Ashley Holzer has been a regular fixture on the Canadian dressage team since she won her first medals in 1981 at the North American Young Riders Championship. This winter she made headlines weekly on the Florida circuit with a string of able horses, and now she has her sights set on a probable chance to compete this summer at the World Equestrian Games.

Naturally, it was through horses that Holzer, 43, met her future husband, Rusty Holzer. Both of them were competing at the 1991 Pan Am Games in Havana, Cuba, she in dressage, he in show jumping for the U.S. Virgin Islands. (Rusty’s also ridden in the Olympics and World Championships for the U.S. Virgin Islands.)

The couple married in 1993, and soon after they acquired the lease of the urban Riverdale Equestrian Center in the New York City borough of The Bronx, which they’ve been running since 1994. It took a lot of time, hard work and financial investment, but eventually they turned the run-down stables and facilities into a world-class training center.

It may be something of a novelty, but for Ashley, the convenience of having her horses in the city was worth it all.

“I had a lot of horses at Robert Dover’s place in New Jersey, but when I moved to New York to be with my husband, I was commuting every day. I wanted to find something closer, but with nine horses, anything close enough still meant three hours a day in the car,” she said.

“I really considered not riding anymore, and then we found Riverdale,” she added. “It wasn’t a training facility, and it took a long time to turn it around, slowly putting more money into it. It’s in a beautiful part of The Bronx–maybe not surrounded by pastoral fields, but it’s a 22- to 35-minute drive depending on traffic. I can drop the kids at school and go ride.”

Riverdale, a 50-stall public riding facility, was an easy transition for Ashley, who grew up riding at Sunnybrook Stables, located in a park in downtown Toronto. As she pointed out, many stables in Europe also have urban locations, so she doesn’t see it as out of the ordinary.

They offer a variety of programs, including riding for the disabled. Rusty runs the business, while Ashley focuses on her own riding and training; they also have barn managers, including a top-notch hunter/jumper trainer, keeping things in order. In addition to riding and training, Ashley has worked with Rob Henry Fashion Agency and developed a line of clothing for riders.

And she’s just started a new regional equestrian magazine called Today’s Eques-trian, which will cover local hunter/jumper, dressage, polo and Western riders and events.

Out Of The Limelight
Ashley and Rusty also have two children–Emma, 10, and Harrison, 8. During her pregnancies and when the children were younger, Ashley took time off from riding. But with the children old enough for school, she has more time to dedicate to her riding career again.

Balancing her family and show schedule requires some serious logistical planning on Ashley’s part, as well as a lot of assistance from her dedicated family and support team.

“I have a great husband and parents who help me a lot,” she said. “My kids are also incredibly flexible, and my assistant, Denielle, is great with the kids–I could not do this alone.”

Her schedule last winter involved flying to Florida on Wednesday to ride, and then showing until Sunday, when she flew home to New York with the kids. The horses got Monday off, and barn manager Denielle Gallagher rode them on Tuesday. Rusty and the kids flew down on Friday to watch her show over the weekend. “Thank goodness for JetBlue!” she said.

Although it took her away from the barn for several years, Ashley said that she wouldn’t trade the time that she spent raising her children.

“With horses, you can be out of the limelight for a while, training them and bringing them along without showing,” she said.

Ashley’s return to the show ring came when her sponsor and student, Tess Gilder, purchased Imperioso, or “Perry,” for her in April 2000. Imperioso, a Dutch Warmblood stallion by Anky van Grunsven’s now-deceased Grand Prix mount, Cocktail, was ready for Grand Prix when Ashley started riding him.

Training with Dover in North America and van Grunsven in Europe, the pair’s partnership blossomed, and at the end of their first year together they placed second in the FEI World Cup’s Canadian League Final at November’s Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. Their partnership peaked with their trip to Athens.

Ashley now gets coaching in Florida from 1988 Olympic teammate Eva Pracht and from Norbert Van Laak, the Canadian dressage team coach who regularly flew in from Germany to work with the Canadian riders in Florida this season.

Her continuing training also helps her coach the long list of students who accompanied her to Florida this year. These include Ellen Lazarus, who owns Maximilian, a horse Ashley had previously shown. Lazarus scored above 60 percent in her first year of amateur-owner Prix St. Georges. “It’s a big deal for her,” said Ashley. “It’s her dream come true.”

Gallagher showed Ashley’s horse Jornello and won her first class at Prix St. Georges. And Ashley’s goddaughter, 15-year-old Lindsay Kellogg has been competing in the FEI Junior tests under her guidance.

Jaccqueline Brooks, Ashley’s former assistant trainer who still works with her, is now a member of the Canadian dressage team. “Ashley took me from not knowing anything about the sport to riding Prix St. Georges,” said Brooks. “I groomed for her at the Pan Am Games in Cuba, and since then I’ve been on the team with her at the Pan Ams. She’s been a great influence; even at the shows she’s always helpful and hoping you’ll do better than she does. I’d encourage anyone to watch her ride, because you can learn so much. She’s a wonderful teacher and friend.”

Shining Stars
There was a distinctly Canadian feel to the Florida circuit last winter as the Maple Leaf flag flew again and again against the backdrop of a sunny Florida sky. Ashley and the 8-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Pop Art were undefeated in the small-tour classes there.

Pop Art, or “Poppy,” is a striking chestnut gelding by Amsterdam out of Jody Prinses. He was a 6-year-old showing second/third level when Ashley began working with him almost three years ago. Now she plans to show him at Grand Prix by the end of the year.

“I don’t think he’s ever lost,” she said. “For a long time now, he’s won every class he’s been in.”

Their 2006 winning streak began in January at the CDI*** Gold Coast Opener in Loxahatchee, Fla., where they won the Prix St. Georges, Intermediaire I and the Intermediaire I freestyle. In February at Wellington Dressage, they domi-nated the first day of competition, winning the Prix St. Georges with 67.25 percent. Less than two weeks later at the Zada Enterprises Florida Dressage Classic, Pop Art scored 70.12 percent to top a field of 20 horses in the Prix St. Georges and then beat 32 horses in the Intermediaire I CDI classes.

“He’s awesome,” commented Pracht. “Pop Art is just a wonderful, wonderful horse.”

Gallagher is also a Pop Art fan. “He’s a fun, energetic, and kind horse,” she said.

Gambol, owned by Diane Fel-lows, and Imperioso, her 2004 Olympic partner, made regular winning appearances all winter long too. Ashley has an eye on both horses as contenders for the Canadian team at the World Equestrian Games.

“Poppy is Mr. Steady Eddie; he loves to show and has lots of personality. Perry [Imperioso] is like the most comfortable set of slippers–he’s tried and true,” she said. “Gambol is the showman; he’s got a lot of personality and he wants to perform. He’s got a big ego, and it would insult him not to do well!”

With the 2008 Olympics her goal, Ashley plans to stick to a rigorous training and showing schedule for at least the next two years, perhaps taking some time off then when her kids are in high school.

But she’s still focusing most on this summer’s WEG. “I think that Gambol will go to the WEG, but I’ll be happy if either of them go,” she said. “With horses, one bad day can ruin your year. I have experience in going and in not going to the big competitions; it’s a luxury wondering which one I’ll take to Aachen, and I’m planning to take both of them to Europe for training beforehand.”

Her Resume
Ashley Holzer’s success in the dressage ring is a combination of natural ability and hard work, combined with a can-do attitude.

As a young rider, Holzer trained with six-time Canadian Olympian Christilot Hanson-Boylen and renowned German coach Willi Schultheis, giving her a solid classical dressage foundation on which to build her career.

Her most recent international accomplishments include a place on the Canadian dressage team at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

But she wasn’t a stranger to the international arena prior to that. She also competed in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, where she and her teammates secured the bronze medal, the last medal won by Canada in Olympic dressage. Her resume also includes contesting the 2002 World Equestrian Games, the 1989 FEI World Cup Final, and individual silver and team gold medals at 1991 Pan Am Games in Havana, Cuba.

A Medal In Canada’s Future?
Canadian dressage riders and supporters believe their team has a good chance of finishing among the top teams at the World Championships in August, but breaking through to the medals might still be out of their grasp.

Regarding her country’s current squad of elite riders, Ashley Holzer said, “We’re a cohesive group, we’re very good friends, and we’re supportive of each other.”

Evi Strasser, who’s been highly competitive with her expressive Oldenburg gelding Quantum Thyme, agreed. “Our team is very united, and it’s nice to see our training and coaching programs coming to place. We’re all training hard to keep performing at this level,” she said.

Holzer acknowledged, “Due to the size of our country and its relative population, we haven’t got a lot of depth. But everyone’s horses are peaking, and the riders are coming together. It’s the same scenario that we had for the 1988 Seoul Olympics–we have a few good riders, and we’re all on track. Unfortunately, if anyone goes down, there’s no depth behind us.”

Holzer isn’t one to color things unrealistically rosy, though. “I don’t know if it’s a medal team–that would be great if the stars lined up and we came home with a medal–but I do think we could do very well.