I haven’t seen a print copy of Dressage Today in ages, but their current offer (a buck an issue) is cheap enough that I’m considering giving it a look. Some of the content on the web site looks at least more in-depth that I remember from a while back, but then maybe that’s why it’s on the website. 
So, any thoughts? Worth getting? A nice complement to USDF Connection, or more of the same?
I like it. It is nice to have the printed word and take time with it.
I really value the articles I see on Facebook, and have often thought of subscribing.
I dropped it a few years ago right when that article on Mrs Romney came out. It showed her “posing” by a dressage ring in various high fashion casual outfits. The cost of those casual outfits made my head nearly explode. That was it for me.
If I recall I jumped up from the couch and went on a 10 minute rant at the time. If I had a spare $1000 to spend it wouldn’t be on a stylish Ralph Lauren jacket to pet my horse and pose.
I got tempted by the fb articles a few months ago and re-subscribed. All I can say is…don’t bother. Those are the best bits in it. The rest is high end fluff for rich people with chandeliers in their barn toilets. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Or super gushing stuff about young riders on the way up… nice and all, but no use to me.
The articles are for the most part geared towards the low level folks - the type who would book a holiday in Spain to ride the pretty horses and might spend $600 on a pair of breeches. There is nothing training wise you haven’t read elsewhere - the odd bit of click bait on fb…is the best part of the mag.
I was going to ask for my $ back but decided to let it run it’s course. It’s about 10 min real reading…if that. Pretty pics tho. I was super disappointed.
If anyone CAN recommend a really good dressage mag I’d like to know. There used to be one ages and ages ago with lots of really indepth stuff from classical trainers. Trainers you hadn’t necessarily heard of much, but really masters at their craft. I think it went belly up or got sold. If there’s anything replacing it I’d sure like to know. I want real deep training stuff…not pretty pics and the chance to spend $600 on a pair of riding pants in eggplant purple, and of course, matching horsey jewellery for another $5000. And I haven’t got around to replacing my indoor flourescents with crystal chandeliers yet either. On the to do list.
I understand your gripes with Dressage Today, WVW. I preferred the old Dressage & CT magazine from eons ago. More substance, less of the “fashion magazine/Better Barns & Gardens” aspect. I read the training articles, the training tips, the personal stories of people’s dressage stories, and ignore the artsy fartsy pix of over-the-top fancy barns and Baroque horses with lots of hair. I LOVE the Baroque breeds, so don’t flame me – but I’d rather that ink was dedicated to articles on training or teaching.
That said, Mrs Romney was a face of Dressage, and, with her MS, a face of Para-Dressage – a subject close to my heart. But I agree – is DT a fashion magazine or a dressage publication? Sometimes it’s hard to tell.
Dressage and CT…that was it. Thanks I couldn’t remember. I loved that mag.
Nothing wrong per se with pretty barns that look like shopping malls and we had a baroque horse with a lovely mane ourselves at one time.(love another one) but I don’t want to see it month after month. I would love some real trainers talking real training…not just happy platitudes. Dressage & CT used to have articles that really got into deep stuff and it was fascinating to me.
The only reason I flip through it is that someone else at our barn subscribes and kindly recycles her issues. I sure wouldn’t PAY for it.
Huh. I didn’t even know there was online content.
I used to subscribe regularly for many, many years. Now I subscribe when I get an offer for a buck an issue. To me, it has evolved into “who’s who” of dressage, including their very nice horses, expensive barns, and trips to big shows. While that is nice to look at sometimes, it gets old. I think there is little useful informational content for a) dressage riders on a budget and b) thinking adult riders. There are dressage riders who have nice horses and train but are still on a budget (can’t afford full training, limit their showing, etc.) and who can think through non-dumbed-down training advice for specific issues. Don’t see many articles for these people or even horses anymore. Their recent Jr issue almost made me cancel my dollar-an-issue subscription.
Does anyone know of an alternative publication? I’ve been a long time subscriber too - from back in the days when it was an independent magazine and had some GREAT articles every single issue. My subscription just ran out, and I’ll probably wait for the “$1/issue” deal too - because if I find 1 or 2 good articles/year, it is worth the price. But - like J-Lu, I’m an AA on my own, doing it on my own, taking the occasional lesson, and having a good publication would be SO USEFUL! Something that is realistic for those of us who are not uber-wealthy, and looking for serious content. Anyone have any suggestions? At this point, I find the USDF magazine gives me an occasional article that is actually quite good, and so I look forward to that.
The criticisms are valid, but I don’t know of anything better out there. They often have interesting articles by or about the top riders, and I do like to follow the personalities in the sport - not just the scores. Some of the training articles are good, some are fluff, but that is to be expected. If you really want to read the best about training, you are going to pick up a 400 page book by a master, not a magazine. But sometimes you just want a sound-bite that you can read in 15 minutes, not a major treatise.
Import tax here means I buy it (occasionally) here in Australia for about $15.00 an issue if there’s an article I’m really keen to read. (I know, I know, that’s a bale of lucerne [alfalfa].) But I haven’t seen it recently, even in the really good newsagents. Cutting down on print run? Yes the FB articles are sometimes worth reading. We have a cross-discipline equitation science-oriented magazine here that’s good ‘Horses & People’ published out of Qld. I just got a gig doing a regular column on the horse in art history (which as a dressage riding art historian, I can’t wait to begin!) but I imagine it would be hard to keep a dressage only mag in profit. dd.
I have been a subscriber for many years and if it wasn’t so cheap ($1 an issue)I would have canceled it awhile ago. When my subscription ends I won’t be renewing simply because I’m bored with the same type of articles they churn out year after year and devoting an entire issue to Baroque breeds is of no interest to me. Possibly for a new subscriber or someone new to dressage the articles might be more useful and informative.
Compared to the old Dressage & CT, “Dressage Today” is dumbed down. A lot.
I’ve gotten behind on my magazine reading (working through August …) but I enjoy a couple articles an issue. Every once in a while they have a really good one (in depth about various double bridle rein holds, work in hand) and I pull it out and file it away.
I do admit to cutting out photos to use for reference in future art projects because the photography is quite good.
I don’t read it cover to cover as I used to because the fashion and people profiles content seems to have increased. Not my cup of tea.
I have been a subscriber for decades. I will not be renewing this year. I just don’t read them that much anymore and I feel compelled to. So they sit and make another pile. I love their online content and go there first most of the time. That being said I have kept a few copies with excellent articles so as someone else mentioned I can peruse them at my leisure. I also subscribed to Practical Horseman and Equus but not anymore.
Thanks, all! I might still pick it up, but I’m going to look at it as more of a sociology experiment than as a provider of serious dressage content. (It’s not like I’m not buried in things to read! The only thing I actually subscribe to as just a horse magazine is CoTH, but USDF Connection, Eventing USA, Equine Journal, and I’m sure some I’m forgetting arrive faster than they get read anyway.)
FWIW, I got a direct mail thing for $1/issue for a year, but http://dressagetoday.com/greatdeal is $24 for two years and seems open to anyone.
I’ve been a subscriber forever and I think I even still have some of the Dressage & CT’s stashed somewhere. I’m in agreement with everyone that there might be one good article per issue that I like and get something from. I have to say I was super grumpy with the Baroque issue a few months ago I almost sent a complaint email. My issue wasn’t with it being a baroque issue as some above have stated they find the issue a waste. What pissed me off was how totally lame it was. The issue acts like if you are riding and interested in these breeds you are a flaky not serious Dressage rider. The one training article in that issue was not about the specific challenges that these breeds presente but was a WB focused article. 
The photo section didn’t show even one picture of a quality Lusitano or PRE doing competitive Dressage they were all artsy or “pasture pretty” pics. Seriously Dressage Today this is your idea of highlighting Baroque horses in Dressage. And how about an article that discussed some of the Riders and Horses that are impressively competing on the world stage. Maria Caetano on Coronado AR or some of the other Rubi AR offspring doing so well. How about talking about some of the amazing breeders that are really producing top quality Baroque horses in the United States like Hampton Green Farms or Coves Darden, Farms that have had young horses showing up in the young horse championships and doing well. If you can’t tell I was grumpy the issue was so patronizing shallow and honestly insulting. There are serious riders on Baroque horses and they would like to see some serious articles on the real world not the " fantasy" horse world that these horses sometimes occupy. I haven’t decided if I’ll renew when my subscription is up.
I’m a magazine person so I feel like I have to have something coming in the mail. I’ve been getting DT and Equus for years, but always on a deal they have at Equine Affaire so they are about $1 or so per issue. Both are up in a few months, and I’ve been debating whether to drop DT. I think I’ll continue it though. I like Susanne von Dietze’s clinic articles because they are generally on lower level riders. I liked the one a few months ago that highlighted a training level rider, overweight, on a draft cross. That speaks to people like me. Jenny Susser also has some good pieces on sports psychology-related topics. I have a young friend who doesn’t like to read, but I did get her a subscription and try to get her to focus on a training related topic each month. But I think that DT needs to consider what their mission is. Sometimes they are too high tone, too focused on big fancy horses owned by people with enough money to wander from wherever to Wellington and on to rated shows. Like just about every sport, the vast masses don’t and can’t live like that. So more focus on the rest of us, maybe?
Equus I like a lot, especially anything Deb Bennett does. It’s a good magazine to keep up with the latest news on equine healthcare, training and so forth without focus on particular breeds or disciplines.
Most magazines are built around a three year cycle. Year four is when you start to see things begin to repeat. Then there are the “annual” issues like baroque horses or breeding. I think that’s why we get bored with them. It gets predictable and if you are reading more to keep up with what’s current rather than the heavier editorial content, there isn’t a whole lot there to work with. Eventually you do feel like you’ve read it all before.
I get more out of Practical Horseman than I do Dressage Today - and I’ve been getting it since it’s inception, since originally I subscribed to Dressage & CT, of which I still have issues…somewhere…
I agree that there’s just not much in between the covers anymore, altho I do like to read about the ‘personalities’ - some of whom I’ve met.
I would love it if they’d speak to real people with real horses, not the “fortunate” few who have top warmbloods and top trainers and top barns and … I think I’ll stop there.
Some of us actually do try to ride dressage, not flaunt it around as some sort of status symbol.
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