Shelly Reichart: Trainer, Coach, Competitor, & Clinician
Who, What, Where, When, Why and How
Shelly began riding at the age of four and started competing in the hunter circuit when she was 7 years old. She changed disciplines after joining the United States Pony Club, becoming an event rider. By 15 years old, she had already found dressage to be her favorite discipline of the three. After winning four National Championship titles (individual and team champion in both 1989 and 1992), she was without a doubt addicted to the sport.
While attending UW-Milwaukee, Shelly became a working student for USDF judge, Jayne Ayers. During this time, Shelly was fortunate enough to work with Conrad Schumacher compliments of the USET Young Riders Program. After obtaining her BS in Business Administration, Shelly packed up her horse, Bravado, and moved to Maine to work for Michael Poulin as a working student. Upon returning home to Wisconsin, Shelly moved to Illinois to work with George Williams at Temple Farms in yet another working student position. With her working student experience behind her, she returned home to Wisconsin and obtained her Masters Degree in Management Information Systems from UW-Milwaukee.
Shelly utilizes her college education while working in the corporate world. Although she enjoys climbing the corporate ladder, her true passion has always remained with the horses. Her "real job" helped Shelly build her dream farm, Paradigm Farm. Shelly balances her leadership position in the corporate world with riding and training.
Shelly continues her dressage education by riding with world renowned trainer and judge, Linda Zang. Shelly is also fortunate to have Stephen Clarke come to her farm for clinics (when he's not busy judging the Olympics!!!). Shelly knows she's extremely fortunate to have such amazing instruction available to her in her backyard and while in Florida.
Shelly not only teaches and trains out of her farm and coaches at horse shows, she also travels to give clinics. Her positive attitude and "having fun while working hard" requirement attracts students of all ages and levels. Interested in riding with Shelly? You can trailer in to her farm or attend a clinic; whichever is best for you. Her current schedule of clinics and lessons can be found under the Calendar page or contact Shelly for more information.
Horses: Past and Present
Shelly has competed on a variety of horses over the course of her riding career, with each horse teaching her not only about the dressage and schooling movements throughout the levels, but more importantly, about patience and partnerships. She trained the pony she rode to her US Pony Club National titles - Superior Odds (a/k/a "Skipper") through FEI Prix St. Georges. Together they won numerous USDF Young Rider and All Breeds year end awards. Having earned all the required scores from Skipper, Shelly received her USDF Bronze Medal Rider award in 1992.
Her next mount, Bravado, was being ridden Western when he was purchased from a local horse dealer. Shelly and Bravado trained with Kalman DeJurnak and progressed quickly through FEI Prix St. Georges and FEI Intermediare I level competitions earning Shelly her USDF Silver Medal in 2000.
After Bravado's unexpected retirement due to a pinched nerve in his spine, Shelly began riding and training Spencer. Spencer was also being ridden Western when she bought him and he truly looked his breeding: Quarter Horse & Belgium Warmblood. Shelly finally competed Spencer at FEI Grand Prix in 2008. This was certainly a milestone in Shelly's career, as it was the first horse she trained through all the levels. With Spencer, she earned all but one score towards her USDF Gold Medal.
While training Spencer, Shelly purchased Welttaenser (a/k/a "Wally"). Although Wally came to Paradigm Farm to be sold under Shelly's guidance, Shelly quickly realized the potential the Hanoverian gelding had and purchased him for herself. With Wally, Shelly earned her final qualifying score for her USDF Gold Medal in 2008 and so, so much more! In their 11 years of competing at Grand Prix together, they received numerous awards and accolades - see Shelly's Recent Accomplishment page for more information.
Shelly was fortunate to ride Beall Spring Farm's "BS Savanna" in 2010. This provided Shelly to highlight her training skills in the Young Horse division. While under Shelly's tutelege, Savanna won the USEF Five Year Old class at the prestigous Palm Beach Derby and ended the season as Reserve Champion at the USEF National Young Horse Selection Trials.
Garcia HM was brought to Shelly to be trained as a four year old. After two years of training this lovely Lusitano stallion, his owner, Melissa Gelatt sold him to Shelly to continue his competition career. That story continues to be written...
Goals & Accomplishments Along the Way
Without a doubt, Shelly's personal goal as a rider is to represent the United States at international dressage competitions, including an Olympics. She has dreamt of wearing the US flag on her shadbelly since she was old enough to say the word "shadbelly". As a coach and trainer, she strives to bring out the best in each horse and rider. Shelly has gained a reputation for success with horses that don't have dressage skills "from the cradle". Her students learn to find harmony with their horses through consistent, persistent, and positive training. They become thinking riders, not dependent upon coaching to have a successful ride.
Shelly's compeitive achievements have been numerous (See Shelly's Recent Accomplishment page for more information). She has won USDF Regional Championship titles through Grand Prix and ranked in the Top 10 in the USDF Grand Prix Horse of the Year. She has ridden Wally to several American Hanoverian Grand Prix Champion titles. In 2012, Shelly and Wally were named to the United States Equestrian Federation's High Performance Dresssage Grand Prix Long List/Ranking List. This was an exciting step towards Shelly's ultimate goal of representing the United States in international dressage competition. In 2013, Shelly and Wally were invited to compete at the US Dressage Nationals at Grand Prix and placed sixth amongst the best of the best in the country.
