A Full Heart

The amazing Andalusian horse! We are celebrating them as our February Breed of the Month on YourDressage!

Dressage riders who choose Andalusians as their mounts are eligible for special awards through the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards program, as the International Andalusian & Lusitano Horse Association is a participating organization.

Here, a Region 7 competitor shares the Spanish horses who made her fall in love with dressage and who have helped her on her journey to her USDF Silver Medal!

By Tami Thompson

I am a USDF Bronze and Silver Medalist, and my love affair with horses started before I could walk. I grew up riding in the Bay Area of California. My dad was a deputy sheriff of the mounted patrol and would take me to all the family activities the patrol grounds put on. We went to play days, horse shows, and father-daughter overnight rides. I rode my Shetland pony, Iggy The Pooh, around the neighborhood, tried to ride all the neighbors’ ponies, and joined Pony Club as soon as I was old enough. My pony club mount was a chestnut Quarter pony named Cher, who taught me to jump and, more importantly, how to love unconditionally. She raised me until she was well into her 30s, and I was an unruly 16-year-old.

As soon as I was able to, I volunteered at different barns and helped clean stalls, tack up horses, groom – anything I could do to be around horses and ride as much as I could. I trail rode, rode hunter/jumper, competed in gymkhanas, went team penning, and roped! Anything I could do, I did. I was once given an award at horse camp that said, “Most Likely to Enter Everything in the Olympics.” I just wanted to ride!

It was my dream to work with horses for a living. That dream got put on hold once I got married and had kids. I worked as an office manager in the technology world as I raised my kids, and when they were in high school, I was able to start a small breeding program. I bought an American Paint Horse stallion named Max Tardy and a few mares while I showed in western pleasure and hunter under saddle as an adult amateur. I was showing a solid, homebred Paint gelding named BR Maximum Security (Samson) in hunter under saddle. People kept telling me he was bred for dressage, but I was not interested. 

I finally decided to give dressage a try and took my first lesson. Within a few months, I was showing my Paint gelding at First Level, and winning! He looks like an Andalusian and moves like a warmblood. At that point, I noticed all the Andalusians in the dressage ring, and with their Baroque look, thick muscled necks, and round bodies, they became my dream horse.

In 2015, I was able to purchase a small dressage facility in Gilroy, California, and I began my life-long dream of working with horses for a living. I started teaching lessons, training a couple of horses, and continuing my own dressage career with my coach, Heidi Gaian. 

I found and fell in love with a Pure Spanish Horse (PRE) weanling colt shortly after buying my farm. He had a giant Roman nose, a huge underbite, cow hocks, and physitis… so I bought him! He grew into a gangly three-year-old with a giant head and looked like a committee put him together. His cow-hocked legs straightened up, and his physitis went away, but he still had his huge underbite and giant Roman nose. Despite his conformational challenges, he was the easiest colt I’ve ever started, and the first PRE I had ever ridden! I took him trail riding, roping, beach riding, and anywhere else we could while he was growing up. 

We worked in the arena and started his dressage career. He has now shown through Second Level, and after finally growing into his buffalo head, he has a strong body to match. He is now nine years old and schooling Third Level. He is funny, insecure, and emotional, but is also the most comfortable horse I’ve ever ridden, and my best friend! Authentico UMA is his name but everyone knows him as “The Buffalo.” I gelded him for obvious reasons; although it’s one of his very charming traits, we can’t let that underbite into the gene pool! Once he gets his flying changes down, he will be out there showing Third Level!

I had been breeding some of my Paint mares to an incredible PRE stallion, Ilustrado JF, who had been imported from Spain by my friends at Dancing Kings Farm in Gilroy, California. I had a few babies on the ground by him, and they were fantastic Azteca horses with great conformation, incredible temperaments, and beautiful movement. 

I had the opportunity to purchase Ilustrado (Chicky) and add him to my breeding program. He is a dreamy, dark bay sport-type PRE with a mane to his knees, a tail to die for, and so much fun to ride! I’ve shown him successfully at First Level, and once he has confirmed changes, he will also be showing Third Level. He has taught me to be patient, yet firm, and ride sensitively, yet strong. He is the most well-behaved stallion on the ground and lives out next to the geldings all day. He is my ultimate Andalusian dream horse.

Last summer, I received a horse, Illustre HMM, to sell for a client in Southern California. After riding him for three days, I decided to buy him for myself! He is an 18-year-old grey PRE stallion who has shown through Prix St. Georges, and knows piaffe and passage. Ilustre HMM has been a huge investment in my education, teaching me so much in the short time I’ve owned him. We showed Fourth Level a month after I bought him, and we just debuted at Prix St. Georges at the end of January, earning my USDF Silver Medal. My goal is to qualify for the California Dressage Society (CDS) Championships at Prix St. Georges with Ilustre while also schooling and showing Intermediate-1. I would love to earn my USDF Gold Medal on him. Earning my medals and going up the levels in dressage has been my dream since my first dressage lesson in 2013. I have bigger goals now! I want to ride my Andalusians in a Concours de Dressage International (CDI) small tour and, eventually, a large tour. They have given me the confidence to broaden my goals, dream bigger, and go for it all!

The PREs and Andalusians that I am blessed to own and ride have taught me so much about becoming a better and more tactful rider with more finesse. They are sensitive, willing, and have a great work ethic. Through my PREs and riding as an Open rider, I now have sponsors which I am so grateful for. My world has opened up! I have an incredible coach at home, Heidi Gaian, who has taken me from Training Level to my Silver Medal, from my first dressage lesson ever to an FEI rider. I clinic with Mette Rosencrantz, Dr. Gail Hoff, and Masha Ugryumova a few times a year, all of whom have supported me and pushed me to be the best rider I can be. I am living my dream and my heart is grateful and very full.