I’m interested in taking dressage lessons with a trainer that has school horses and is within 1 hr driving distance from downtown Seattle on weekends (which gives you a little more mileage than rush hour, ha!). A little background if it helps: I have no dressage experience, however I have ridden a couple of upper level horses and liked it!! I’m a decent rider that rode for years but am out of practice. More interested in a barn that has potential growth to be regionally competitive in the long run, but not a huge deal. Any suggestions?
The lack of school horses is such a problem in the dressage world! I wish more trainers would/could have some school horses, because I think there are a lot of people in your shoes and it would be great for growing our sport.
Some suggestions for you:
http://www.meadowridgetraining.com/ advertises school horses, even a mid/upper level horses (I used to know one of the school horses, who is a fantastic horse, other than that I know nothing about the farm or trainer. But it sounds like it could be a good opportunity!)
https://www.bearcreekdressage.com/ also mentions school horses. I have a friend who boards there and really likes it, other than that I don’t know much about the program.
Kathryn Christensen and Kim Mitchell both used to have school horses, not sure their current status. Both are well connected to a show barn.
Gold Creek Equestrian Center has a large school horse program. I think there may be a dressage trainer there - might be worth calling to find out if there’s any opportunities.
Sent you a PM
Jesse Sommerville is in the Maltby area just north of Woodinville. I currently ride with her and love her - we’ve made huge progress this spring/summer since I started working with her. She has a really nice bunch of people at her barn as well. I highly recommend her and one of her school horses happens to be my old PSG horse - she has him on lease. I might be biased but I highly recommend him too 
LOL
Leigh Cochran is at Bear Creek and I believe she still has a couple of school horses. I rode with her once and liked her. Jennifer O’Brien also has a couple I believe.
