Elaine working with a student.Elaine Ward began her riding career at age 3. First a successful Western youth rider, her interest in dressage developed after watching an international dressage event in Toronto in 1973.
Even though dressage was so new to Canada and lacked instructors,Elaine relied mostly on books and attending clinics with top European trainers such as Reiner Klimke and Jaap Pot. Dedication paid off in1976 with Elaine and her first Anglo-Arabian Mikelle becoming Ontario Junior Dressage Champions. She would repeat this feat in 1980 with Deja Vu a QH/TB mare.
During the early 80's Elaine competed on both Mikelle and Deja Vu in the US and Canada successfully through Intermediare 1.
She was a member of the Bronze Medal Team at the First North
American Continental Young Rider Championships in Chicago with Deja Vu and would win the Team Gold and Individual Bronze in 1983 at the ACYRDC's in Boston. Elaine began her teaching and training career at age 16, and it became a full time occupation in the mid eighties. Her students have competed successfully to Intermediare 1, and have earned many Championships in the Hunter/Jumper and even the Western Show rings. Elaine credits the success of her students with the way she teaches them; "don't rely on me being at your side all of the time to help you, learn to analyze the problems and correct them independently". She has an uncanny ability to determine whether the rider is communicating and balancing for the horse to understand the aids. Her concentration is on energy flow between the horse and rider.Elaine's first Grand Prix competition was in 1987 with Deja Vu and they were good enough to be long listed for the Canadian Team in 1988. Elaine and Deja Vu went on to win many classes and Championships before retiring her from the show ring in 1991 to become a schoolmaster. Elaine's next show mount would become the Trakehner mare Anaconda by Condus out of Arista. Born in 1984, her first year of major showing was in 1990 at Basic1 and 2, moving up to Medium 1 and 2 a year later. in 1991 Annie was the Ontario Medium Trillium Champion and has not looked back. Just like her father Condus and her relations Chrysos, Lavinia, Leonidas owned by Hilda Gurney of California. Anaconda has competed at Prix St. George and Intermediare 1. In 1997 her scores were in the 60's and they were the Toronto CADORA PSG/INT 1 Champion in June. Since then Annaconda has had a foal, Almaz and has returned to work as a schoolmaster.
In 1998 Elaine was the Canadian National Reserve Champion at Prix St.George with Sunar Born Lucky, an Anglo-Arabian that started his dressage career at age 12 back in 1992 and won 12 Regional Level Championships during his show career.
From 1999 to 2003, Elaine put her showing on hold and concentrated on her students, who won countless championships at the Trillium Dressage Shows, and Regional Arabian Championships in Ontario.
In 2004 Elaine began to campaign Annaconda's daughter KF Almaz+//. In her first season she amassed Regional and Local Championships at Training Level, and was the Eastern Canadian Arabian Horse Association's Dressage Horse of the Year.
Since that time Almaz has received her Legion of Excellence from the Arabian Horse association, and was in the top 10 of all Arabian horses with awarded points. Please refer to the blog for more show results.
Her gelding Gen Custer is now at Prix St. George and Intermediate 1, and is also a valued schoolmaster for students. He is now schooling all of the Grand Prix movements.
KF Almaz campaigned at Second and Third Level in 2007 with a median score of 65%, along with Gen Custer. Gen Custer was the US Reserve National Freestyle Champion and Top 10 in both Prix St. George and Intermediare 1 at the US Arabian Sport Horse Nationals in Lexington Virginia.
Along with Elaine's string of dressage horses, one of Elaine's students competed at Prix St.George and Intermediare 1 in 2007.
Elaine's students with many breeds of horses have won many awards and championships to Intemediate 1 the past 30 years. These horses have been trained by Elaine, from scratch, and not purchased already at that level.
Elaine is also a sucessful clinician conducting clinics regularly in Ontario and Alberta.
Elaine is presently teaching riders at her own facility; Kirkridge Farm on her advanced level school horses and has horses in training.
Congratulations to Kelsey, who is the Canadian Pony Club's National Reserve Champion at Starter Level Dressage Check out this e-mail from her mom detailing how she did:
