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Monday, May 30 2022 / Published in Sidelines Feature

Stephany Fish Crossman: Bridging the Dressage Gap

By Laura Scaletti

Portraits by Melissa Fuller

A stroke of serendipity forever changed dressage professional Stephany Fish Crossman’s life. Little did her parents know that an ordinary trip to a county fair in Bangor, Maine, during the summer of 1977 would leave a lasting impression and spark an insatiable passion in Stephany.

“My parents put me on a pony at the fair and I didn’t want to get off—apparently there was a bit of screaming going on. I believe my parents may have avoided the fair for a bit after that incident,” Stephany chuckled.

Although they managed to avoid the fair, Stephany couldn’t stop thinking about horses. Luckily for her, the family moved to the “Horse Capital of the World,” Ocala, Florida. With horses aplenty, Stephany started taking lessons at the local boarding barn.

“While my parents hoped indulging me with riding lessons would quell my infatuation with horses, the bug had bitten,” Stephany said. Two years later, she got a surprise that cemented her connection with horses.

 

Stephany Fish at her Serendipity Dressage in Brooksville, Florida, with her horses Dante’s Rhythm RF, left, and Ehrensache WHF.

 

 

With Stephany’s grandfather passing away earlier in the year, Christmas 1982 was looking like a solemn affair. “My parents said they were going to the airport to get my Nanny’s brother, Bob, as a Christmas surprise for her. I waited at the house with Nan, but when they came back, they had a smallish brown horse with a Western saddle and royal blue saddle pad on,” Stephany said. “That was Beau, my first horse. I thought they had rented him for the day for me!”

Beau introduced Stephany to the world of horse ownership and led the way to subsequent horses and disciplines. Stephany did Pony Club, hunter shows, dressage shows and several horse trials. “At my first recognized event, I managed to get thrown off at the third jump. Everything looked so big! After that, I decided dressage was the thing for me. I simply wasn’t brave enough for the big jumps and dressage intrigued me,” she said.

Dreams Deferred

Stephany couldn’t imagine a life without horses and said, “As soon as I was old enough to know that grownups had to have jobs, I knew I wanted to be a horse trainer! However, my family had other ideas in mind, and I was told that I was going to college,” she said. “What they said was, ‘Get a degree and you can afford your own horses; train horses for a living and you will be too poor and only ride other people’s horses.’”

A dutiful daughter, Stephany obliged her parents’ wishes. “Several years, many dollars, a slight detour as a working student for Michael Poulin and many credits later, I ended up in the hotel management business, without a degree and without a horse,” Stephany said.

Although not the initial plan, Stephany excelled in the hotel industry. “I was very good at the business and got to work all over the country. As I moved for work, I had several aborted attempts at riding and teaching in each place, but hotels are like horses: My time was never my own, so the job came first,” Stephany said.

Eventually, the hotel industry brought Stephany to Palm Beach County. “I found a barn through the bartender at our hotel and got back into riding again. After five years in the hotel industry, when they wanted to transfer me again, I said no,” Stephany said. “They didn’t like it, but it gave me the courage to give this business a go and focus full time on horse training. I had no clue what I was doing, but I decided I would rather be poor and happy than have money and be miserable.”

 

Stephany, with Sache, conducts clinics across the country.

 

 

 

Overseas Education

Happy to be back horsing around, Stephany worked for veterinarian Lori Minteer for four years while she built her lesson business. As she was trying to figure out how to give her business a jump start, she picked up a copy of Dressage Today and read about the International Academy of Equine Studies (IAES) in Germany.

IAES was a concept started in Warndorf, Germany, with the idea to educate American, Canadian and Mexican riders in the Germany system, but in an abbreviated time frame. “I was working at a local farm in Jupiter and had a variety of horses to ride, but no money and no coaching, so I was pretty much going around in circles. I saw going to Germany as a springboard for my career, something to help me get to the next level of recognition and training,” Stephany said.

Stephany went all in once she was accepted into the program. “I buckled down to study more than I had at anything before; I worried, I sweated, I worked. The biggest piece that I got from going to Germany, besides my dear horse, Rocky, I brought home, was that I could do pretty much anything I set my mind to,” Stephany said.

In fact, to obtain her National Trainer Certificate at the end of the four-month program, Stephany had to pass several oral, written and practical exams. “We had to show competency in lunging, riding a young horse in a snaffle, riding an older horse in a double, we had to jump a 4’ jumper course (I closed my eyes for that part!), we had to formulate a lesson plan for a particular rider and horse, give the lesson and then review the lesson,” she said.

With her certification and new horse in hand, Stephany headed back to America in 2002. “Rocky became my first FEI horse and really helped me launch my career. Without him, I’m not sure the whole trip would have made a difference; without something to ride, how can you show off your knowledge,” Stephany said.

 

Stephany with her beloved hound Lila, who she recently lost.

 

 

Serendipity Dressage

Today, Stephany runs her Serendipity Dressage business in Brooksville, Florida. “When I started my business, that name was the natural choice for me. As a child, we had to move, and my parents bribed me with a five-acre farm they named Serendipity Stables. The concept of serendipity is something good that happens by chance. I like to think we take the ‘chance’ out of success,” she said.

Stephany is in the process of building her own facility in her ever-evolving enterprise. “I have a curious blend of serious riders who compete and beginner/novice adult amateurs who ride once a week. I also have a few horses in training, who range from green horses I’ve started to horses needing a tune-up to competing dressage horses,” Stephany said.

Her program blends dressage with biomechanics and natural horsemanship. Stephany is one of only nine accredited coaches for Mary Wanless’ Ride With Your Mind Biomechanics System in the U.S.  The system helps her correct riders’ deep-seated imbalance issues that can show up in horses in a variety of ways. “Understanding the human body is pivotal for the ‘average’ rider who is struggling to be the best guide for their horse that they can be but doesn’t know what they are and aren’t doing with their body,” Stephany said.

As Stephany has always been one to get tricky horses to work with, she was looking for new skills to help get the most out of them. That’s when she attended a Harry Whitney natural horsemanship clinic. “Harry looks at everything from a horse’s point of view. They simply want to feel OK—that they will live to see another day, that they won’t get eaten,” Stephany explained.

Combining these two philosophies has been a game changer for Stephany’s riders. “When the rider feels confident about their position and about their horse hearing them, dressage becomes the easy part,” Stephany said.

As an advocate for her discipline, Stephany likes to break that myth that anything other than competition dressage is simply not dressage. “Dressage helps your horse be straight to the jump and after the jump; it helps keep your tempo on the cross-country course; it helps an average mover get better scores. Dressage is knowing what to do to help make your horse better, whether that’s a shoulder in or a medium canter—dressage works for everything,” she said.

Reaching Goals

With USDF Bronze and Silver medals, Stephany is working towards her Gold medal. She currently has two horses of her own she is working with, Ehrensache WHF and Dante’s Rhythm RF. “Both are amazing horses. Ehrensache is my FEI horse; I plan to bring him to the Grand Prix level in the next two years, if all goes as planned. I’m really excited about Dante too, he’s at First Level this year and I think we will see big things out of him,” she said.

In addition to pursuing her own dreams and those of her regular customers, Stephany conducts clinics across the country. “I enjoy the clinic side of my business because I get to come in for some short, really intense teaching and leave them with a lot of homework to add to what they do with their main trainers. It’s so rewarding to be invited back to a location and see the progress clinic participants have made,” Stephany said.

An extra bonus to doing clinics is traveling to amazing venues. Two such places are Maui and Bozeman, Montana. “In Maui, I’ve seen whales jumping in the ocean from the arena while I was teaching, toured volcanos and swam with dolphins and manta rays. While much colder, Bozeman is another world equally as beautiful,” Stephany said.

Like many professional equestrians, Stephany would love to represent her country at the top of her sport someday. At the end of her career, she would feel like it was a huge accomplishment if she brought several horses to the Grand Prix level. She wants to show that where there is a will there is a way.

“There is a huge gap between those at the top of the business and those who make up the rest of the dressage community. If the people toward the bottom and middle of the pack can see how one gets to the top rungs of training, I think that’s an admirable goal to have,” Stephany said. “Having friends on both ends of the spectrum, I have a unique opportunity to help bridge that gap.”

 

 

Stephany earned her National Trainer Certificate while in Germany.

 

 

For more information, visit www.serendipitydressage.net

Photos by Melissa Fuller, msfullerphotography.com

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Tagged under: dressage, equestrian, equine, florida, horses, Stephany Fish Crossman

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The✨April issue✨ of Sidelines Magazine is here The✨April issue✨ of Sidelines Magazine is here and we are so excited to feature three-day eventer Liz Halliday on the cover! Big thanks to photographer Melissa Fuller for the beautiful photo of Liz and Cooley Nutcracker- Liz Halliday-Sharp - HS Eventing. Liz and her horses have taken the eventing world by storm - and find out how Liz is at the top of the sport as a female eventer! As the horse world gears up for the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event 2023, it's the perfect time to enjoy our eventing issue!! We also feature eventer and woman entrepreneur Frankie Thieriot Stutes, who is not only an eventer, but also runs Athletux and FRANKIE CAMERON handbags and accessories. And don't miss our eventing story on Robert "Bobby" Costello, who will be leading the US Eventing team to the 2024 Paris Olympics- and US Equestrian has named Bobby the eventing technical advisor/chef d'equipe!! Liz, Frankie and Bobby all have GREAT stories - don't miss any of them and don't forget to get your tickets for the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day event! We are also excited to introduce you to hunter-jumper rider Casey Lorusso Smith, who is not only a talented rider but also a psychotherapist and incorporates horses into her career. If you are up for adventure, then read the story on dressage rider Priscilla Baldwin who certainly doesn't let any grass grow under her feet! We also head to the west coast to catch up with hunter-jumper trainer Jim Hagman of Elvenstar Farm, we feature beautiful art by equestrian artist Tammy Tappan, and we get to know Miranda Jones and her family. Miranda is not only an attorney who spends a lot of time in the courthouse, but she's a rider and spends lots of time riding, and is joined by her daughters also! We are excited to feature Stephanie Lightner in our Unbridled column, and don't miss our columnists George Williams, Robert R.L. Jacobs and Margie Sugarman! It's a great issue - and you can read it online, but don't forget to go to the website and order a subscription and get every issue delivered to your mailbox!! Enjoy this issue and enjoy the ride: Link in bio!!
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Marie Meyers has been around the world because of Marie Meyers has been around the world because of dressage, but it’s her farm in Moorpark, California, that has captured her heart. The farm and the business that thrives there represent Marie’s lifelong journey—a journey made up of good friends, spectacular horses and relationships made to last.

Marie was raised in Southern California, and spent her childhood playing just about every sport under the sun, but she didn’t discover riding until she was 14 years old. “I loved animals so much, so I started taking lessons. I did jumping at first, but I was very bad at that, for sure!” Marie laughed.

After some time, Marie moved on to take lessons at Foxfield Riding Academy and began riding dressage. “I fell into dressage by accident,” Marie said, “At the beginning, I thought it was extremely boring, but then I got hooked. By the time I graduated from high school, I had plans to travel to England to work for Franz Rochowansky, a former head of the Spanish Riding School.”

In 1988, Marie’s hard work paid off, and the pair was selected as alternates for the 1988 Summer Olympic Games. “They didn’t take the alternates that year, so we didn’t go to Seoul, but the experience, the training and the European Tour afterwards set me up for the 1990 World Equestrian Games in Stockholm, Sweden,” Marie said.

In addition to having success representing her country, Marie was busy with her life—marriage, a business, teaching lessons and clinics. 

Learn more about Marie in this month's edition of Sidelines Magazine. Click the link in our bio for more 🦄

📸Photos by Lindsey Long Equine Photography, www.lindseylong.com

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We are starting a ‼️new series‼️ here on o We are starting a ‼️new series‼️ here on our socials where we share some of the lovely stallions, and their breeders featured in each month's magazine. Our first feature on this #STUDSunday is...

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You can find ALL of the stallions featured towards the back of the magazine in the equestrian gallery. Keep a look out EVERY Sunday for a new handsome STUD muffin🧁 and don't forget to subscribe to get your very own edition of Sidelines Magazine, the magazine for horse people, about horse people 🦄

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