Ali Potasky has put in the hard work throughout her dressage career since picking up the sport as a child, and her careful and measured training with her Grand Prix partner INXS, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Everdale—Whinca, Harmony’s Roussaeu), paid off at Kingsview Partners Dressage At Devon, held Sept. 24-29 in Devon, Pennsylvania, with a win in the Grand Prix Special CDI3* (69.63%). It was the 34-year-old’s first time riding down centerline in the Dixon Oval on the first horse she’s trained to Grand Prix, and she couldn’t have been happier with their Devon debut.

“It was such a big moment for me because it’s the payoff of five years building a partnership and training INXS, not just the highlight reel that everyone can see,” she said. “Of course, everyone notices when it goes well, but to have a history and a true journey together with highs and lows is another thing I’m very proud of.” 

Growing up in Massachusetts, Potasky cleaned stalls for Grand Prix rider Chris Hickey, who was based at her barn. After high school, she headed to Hilltop Farm in Maryland where Hickey had taken a job and became his groom, then she took a working student job with Pam Goodrich in New Hampshire.

Potasky worked her way up to barn manager with Goodrich, who helped her get to the FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (Kentucky) in 2011, then to the Brentina Cup U25 division.

Following Goodrich’s advice to “go for it,” she took a job with Morten Thomsen in Denmark a decade ago and spent four years learning the ins and outs of the Grand Prix test, as well as training young horses and working them in-hand.

She started working for Kathy Priest at Woodspring Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, after that and is now her assistant rider and barn manager. Last year, Potasky received a $25,000 Carol Lavell Advanced Dressage Prize from The Dressage Foundation and used it to go to the Netherlands to train with Egbert Kraak.

We caught up with Potasky after her Devon win to learn more.

What was it like competing in your first Devon?

I worked as a groom one time when I worked at Hilltop in 2009, but the breed show—never the performance show. Kathy suggested it. The timing was really good. I felt like with the national shows this summer, the lead up in the training was very good, and we felt like waiting until January until Wellington circuit would be a bit long.

We thought it would be a nice starting venue that had some atmosphere but gave the horse and I exposure and a step up the ladder.

We went in the afternoon [for the Grand Prix for the Special], and I didn’t know what to expect. I knew the horse was going well, and my horse was to just have a clean test and really ride the way that I practiced. Just go in there and feel like I owned the test. I almost wasn’t so distracted by everything going on around me until after the test, which was kind of nice!

I wasn’t so nervous because I didn’t have an expectation in terms of placement or score. I really worked on myself just to have a great ride and give the horse a great experience. When I did my final halt, it hit me that I had achieved the goals I wanted, and it didn’t matter about the score. I was thrilled with how the horse responded to the venue, thrilled with my test and how I rode and tuned into the horse and just went around like it was any other experience.

The surreal moment was when I came out of the ring and saw I’d gotten a 70. I had that show-high moment.

When I saw that I could do it, I said to Kathy the next day, “Oh man, I’ve got to do it again!” We were kind of laughing about that. I would say I was almost more nervous the second day because the Special is a harder test for me. I’ve ridden it less.

What is your relationship like with Kathy?

Kathy has a way of meshing [Morten and Pam]. She’s gotten me into the show ring successfully, but I’ve also trained all the horses I’ve competed.

She is like a boss, mentor, mother, friend and sponsor all wrapped into one person. If left to my own devices, I have the tendency to march to my own beat, and Kathy keeps me accountable. I like to think I contribute to our relationship by being unapologetically myself and embracing the untraditional aspects of both horsemanship and life. 

Tell me about INXS.

I’ve never owned a horse until I met Kathy. I had a pony as a kid, but going to Denmark, it was easy for me because I was never tied down by anything. I bought a cheap investment horse who was a hunter who didn’t want to jump, and I sold her a year later and used that money to buy my part of INXS.

Kathy has a business partner in Europe, Egbert Kraak. They own horses together, and he sources horses for her. Kathy’s always been really encouraging of me to do things for myself, like buy that investment horse and own a part of a horse. She wants me to be involved and try to make financial investments through the job. It’s super nice because not a lot of people are like that.

I got him when he was 6. I bought half of him [Priest owns the other half]. I really liked him from the first time I rode him. I had a go-with-the-flow type of plan. If I get him going really well, and I want to sell him, that’s great, and [I’ll] use him as an investment horse, and if I end up really liking him then I’ll keep him.

He’s the first Grand Prix horse I’ve trained; that was really monumental for me. He is very sensitive, and he has a lot of energy, and he’s really honest. With all of that, I just really took my time in the beginning. I took about a year getting to know him and working on basics before I even showed him. He’s a very personable horse. He tries really hard.

I started showing him at fourth level, just exposure and seeing how he is at the shows and dealing with the warm-up because he’s really horse shy—trying to figure out how to manage him, so he’s the best he can be in the show ring.

I did the Markel/USEF Developing Horse Grand Prix Championship [Illinois] when he was 10 last year, then I got the grant for the Carol Lavell Dressage Prize. I took him back to train at Egbert’s for three months.

I think our partnership is very mutual. We love each other. He’s the type of horse who is incredibly energetic and sensitive and giving. When you hit that sweet spot, it’s super rideable and really, really fun. But I also have to commit to giving him that opportunity. I can’t just get on and not be present. I have to really show up as well for him mentally, because he’s that in tune with headspace. He feels everything. He feels if I’m frustrated or doubting, or if I’m uncomfortable or nervous. But that’s pretty cool because he’s really a mirror, and he holds me super accountable, not just for riding but being a horse trainer for him, not just assuming the horse will do it like a machine.

Getting to ride and train in Europe must have been a huge thing for your education and career. What was it about Morten that made you want to pack up and go over to Denmark a decade ago?

I really enjoyed the lesson I had with him on [my U25 horse] Lamborghini—I felt it was very helpful and insightful. I also got a reference through Chris Hickey. It was a bucket list dream to go to Europe for a job when you’re a young dressage rider. Pam was really encouraging too. She said, “Hell, go for it! Go learn all you can and take that opportunity and see what comes of it.”

I was his rider, but we would do chores together in the morning and just normal taking care of horses. I rode all the horses when he was away teaching clinics, and I rode with him and would warm up some horses for him, and he would teach me. Everything from young horses, and then he’s really good with the in-hand and starting piaffe/passage work, so I learned a lot. I would credit Pam with really bringing me up through showing and learning that—learning the aids and learning to test ride and getting to compete. I would take Morten’s knowledge to the next step of actually training. I feel like I learned a lot about training from him. I had the opportunity to ride horses at all the levels and learn how to teach a change and how to teach piaffe in hand. Even how to break young horses—just a lot of horsemanship with groundwork. He’s really a master. Morten was teaching Kathy at the time, and he connected Kathy and I.

What were some of the big takeaways from your time with Egbert last fall?

The main reason I went there was to really get the last bit of the piaffe and passage, and for me that was, in my own riding, something I had done the least of. It was a huge opportunity to focus on really finishing a Grand Prix horse, not just feeling like, “OK, I got around the test,” but perfecting all the details and getting that last step. That was really productive, and I’ve added Egbert to my list of mentors and people who have put tools in the toolbox for me.

I flew back to Wellington and showed a couple of national Grand Prix [classes] in Florida and a few in Kentucky in the spring. For me that was an interesting thing because it was really important for my confidence in my lead-up to doing CDIs. The jump to Grand Prix from small tour is so big, and with both INXS and I having never done it before, taking that time of about six months or to just practice and practice and practice with a little less pressure obviously paid off!

I love showing, but to just really make sure that I owned everything and that I had the nerves and could really ride through that in a way that the horse could gain confidence from. He’s great in the show ring, but he’s not a school horse, and I really have to ride correctness and with logic, and he does it, but if not and I start getting nervous and doubting the program and the system, then yeah, I can still have mistakes.