Kathy Crosby
USDF Bronze, Silver & Gold Medalist
Born & raised on Boston’s north shore, Kathy rode her first pony in the backyard at 4. Self -taught until 15, she did most of her riding on the trails or on the beaches of Rockport. Kathy later had success showing hunters & eventing. Deciding that horses were her passion, at the age of 27 she bought a house on 50 acres in Colchester Vermont. She built a 26 stall barn & large indoor, which she used as her base of operation & managed for 18 years. Shortly after moving to Vermont, Kathy started training with Carol Lavell & never looked back. Carol found her a free PSG schoolmaster that was trained in Germany by Walter Christiansen. Though only able to ride him for 6 months due to soundness issues, Kathy considered the experience life altering.
Kathy’s next horse was Louis L'Amour, an unbroken 3 year old when she purchased as a dressage prospect from a snowy field outside of Toronto. The ½ Hanoverian, ½ half Standardbred gelding had difficulty cantering at all, & had a lateral walk. With the help of Carol and Pam Goodrich, Kathy & Louie overcame those difficulties & Louie became one of the best FEI horses in the country. The pair were the Prix St Georges High Score Champions at the prestigious Dressage at Devon. They ranked 5th nationally in the USET’s Intermediate 1 Championship and placed 4th in the nation in the USDF’s Horse of the Year at Prix St. Georges. After winning 3 of 4 qualifying classes in Florida, the USOC paid Kathy & Louie’s expenses to travel to San Antonio, where they rode to a team bronze at the USOC Olympic Festival. After moving up to Grand Prix, they placed 3rd at the Festival of Champions at the USET headquarters in Gladstone & were on the long-list for the team. Upon being nominated to the USET Grand Prix training list, Kathy had the privilege to attend USET team training sessions in Wellington and Gladstone. Those USET sponsored sessions were taught by then team coach, German dressage icon, Harry Boldt. When a generous offer to buy presented itself, Louie was sold to another professional whom Louie also helped to earn her USDF Gold Medal.
Kathy then re-directed her attention to teaching, raising her son, and importing sale horses from Holland. She competed many of the sale horses through PSG, always in the ribbons. When her son graduated from high school in 2003, she returned to Rockport and re-established her business from there. Around this time, Kathy had the good fortune to meet Leni Soderberg, a Swedish dressage enthusiast who lived in the states for two years. When Leni returned to Sweden, she & Kathy started importing amateur friendly dressage horses from Sweden, which Kathy then competed & sold. Through Leni, Kathy visited superstar Jan Brink and attended the European Championships in Torino, Italy. There, she was able to watch the best of the best warm up and compete, including Leni's horse "Orient" ridden by Swedish Olympian Per Sandgaard, whom Leni sponsors. Although she has had exposure to many, Kathy’s primary training influence has been Carol Lavell, who led the US to a team Bronze in the Barcelona Olympics on her amazing horse Gifted. Kathy also did a lot of work with Pam Goodrich, who has been both long- and short-listed with the USET.
Kathy joined Wadsworth Farm in February 2010. She loves the teaching and training process, at any level, with any type rider or horse, whether geared to competition, or just for the love of dressage! Her students have won Regional Championships, NEDA year-end awards, USDF Bronze & Silver Medals, & USDF horse of the Year awards. Knowing Kathy’s penchant for re-claiming difficult horses, Leni purchased Kathy’s current horse, Bretagne ("Trigger") a Swedish gelding who started his life as an event horse. Trigger has won at 3rd & 4th level. Kathy loves the challenge of improving his basics as he regains confidence in his rider.
To schedule a lesson or inquire about training:
