Canadian FEI dressage rider Allie Schmidt is based in St Clements Ontario, where she runs a training and coaching program out of Winterwood Farms. Allie combines both high calibre coaching (she has high performance 1 designation, currently the highest available in Canada) along with training and riding a string of competition mounts. She says “we have both riders and horses with big dreams and goals as well as serious recreational riders at the farm.” Allie also does a little bit of breeding, mostly Hanoverian horses as she enjoys the process of developing horses right from the start. Outside of horses, Allie is also on call firefighter.
How did horses come into your life and transpire to dressage?
I grew up on a farm in Campbellville ON Canada, Vernadee. My family built everything from a vacant cornfield. I started off with my mom, Gail Schmidt as my coach and did a little bit of everything, an eventing/Pony Club base. I started on a 12hh pony, Chloe and moved onto a 5-year-old Hanoverian gelding who we had bred and raised when I was twelve – Walkin’ Shoes or Shoey as we call him in the barn. He was a little and sway backed and jumping wasn’t his favourite. Dressage chose me more than I chose dressage.
My mom had a strong background in dressage and helped me make the transition as well as finding coaches such as David Marcus and Cara Whitham to help me with higher calibre goals. At my first dressage show with Shoey, we got a 43% in a charity show. He had never been in an indoor arena and was very nervous! He travelled with me to California when I was an assistant rider to Jan Ebeling and made the jump to the PSG level. I ended our career with making the North American Young Riders team and representing Canada at the championships. Now he is the resident schoolmaster at 23 years old and introduces many riders to the sport of dressage.
Who have been the most influential mentors?
I have trained and worked under many top coaches and love to soak up knowledge anywhere I can. I started off working with David Marcus and Nicholas Fyffe as well as international judge Cara Whitham. They both taught me how far hard work can take you. I spent a year as an assistant rider to Jan Ebeling and learned a lot on how to run a top barn and what is needed to keep a horse competing at top levels of the sport.
During that year I got to travel with Team USA to Europe to groom for Jan as he campaigned for WEG 2014 where I got a feel for what it takes to represent your country at that level. I spent two years as part of Ontario Equestrian GRIT Team which is an initiative combining all three Olympic disciplines for young athletes. It teaches how to be a well-rounded athlete: nutrition, personal training, and mental performance which are topics not always focused on in equestrian athletes. Through this program, I got the opportunity to work with international successes, Ian Miller and Christilot Boylen. I now train with Olympians Belinda Trussell and Megan Lane on my current mounts. I’m learning so much with some top horses about how each horse is different and has their own timeline on their way to the top.
What do you love about dressage?
I love the finesse and that you never are quite where you want to be, it is truly a life-long sport. I also love that the process and the training aim to make the horse stronger and sounder overall when done well.
It takes a team to do dressage, who is in your support team?
I have a fantastic team of vet, farrier, body worker Spencer Creek, nutrition team through MadBarn and Jones Feed Mill and saddle fitter with Poseidon Atelier. I work with some fantastic Canadian companies like Ecogold which prioritizes airflow and temperature management in their boots and saddle pads.
What has been your proudest achievement to date?
A big one was getting my original horse Shoey from foal to FEI Young Riders level and I learned so much. The next one was Balthasar, Dino who I acquired through another trainer, friend. He was difficult and not an easy horse to sell and the owner just wanted the horse to find a good home. She told me if I could ride him, I could have him. I tried him 4 times at her farm and decided to take a chance. He knew the PSG movements but struggled in consistency and would shut down easily. Through some down time, learning to hack, jump and play as well as a lot of turnout with buddies he came around and we made our PSG debut a year later. With him I hit many milestones, I cracked 70% at the national small tour level, competed at the Open 1* level, declared for the Pan Am team in 2023 and competed at the CDI in Devon, PA, Wellington Fl, and Ocala Fl. He then helped me coach my first student to the CDI 1* level as well as attaining my HP1 coaching status. He now is leased out to a junior rider and giving her first experiences at the FEI junior level. It was so rewarding figuring out how to get him happy in his work and having him help so many riders make their dreams come true!
What is your philosophy as a trainer?
I have a very positive approach to both my horses and my riders. I have worked to build a program that incorporates a lot of sports psychology type thinking with my riders. I have a BSc in psychology so that influences my coaching practice. Also, my experience with GRIT team and training for my High-Performance coaching also is focusing on making sure to teach people the mental side of the sport as well as the technical side. From horse care point of view, I strongly believe in letting horses be horses. They all go out for full days in the paddock, with at least one other horse or a small group. We incorporate lots of hacking and cross training with poles and cavaletti. I think keeping horses happy with variety is key to having a successful partner.
With your coaching hat on what advice do you give to your riders?
As a coach don’t tell your students they can’t. If they are not ready tell them what they need to do to achieve that goal but don’t say that is won’t happen. When I was training with David Marcus showing Shoey first level I was struggling that the other students my age were working on FEI juniors and young riders. I approached David one day asking if that was something I could do one day with my horse, his answer was “Maybe, in two years… with a lot of training.” I was not scared of hard work and a lot of training was something I could do. A lot of people talk about the coach that told them they couldn’t and they proved that coach wrong by doing it, but I think a coach that tells you yes and helps you find a path towards that goal is the most inspiring.
What are your aspirations?
Working hard to make it onto team Canada and representing my country on the international stage. I also enjoy breeding and developing my horses from foals up the levels.
Your Top Tip
Listen to your horses, they are always trying to communicate. Work with a great team, farrier, vet, body worker, nutritionist, saddle fitter anyone else who can help you help your horse. Talk to other trainers, make a network, it helps in all aspects of this life with horses which is rarely easy.
What is the best piece of advice that you have ever been given?
I have been given lots of fantastic advice over the years and always take it in, even if I don’t think that advice is helpful right now as it might be later. I love the quote about how good dressage comes from sweeping. I think how someone sweeps tells you a lot about someone and they’re work ethic and attention to detail.
Want More?
If you enjoyed meeting Allie you might like to view more dressage rider “chatting with” interviews here. You can keep up with Allie’s progress and visit her instagram page here