| Allison Allbaugh Biography |
| Hello, my name is Allison Allbaugh. I am currently 26 years old and started riding horses when I was 5 in Bellingham, WA. When my older sister went to a summer day camp for horseback riding, I wanted to go as well. Even though I was a year under the age requirement, they let me in the camp and there blossomed my love and obsession with horses. After two summers of this camp, my sister and I were blessed with a horse of our own (to share). We joined 4-H and rode Western pleasure for several years until we moved to Spokane, WA. I joined a Pony Club in the area, and one horse later, I was competing in English events throughout the Northwest. I began taking dressage lessons from Patricia Kabasa during junior high and high school, and learned all of the correct basics through second level from her. I took dressage clinics from Steve Kannikeburg when he was in town as well. I learned to jump through various instructors and through pony club. My horse at the time, Black Magic, learned with me through training level eventing and second level dressage. I also achieved my C-3 rating in Pony Club. My high school years were very busy. I was involved not only in horse shows and pony club, I volunteered over 400 hours at a local hospital and community events, kept straight A�s in honors and advanced placement classes, and was a leader in several school clubs. All that hard work paid off by allowing me to earn a full-tuition scholarship to my college of choice, Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio. Lake Erie is one of the only schools in the nation with a large equine program. This is where I really started learning. With the multiple quality instructors who where still training and competing in their chosen fields, I learned more about training and riding than I ever thought possible. Riding different types of horses and learning from different types of instruction allowed me to develop my own riding and training style that works for me. I was also busy in college, playing on the varsity basketball team freshman year, to holding positions in the student government, to competing in IHSA, help found the IDA (Interscholastic Dressage Association), and the ICTA (Interscholastic Combined Training Association). I took clinics from International dressage rider Nancy Smith, classes from German Olympian Jurgen Gohler, and classes from National dressage judge Christine Hastings. I was able to compete college owned horses as well as my own new horse, Genuine Risk, whom I purchased as a green-broke four-year-old. Risky is an Appaloosa/Thoroughbred cross mare. She has learned and grown with me over the last 6 years through working student positions in Vermont and Kentucky at eventing farms. She traveled with me after graduating college in 2001 to South Carolina, where I was a working student and groom for Rolex KY winner (and WA native) Tiffany Louden. After 6 months, I became a trainer at a privately owned foxhunting and Hannovarian breeding farm. There I managed the farm, kept the 5 riding horses in shape and trained, and assisted in the foaling process of two babies. I was not made out for the southern heat and humidity and wanted to be closer to my family, so I packed up my horse trailer, my horse, and my dog and headed across the country. Upon moving back to the northwest, I acquired a job at a hunter/jumper barn as the secondary trainer and dressage trainer. There I was able to get re-acquainted with the Northwest and was able to make several very good friends and clients. Also upon moving back to the northwest, I found Patricia Kabasa and was able to talk her into coming to the west side of the state once a month for two-day dressage clinics! I have been working with her on Risky and also send some of my students to her for the clinics as well. Pat introduced me to Deitrich Von Hopffgarten, a German/Canadian who coaches riders on the Olympic Dressage teams. Even with his rough-and-tough attitude toward his students, he is very knowledgable and a great teacher. He raved that I have "too much talent to waste it in the USA!" Well, this is where I am here to stay, so I am plugging along seekig to become the best rider that I can. I am currently boarding and training out of RDC Stables in Orting, WA, and working with Hungarian Horse breeder Valerie Sivertson on starting and training young horses. I also have another part time job at Jake's Ales in Federal Way as a bartender. This summer my goals are to compete primarily in dressage shows in order to qualify for the Championship shows in September and to work toward achieving my Bronze Medal for the USDF (United States Dressage Federation). I also wish to compete my new horse, Morgan, in some dressage shows and am currently teaching him to jump. I may also be competing HS Kivalo, a Hungarian gelding owned by Valerie Sivertson of Ohop Valley Hungarian Horse Farm. My students are excited to compete as well, and we will be traveling to several schooling and recognized shows throughout the Northwest. Check out the Calendar for the list of shows and current results. |