I am moving to Washington DC area in the fall and looking for a dressage barn/trainer in the area. Horse is a nice first level guy but on the move up the levels, 15.3 hh. Requirements are : daily turnout min 6 hrs, possibility of a full time training program for the horse by an experienced trainer or assistant trainer, good footing, nice facility. Barn location not important at this point. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Location will become really important very quickly. Traffic in this area is a nightmare, so if at all possible, you’ll want to try and coordinate work/life/horse as well as you can. What general area of DC will you be living/working? That would make a difference in suggestion MD versus VA barns, or places on the east versus west side of town. There are good options in all of them, it’s just silly to suggest a barn in Bowie to someone going to AU, or a trainer in Gaithersburg/Germantown to someone working at the Naval Yard.
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I agree about location. It may not matter now, but it will as soon as you move here! Depending on where you ultimately end up, it may be more prudent for you to only look at barns in MD, or only in VA. I know next to nothing about barns in MD, but if you’re looking in VA and you’re going to be living in the Northern VA area, you’re probably looking at a roughly 30-45 minute drive MINIMUM for the type of program you want. Longer if you’re driving from DC, and even longer with traffic. I always recommend Sprieser Sporthorses, but it can be quite a haul from DC! You don’t mention price either, but that was a big motivator for me as well.
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How far are you willing to drive and how much are you willing to spend? Those are 2 big questions in the DC area!
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I am almost willing to find a place to live within an hours drive from a barn I like (and an hour-two hours from DC) - thats why Im open to suggestions both VA and MD. I know that good training and a nice facility (does not have to fancy) comes with a price tag. I guess mid- to upper range price level would give me what Im looking for. Turn out and training most important factors. And a kind and educated trainer of course 
And thanks for replying
I would suggest for the Maryland side to obtain a copy of the Equiery (they are on-line as well) and check out barns in the Germantown/Boyds/Poolesville area. Several good trainers in those areas, visit several to see what would work best for you and your horse. Welcome
If you are going to be in DC proper, or even Arlington and Alexandria, Montgomery and PG counties in MD are your better bet.
If you want to look on the Montgomery County side in MD, you have a ton of choices with in an hour-ish (in good traffic). Wyndham Oaks, Barbara Strawson, Hillary Moore Herbert, a couple of mainly Eventing barns that also have dressage riders (Bascule, Southwind, Greystone). There’s a few a little farther afield on that side, too, towards Frederick/Mt Airy (like By Chance or Playland). On the east side of DC, Aviva Nebesky is in Bowie (I ride with her occasionally and really like how she teaches), farther out is Linda Zang, Chesapeake Dressage in Annapolis, a few south of here that might be over an hour from DC even in good traffic (Exalt, Bluebird).
You might want to check out both The Equiery’s boarding information mentioned above, and the PVDA (local GMO) site for trainer/barn ideas. Quite a few of the facilities hosting shows are training/boarding barns.
A lot of your decision will really come down to where you need to get to in DC for work, and how much flexibility your schedule has. I lived on the Arlington/Fairfax line for years and commuted up to Damascus to ride, but I was working very off hours. I now live in Annapolis and keep my horse nearby, and commute in to work, at slightly less irregular hours. And plan for it to take at least an hour to get anywhere between 7AM and 8PM :lol:
“Mid-to upper price range” meaning what? Board around DC (like most large metro areas) is pretty pricey depending where you’re coming from. Recommend you better define your price range, as well as where you’re looking to live and work in the DC area. Knowing those three things helps folks better narrow things down, because in DC it’s all about traffic patterns. It’s not always a simple matter of driving radius.
If you want independent research, look on VirginiaEquestrian.com (VA) and Equiery.com (MD).
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Thank you everybody - this gives me ideas to start my search once Im there in October.
