Blog

Loretta won the marathon for the second competition in a row at the Katydid CDE — but the real story is what it took to get there. A brutally technical opener, a split-second bridge decision, and a cones round that came within 4 seconds of a podium finish. Here's the full account from Andy Marcoux and the Princess herself.

My "Close Shave" video from Live Oak has gotten a lot of love, but there's a little more to this story. There's more to the miss than you think. The part your horse noticed, and he's keeping score...

Roo Report — Live Oak International 2026 FEI 3* Horse Single | Loretta with Andy Marcoux, Tara Devine backstep, Sue Amendola OG Groom Live Oak International has long been one of my favorite combined driving events in the country. This was the 35th Anniversary of the event. My first experience at Live Oak was as [...]

There's just one Driver Slot left for the Dec. 5-7 Clinic at the Florida Horse Park. Grab it before someone else does! Auditors will be included in all group discussions, and I'll have a mic, so you can hear the teaching throughout the clinic. If you miss that last slot, grab an auditor pass and mark “Driver Waitlist” on Your Profile — if a spot opens, I’ll fill it by date of signup, and if not, you still get the full auditing experience.

I’m joining the Whip’R Snappers Driving Society for their Educational Day and Meeting in Temecula, CA, to dig into long lining and combined driving strategies — from what you teach on the lines to how it shows up in dressage, cones, and obstacles. Check the Whip’R Snappers event page for full details and RSVP info.

There's a difference between thinking about competing "with" or "against" one another.

I have not competed at Bromont International CDE in many years. This year we decided to attend based on how many good things we heard from our friends who attended last year. We were not disappointed! The drive up to Quebec from Eastern New England is much easier than battling our way through Connecticut, [...]

This week marks yet another week that I have been reminded of something so fundamentally true, it can not be escaped: “Teach what your train, train what you teach.” Having recently returned from a successful outing at the Bromont International Driving Championship CDE, I turned to planning the next steps in Loretta’s training. In that process, I reviewed the areas in our work that are going well, and

Why should recreational drivers practice dressage even if they don't intend to show their horses? Simple exercises can gain you and your horse big benefits such as better communication, improve your horse's balance, and most importantly, greater longevity.

Yesterday’s dressage test at Live Oak FELT GREAT!! ‘RettaRoo is really starting to get into this new level for her. She’s clearly is beginning to understand the test, and more importantly, like it.  Photo by Tegan Henderson We ended day one of the three day competition in 3rd place behind U.S. Equestrian Team [...]

Photo: picsofyou.com Each year the United States Equestrian Federation recognizes the top horses in each discipline and level the horse is competing at. For the second year in a row, Loretta earned the top spot in her division.  Loretta earned the 2024 Combined Driving HOTY at the Advanced Novice level [FEI 2*] after [...]

When I say "young horses," I mean anything under 4 years old. I get a lot of questions about what we should be doing with those yearlings, 2 and 3 year olds. The answer is quite simple.

I've had quite a few people asking me about getting horses going again after their long winter off. The question always is: How to get the horse back in shape without over-doing it, but fit that work into the already demanding schedules that humans have to keep? Start with the rule in mind: “less is [...]

I have been doing a lot of 1-1 Private Online Coaching sessions recently. I always knew this would be a really useful learning tool, but honestly, I underestimated just how effective this would be! I'm so impressed with the progress my students are making within just a few sessions.   In some ways, the Online Coaching [...]

When you hear hooves, you naturally think of horses before you'd think of zebras. It's the simplest explanation. When we have training issues with our horses, we don't always use such simple logic. Occam's razor can help!