Polly Limond Dressage and Working Equitation

08/15/2025

08/10/2025

This…

The Art of Producing the High-Level Horse

In today’s world, where goals are king, results are worshipped, and egos often take the reins, we’ve lost touch with something essential: the art of the journey. The quiet, thoughtful process of developing a horse, not just for performance, but for partnership.

Too often, the pursuit of high-level training becomes a checklist of movements, an external badge of status. Grand Prix as the pinnacle. Piaffe, passage, pirouette all proof of success. But we rarely stop to ask: Success by whose measure? And at what cost?

Because if a horse’s well-being were truly at the centre of our goals and not just a footnote in our mission statements our training would look radically different. It would move slower. It would feel softer. It would sound quieter. And it would be far more beautiful.

Producing a high-level horse is not about simply teaching them the movements required on a score sheet. It’s about cultivating a horse who is sound in body, stable in mind, and joyful in spirit. It’s about shaping one who offers those movements willingly, expressively, even playfully. Not as a result of pressure, punishment, or the clever placement of aids that corner them into compliance but from a place of physical readiness and emotional trust.

And this……….this is where the art comes in!

Imagine dressage as a painting. Each training session is a brushstroke, delicate, deliberate, layered. The impatient artist might throw out the canvas at the first mistake. But the true artist? They work with the paint, blend it, adjust it, stay curious. They know that beauty often lives in the imperfection, in the subtle corrections, in the layers of time and care.

The same is to be said in riding: the art lies not in domination, but in dialogue. Every stride, every transition, every still moment is part of an evolving composition. The rider’s aids are not commands but questions; the horse’s responses are not obedience but answers. Together, you create something greater than the sum of its parts.

The highest levels of dressage are not the goal. They are the byproduct of a thousand conversations, a thousand small moments where the rider listens, adjusts, supports, and receives. When done well, Grand Prix is not a performance. It is the horse’s voice, amplified through movement.

To produce a horse to that level is to understand that their body is not a tool, but a home. Their mind, not a machine, but a mirror. Their spirit, not a resource, but a companion.

This is not just training a horse
It is stewardship.
It is art
And it begins not with ambition,
but with reverence.

08/08/2025

Please join us for 2 days under cover in Vass, NC for some Working Equitation fun!

07/10/2025

What No One Tells You About Life After You Stop Riding

One day, you’re tacking up like it’s just another Saturday.
And then suddenly……you’re not.

Maybe it was an injury that never properly healed.
Maybe your horse had to be retired and another just isn’t possible right now.
Maybe the lorry needed selling, the bills got too much, or the yard changed.
Or maybe, quietly and unexpectedly… the love just faded.

And no one really talks about what happens after.
When the boots start gathering dust.
When you pass the stables without turning in.
When you realise you’ve lost a part of who you were.

Here’s what I’ve come to understand:

You grieve. And it really is a kind of grief.
You miss the rhythm of hooves beneath you like a heartbeat.
You miss your yard friends, the ones who just got it.
You feel a bit adrift, like you’ve lost your direction.

But bit by bit you find your way again.

You find echoes of that love in other places.
You help out at shows, teach, or lend a hand at the local RDA.
You stop at the gate to stroke a nose and breathe in that familiar scent of hay and horse.
You realise that stepping back doesn’t make you any less of a horse person.

You were never just a rider.
You were a carer. A grafter. A dreamer. A partner in a silent language that few ever truly understand.

And whether or not you ever ride again, that part of you doesn’t disappear.
Because once you’ve truly loved a horse…
That stays with you.

So here’s to the riders in the in-between.
The ones who are hurting, processing, figuring it all out.

You’re not alone. And you’re still one of us. Always. 🐴❤️

If you had to stop due to ill health, age, finances etc, what have you done since, how did you process?

06/17/2025

Do you want to compete at the highest levels of Working Equitation and Dressage and need a safe and fun horse to get you there without import fees and tariffs?
Proudly offered for sale:
9 yr old 15.3 hand imported PSL Lusitano gelding by Aramis x Quo-Vadis x Medalhao.
Limonero has a lovely perlino coat and the best mind, loves to work if you are kind to him, just ask and you shall receive, every day the same horse, no matter how many days off. Awesome mount for an amateur or junior, especially if you are in a regular program. Easy on your body and fun to ride every day. Showing currently in working equitation at Level 6, ready for PSG/I1 dressage. Medium and extended trot are still developing, but all the collected work, changes to twos, half steps and passage are intact. Trail rides like a dream, easy in and out of the trailer, safe and sound, easy at shows and ready to go. Barefoot all around, sweet and easy on the ground and in the barn, super fun horse for the right buyer who will cherish him for all he has to offer.
Located near Charlotte, NC, priced in the mid-hi fives, with consideration for the perfect home.