Ivan Kelly Dressage

Dressage trainer and competitor, Ivan Kelly. 

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Regional Championships British Dressage

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First show of the season

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Winter Regionals Prep

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Wonderful unexpected stop over in Boston. Firefox Farm, where I met some spectacular horses and some really awesome people.

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Trip Equipped

Looking for an exit out of the tunnel of tiredness I order yet another cup of coffee at Costa. The barista sulkily taking my request and I i

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New Blog Post

Riding Badly Better

Sweater weather, chair by the fire, wrapped up from the cold, coffee in hand (although that’s a given whatever the weather and whenever the

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Meeting this year’s beautiful foals at High Point Hanoverians in Maryland, US.

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A Willingness to Repeat

An overheard phrase, in relation to the gym made me ask, are all our horses willing to repeat an exercise?. An eagerness to allow an exercis

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Viscount at his first few shows this year.

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http://irishdressage.blogspot.com/2025/06/dare-to-daydream.html?m=1

New Blog!

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http://irishdressage.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-one-big-lesson.html?m=1#more

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Training ethically, is it such a simple idea?. Lately there’s much conversation about the top riders, the top trainers and top breeders. Unpicking the bad practices and who is responsible for it. How do we make sure we’re looking after the industry from our own little corner. Are we exempt from those problems and practices? Can we truly say we’re part of the solution just because that elite level doesn’t touch our lives except as spectators.

Making a life and business with horses, makes you examine it from many angles often revealing uncomfortable things. As a trainer I need enough clients to pay my bills. Not just enough clients but enough returning clients. Amid a rotation I’ve found myself spending energy not teaching a simple ethical system but a tempered version. Defensive by nature or at least damage limiting. Time between lessons teaching resistant riders who’ve chosen to wait till there’s a problem to book a lesson. Time spent breaking down at best the often unconscious resistance while putting a horse back on track. Rather than solely offering information it’s the development of a skill of diplomacy at delivering bad news in a good way. There are so many moments where someone much be halted in their tracks before they compounds a problem, without pissing on their parade. A new client once asked tartly “would you do this with your own horse” and I had to answer no but because I would never let my horse get into such a state. It seems more common now to shoot the messenger and flee to the next trainer who’s willing to tell you something more comfortable so they in turn can put food on the table.

Pushy parents wanting only a win, over zealous riders in competition, riders badgered into “just having fun” saving money and buying a project, For every rider avoiding a problem they make it harder for a trainer to make a living, staying true to their values and have enough to pay their bills.

Are we losing a culture of learning, a respect for taking the time to educate before we launch into doing. How many people budget for lessons when shopping for a horse only to then resent how much they spend on retraining it. How many peoples can no longer find the fun in training but only in competing. The culture of buying a horse for life and committing to whatever it needs seems to be disappearing. Flaws of horse personality or lack of talent being used as justification for poor training. These justifications guarding us from admitting we need more training, on and off the saddle. More money to spend on fun and less money for people working in the industry. Can we really be surprised at why peoples ethics are challenged? I can’t effect how the top riders train, I am however solid in knowing that when they need to change a practice they’re equipped to do it, can we all say the same? I’m most reassured when I know I’ve fought my little corner of the world with each horse and each client, even it it means a sparse table. It’s not just charity that starts at home, so does change.

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Amongst my endless chattering, I was speaking with a friend recently who works as a healthcare professional. They used the phrase, upstream prevention. Included in the idea is treating the economic and social issues rather than the just the resulting behaviors of individuals.

Do we have a conscious equivalent in the dressage industry? Do we have a forward thinking support system or a more reactionary approach? It seems lately we have lots of people fleeing towards an alternative path. Maybe that’s what is needed but can we afford a complete restart? Being rather suspicious I counsel riders to pause and think, are you doing better or just different. In aid of caution or the public perception of kindness, we try leaping into different and run the risk of reactive thinking. Riders tell me they’re going to take the pressure off or just concentrate on having fun which on re-examination often reveals avoidance of being detailed or lack of knowledge.

Dressage has made me examine how to not react. Check, feel and notice but not blindly react. I don’t always get it right but I’m comforted by the fact I’m searching for it instead of jumping from one pattern to another. If we can sit in the un-reactive phase we might just be able to pluck some threads from both historically tried and tested knowledge and new scientific based information. Use the useful but acknowledge what can be adapted and what needs to be thrown away. In aid of caution or public perception of kindness, in only doing different we risk that exact reactive thinking. Giving ourselves a comfort blanket, congratulating each other at “not being that” or “ being different” rather than examining the underneath. Let’s not apply downstream measures, let’s just do better.

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Do Better not Different

Amongst my endless chattering, I was speaking with a friend recently who works as a healthcare professional. They used the phrase, upstream

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Airport ready! America here I come!

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