job, I greatly appreciate the Gifted Fund’s support that will allow me to get some concentrated training and focus exclusively on my riding and my wonderful horse, Vodie, as I prepare to head down centerline for my Grand Prix debut."
Photo provided by Pics of You

01/11/2022

“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” — Earl Nightingale 📸: .malmgren

12/31/2021

We had a fantastic competition year, with several horses and riders from our program ranking in the top 20 in the country with USDF and/or All-Breed Awards. Congratulations to:

Lucy Tidd and Ellert HB:
1st place, KWPN-NA Adult Amateur Grand Prix
8th place, HOY Adult Amateur Grand Prix

Jessie Ginsburg and Vodermus:
11th place, HOY Adult Amateur Intermediate 2

Carol Thomas and Gentle:
2nd place, KWPN-NA Adult Amateur Second Level Freestyle
5th place, KWPN-NA Adult Amateur Third Level Freestyle
6th place, KWPN-NA Adult Amateur Third Level

Siobhan Byrne and Hans:
4th place, Fourth Level Musical Freestyle Challenge
11th place, HOY Open Fourth Level
18th place, HOY Open Fourth Level Freestyle

We also had several riders earn USDF Medals and Freestyle Bars:

Lucy Tidd - Gold Freestyle Bar
Siobhan Byrne - Silver Freestyle Bar
Carol Thomas - Bronze Freestyle Bar
Kathy Curtis - Bronze Medal