20 SIDELINES FEBRUARY 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Continued on page 23
By Kim MacMillan
Mix together a strong Midwestern work ethic, a good measure
of practicality, a pinch of intensity and a large portion of passion
for horses and dressage and you come up with Judy Kelly of
Clarkston, Michigan. Judy has been teaching and training at her
Topline Dressage since 1981 and has achieved her United States
Dressage Federation’s bronze, silver and gold medals along the
way.
Judy started riding at an early age. “The most consistent riding I
did early on was in 4-H when I was 11 or 12. In fact, my husband’s
mom was our 4-H leader. I love telling that story; we grew up about
a half a mile from one another. I just did Western then – games
and pleasure classes mainly. My first horse was a little Quarter
Horse named Sir Don, a.k.a. Donald. He was a great kid’s horse!”
“I did that for about two years and got a little bored so I wanted
to learn English riding. I grew up in Farmington, Michigan, and just
down the road from us in West Bloomfield was Centaur Farms
where I took lessons with Dave Lackey. I started taking English
riding lessons there on school horses and did a little jumping and
a little dressage. I was not a brave kid, so I didn’t like jumping so
much. That is how I started dressage. From age 13 until I was 19
I rode at Centaur,” explained Judy.
The Maestro was Judy’s first dressage horse. She bought him
when she was 14 and took him all the way to the grand prix level.
She and Maestro placed fifth in 1979 at the selection trials for
the Pan American Games. They were also invited to compete at
Goodwood in England. “I was able, just by the blessing of the
horse, to make it to grand prix. I kept him for the rest of his life.
Once I started back as a professional rider in 1981, he was my
school horse and he was really, really good too! He was 25 when
e
Dressage
he had to be put down,” she said.
After two years off for college, Judy decided to turn pro. “In
college I studied many things, because I was trying to decide what
to do when I ‘grew up.’ Math and sciences were my forte. It makes
me an analytical rider,” she said.
Early in her dressage career she rode with a number of
respected names including Steffen Peters, Christine Traurig and
Betsy Steiner. She also participated in a developing rider clinic
with Guenter Seidel. In the late 1980s, she rode with Jan Ebeling
when he was giving clinics in Michigan and later re-connected
with him when she went to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center
to watch a Klaus Balkenhol clinic and saw Jan there. She’s been
riding with him for nearly 12 years now.
“Since I had already ridden with him in the clinics I asked him
if he would be interested in coming out to Michigan again to work
with me and he said he would. He has been the most influential
person in my riding. He pushes me when I need to be pushed. His
instructing and the way he explains things are great – he lets you
works things out, but then he’ll say ‘well, I would have done it this
way.’ He really cares about the success of you and your horse. It’s
just a great relationship. He’s stuck with me whether he wants to
be or not,” she laughed.
Judy’s philosophy of creating an individual training program that
suits each of her students and their horses has made her a popular
instructor at her farm just north of Detroit. She and her husband of
25 years, Sean Kelly, own and operate Topline Dressage. Their
barn has 33 stalls and they regularly have 25 – 30 horses at the
farm at any one time. Judy teaches around 30 students per week
at home and coaches many of them at shows. She also trains
and shows horses for her clients and has at least one show horse
Judy Kelly’s Recipe for Success
Judy and Benise
showing their
elegant canter work
at the inaugural
National Dressage
Championships in
November 2013 in
Kentucky. The pair
took first in the Prix St.
Georges Open/Adult
Amateur class with a
71.184 percent.
Photo by SusanJStickle.com
Judy shares a quiet
moment with her nine-
year-old Hanoverian
mare Benise (Breitling
W – Rubenstein I) at the
Dressage at Waterloo
Show in Michigan.
Photo by Kim MacMillan/
MacMillan Photography
