Dressage coaching near Rockville, MD?

[Feathered_Feet]

I know there are lots of threads along these lines, and I have read and learned from them! Given that this is such a helpful community, I’m hoping for more specific assistance for my transition to the East Coast.

I’ll be moving from Southern California to the DC area sometime in the next few months (August-ish). I’m looking for a barn with excellent dressage instruction, ideally within 40 min to Rockville, as we will be living in Rockville (I’ll be looking for pharma/FDA jobs, so I will be working in the area, too). My needs are simple:

• an indoor arena for winter
• excellent dressage coaching
• Budget is ~ $800/month (but the cheaper the better :winkgrin:!)

I have competed up to Prix St Georges myself (schooled through Grand Prix), though my current mare is just starting to school third level (though our goals are ultimately grand prix). As such, I'm looking for someone with experience competing through GP (even if not recent or an active competitor), and experience bringing along a younger horse (i.e., can put changes on, etc.). I'm not necessarily looking for [I]full[/I] training, as I like to do the riding myself (assuming I can ride 4-5x per week), but I [B]am[/B] looking for lessons at least once, maybe sometimes twice a week. There might be times where I would like a trainer to ride once or twice for me during the week (if I'm out of town, etc.), but that's not mandatory. I've read some things about barns closing at 9pm or so, which might make it difficult for me to ride after work, so that's less than ideal, but maybe not a deal-breaker.

I’d love a casual barn that shows regularly, but I’d be ok showing on my own, too. I could also be ok with a barn that has brings in an excellent trainer once a week.

I should also add that I know nothing about having horses in snow. Could the mare live in field board and stay clipped over winter, provided she’s rugged up enough, or is it just too cold to clip if they live out? Given that I like to ride/train year round, I think I would need to have her clipped for winter. I know some of the best trainers leave for the winter. That would be less than ideal, but I’m sure I could live with that if everything else was perfect.

I do already have a list of places I will look into, but want to see if I’m missing anything, or if anyone has any feedback about area trainers. It looks like I have some great options in the area, but, as I said, I know nothing of the area or keeping horses in snow, so I don’t know what I don’t know!

Thanks in advance for any advice/help!

[Libby2563]

Field board at Wyndham Oaks is within your budget (stall board not quite). The field board horses get good care and quality hay in the winter. Blankets are checked/changed twice a day and I have seen clipped field board horses there. There’s an indoor, two outdoors, and a handful of trainers (my pick would be Becky Langwost, though she’s only there a couple days a week). There are also really nice trails, if that’s a consideration! It’s not a bad drive from Rockville.

[JenEM]

I was at Southwind in Damascus for many years and was very happy there. Carolyn Del Grosso has her horses there, and both Barbara Strawson and Becky Langwost come in for lessons, so you’d have several options there that might work for you on the training front. It’s a mixed-discipline barn, primarily eventers and dressage riders when I was there (I left two years ago due to moving to the other side of DC), and a very friendly group. Indoor, two outdoors, a PVDA schooling show in the spring. Should be within your budget for stall board. Commute time to Rockville should be under 40 minutes, but around here, that is HEAVILY traffic dependent.

[asterix]

I would third the recommendation of Becky Langwost, either at Southwind or Wyndham Oaks. As far as field board goes, I’ve kept horses on field board here for more than 10 years. Entirely doable as long as there is adequate hay and your horse is not a hard keeper. Mine are easy keepers and do fine outside. I clip, but a strip clip or minimal trace clip is sufficient even for substantial work (we did a high trace on one horse this winter who was foxhunting a lot). With a strip or small trace, I will use a rain sheet if raining/sleeting between 32-50. Naked above 32 if dry. Lightweight (100g) for 20s. Medium (200g) for teens and single digits, which is only occasional here.

[egood]

I’ve heard good things about Hilary Moore Hebert. She’s in Germantown, about 20-30 mins from Rockville.

[anon68314200]

@JenEM

I was at Southwind in Damascus for many years and was very happy there. Carolyn Del Grosso has her horses there, and both Barbara Strawson and Becky Langwost come in for lessons, so you’d have several options there that might work for you on the training front. It’s a mixed-discipline barn, primarily eventers and dressage riders when I was there (I left two years ago due to moving to the other side of DC), and a very friendly group. Indoor, two outdoors, a PVDA schooling show in the spring. Should be within your budget for stall board. Commute time to Rockville should be under 40 minutes, but around here, that is HEAVILY traffic dependent.

Barbara Strawson is excellent!!

[Feathered_Feet]

Thank you everyone for the replies! I’m definitely leaning towards Becky Langwost - she has all the credentials on paper. Nice to see she teaches at other facilities, so it appears there are options! And good to know about field board. The mare is a fairly easy keeper (even in hard work), and I think she would love to live out, so that sounds like a viable option.

[asterix]

I’ll give you a radical idea then…Waredaca, where I board, has spectacular field board. 70 acres with 20 horses, terrific staff, trail riding for days, 2 outdoor rings and an indoor. Depending on your schedule you may find indoor access in winter less than ideal as they also have a lesson program, but Becky comes twice a month…