At X, Halt, Salute Our Troops

Meet two military veterans who pursued their passion for dressage while serving our country

By Amber Heintzberger

Dressage, like eventing and jumping, has deep military roots. The cavalry may ride no longer, but some servicemembers still do!

Let’s meet two dressage enthusiasts whose horses helped them cope with the stresses of military service, and even have helped guide them through the psychological scars of combat.

“Something to Live For”

US Army veteran Ashley Adams, 41, rode jumpers as a teen growing up in central Florida and now calls southern Utah home. She stopped riding for a time during her active-duty career, but she found her way to dressage after she retired from the military and combat experiences left her with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“After [serving in] Iraq and getting out of the military, when I would jump horses, my adrenaline would spike and I couldn’t bring it back down,” Adams recalls. “I realized that it was not good for me to continue jumping, but that working with horses would help me exponentially with healing from trauma.”

Because of her past riding experience, Adams knew that she wanted more equestrian involvement than an equine-therapy group, so she and her husband set out to buy her a horse of her own. Along the way Adams found Utah-based dressage instructor Stacy Williams, who “understands that some lessons are more for my mental health than my riding skills, and meets me where I am at that day. She also is patient with me when I show and forget half the test! I wouldn’t have ever been able to compete without her influence in my life.” The two have worked together for 10 years, during which time Williams helped Adams to bring her first dressage horse up the levels to Prix St. Georges.

Three years ago, Adams bought her current mount, Lopaka, a KWPN gelding by UB40, bred in California by Deborah Harrison. “PakMan” was started late, and Adams had to install “steering and a reliable whoa,” among others. They’ve gone on to forge a successful partnership, with multiple championship titles and top-10 rankings at First and Second Levels in the past couple of years.

Horses have helped Adams to move forward with her life, but her PTSD still resurfaces at times.

“Once, I was in the show ring and military helicopters flew overhead during my test, causing me to completely forget my test,” she says. “One second I was in the dressage ring, and the next I was back in Iraq. It’s moments like those that remind me: I may never be completely free from combat-related PTSD, but riding and being around horses has given me something to live for and something to keep trying to improve myself for.”

That’s why Adams encourages any military members with a passion for horses to keep them in their lives throughout their service careers. After she finished her own Army basic training (“boot camp”), she was sent to California and Arizona for further training. “No one specifically told me I couldn’t bring a horse, so I packed my horse up and he came along with me!” she says. “I sold him when I deployed to Iraq, and when I got back I spent the next seven years catch-riding at barns that had riderless horses—horses whose owners went off to college or were pregnant, who were in sales programs, who were deemed unsafe, et cetera, before I found dressage.”

Adams likens the physical and mental aspects of dressage to “yoga on horses.” Dressage training, she says, “calls me to allow the process of growth in both myself and my horse toward harmony and connection, while being required to maintain a degree of precision in communication and accuracy in movements. It’s that balance that helps keep me centered—allowing the process, maintaining the discipline.”

Adams hopes to earn her USDF silver medal with PakMan and perhaps one day to compete at the Grand Prix level. But she says her “real goal” is “to enjoy riding and enjoy my time with horses. Life is too precious and short, and I am thankful for every ride I get. When I show, sometimes I compete in my military attire as a remembrance of the friends and soldiers who didn’t get to come home and live their lives and chase their dreams.”

Horses as a Safe Space

New England native Kathy Coviello, who currently lives in Alabama, describes herself as a “seasoned adult amateur” rider.

Now in her late fifties, Coviello has been riding since she was a child. She served in the US Navy, then transferred to the Army National Guard and the US Army Reserve. Starting out in the enlisted ranks, she later earned her commission and served primarily in the US Army Reserve as a company-grade officer.

While she was on active duty, Coviello bought a yearling Appaloosa gelding from his breeder—“right before I departed for two months of military training,” she says. “I had to get him transported to the boarding facility, pay the board, and then arrange for his care, all while getting ready to get onto the first commercial airplane ride of my life.” That horse proved to be “a lot of fun to raise and then train,” and Coviello had him for 27 years.

She acquired her current mount, the 2009 Knabstrupper mare CCS Silinde, bred in Virginia by Melyni Worth, as a four-year-old. The pair are currently schooling Fourth Level and competing at Third, and Coviello calls her mare “a truly wonderful partner through our journey.” (Want to learn more about this eye-catching Danish breed? Read an article Coviello wrote about CCS Silinde.)

Coviello calls the barn her happy place, and she recognizes the importance of stepping away from a demanding job to ride and spend time with horses.

“I have to be mindful of blocking time to ride and do other fitness activities, which actually helps with mental relaxation because it gets you away from the grind of work duties,” she says. “When you are with a horse, you must be in the moment; you can’t be thinking about anything else because they sense it, and they get your attention really quickly. It is a great mental break and very therapeutic in so many ways, both physically and mentally.”

For a servicemember, horse ownership can take the proverbial village. Coviello’s job at one duty station required frequent travel, and she had to arrange for friends and colleagues to cover her horse’s care while she was away. An unexpected benefit was that “by sharing my horse, so to speak, I actually sparked the interest of young equestrians who have grown into farm owners as adults, with their own children now showing as successful youth equestrians.”

While she was stationed in the Washington, DC, area, Coviello volunteered with the Caisson Platoon Equine Assistance Programs, which was supporting wounded warriors out of Walter Reed Medical Center, Bethesda Naval Hospital, and the Veterans Administration hospital.

“We worked with the horses from the Third Infantry Division ‘Old Guard,’” using the young soldiers of the unit as side walkers, and then we had a PATH-certified instructor work with the wounded servicemen and -women. It was powerful to see a double amputee get up on a big Percheron and then ride the horse around the arena,” Coviello says. “The young soldiers who served as side walkers, many of whom had not yet deployed, got some peer leadership and mentoring experience, as well… The power of horses is truly amazing, and this program highlighted the positive impact they have to our military servicemembers.”

These days, Coviello’s equestrian goals are about improving and maintaining her relationship and trust with her horse (and she’d also love to earn her USDF bronze medal). She explains that a strong bond with her equine partner “helps me stay brave as I age, since I know we can get hurt easier. It is critical to have a horse that you can trust when you’re riding out and about in the fields and woods. We definitely don’t stick to the arena and enjoy our time riding across the countryside.”

As for dressage competition, Coviello, who finds showing a challenge both because of her work schedule and the fact that she doesn’t tolerate the heat well, puts in a plug for more recognition of competitors in virtual dressage shows: “It would be great to see USDF figure out how to honor those shows, as well. It would make the sport much more accessible for other people that cannot afford the expense of hauling out to recognized competitions.”

Coviello encourages all military members and their family members with a passion for dressage to join a USDF group-member organization (GMO) in the area where they’re stationed.

“Because members of the military must frequently move—in some cases, every two to three years—you must work very hard to find a suitable facility to keep your horse, assuming you cannot own or rent your own facility,” she explains. “It takes a lot of research and, frankly, a little bit of trust. Having GMOs in the area gives you a network to fall into when you move. I would encourage military members to join, volunteer with, and actively engage with their USDF GMO for the region to which they are assigned. It helps with networking and community building overall.”

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