ABOUT OLIVIA CHAPESKI

Olivia Chapeski and the 2006 Andalusian gelding Indro at Grand Prix, 2016.

For videos, please visit ChapeskiDressage on YouTube!


I began riding at a very young age and competed in my first show on my POA pony at the age of four. I participated in Pony Club until the age of 14, receiving valuable horsemanship education and my C-3 rating. Through my teen years I competed in Beginner Novice through Training Level eventing on a self-trained Appendix mare. My three-day eventing career culminated in being named the Montana Eventer of the Year and USCTA Area 7 Reserve Champion. Later, with the same mare, I received my USDF Bronze Medal in 1999.

From there I moved on to the mount I retired in 2010, a jumper-bred Dutch/Holsteiner gelding named Joust. Joust came to me as a Training Level educated horse and together we moved up the levels. I earned my USDF Silver Medal with him in 2002, my Gold Medal in 2008, and in 2005 we qualified in the first position (as well as the third position on another mount, Passado) for the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships, where we finished 10th individually. Joust had top ten finishes in California CDIs and three years out at Grand Prix before he retired at the age of 19. His golden years were spent happily retired to the field raising my youngsters until I sadly lost him at the considerable age of 30.

There have been many important horses of my own and my clients in between then and now, but my long time mount, whom I started under saddle for his then owner in 2009, is an Andalusian gelding named Indro ("Rio"). He had 4 successful years out at Grand Prix, and is currently semi-retired while dabbling in the super fun sport of Working Equitation.

Over the years with Rio, Joust, and so many others I have had Champion, Reserve Champion and third place finishes at Training through Grand Prix Levels at the Region 6 and Northwest Championships each year attended, as well as wins and top ten finishes in USDF Year-End and All-Breeds Awards with many breeds represented. In 2007, my father acquired a locally bred, green Hanoverian mare named Gaudenzia. Though initially uneducated, she was an absolute joy to work with, and we finished out the 2008 season as the USDF Training Level Champion Horse of the Year with a median score of 78.4 percent, ninth place USDF First Level Horse of the Year with a median score of 73.9 percent, and AHS USEF Level Overall Champion. "Tess" went on to show successfully through 4th level with many national and regional level awards before stepping down to act as a saintly schoolmistress.  

 She now has a beautiful 2015 filly named Witka, by the Hanoverian Wolkentanz II, a 2017 filly named Brontide by the Andalusian Patriotico SG, and a 2021 colt named Caelum by the Lusitano Leon de Matecana.

 I have students young and "vintage", brand new and advanced, who ride horses of all talents, dispositions and levels. The majority of my students are exclusively dressage riders, though many are eventers or hunter/jumper riders, with a handful of western discipline riders as well! Some of my students have no desire to show and only want to work up the levels out of the public eye, or improve their skills and horse's well-being in disciplines other than dressage, while others show season after season with the goal of earning their USDF medals and furthering their competitive success as they move up the levels. My primary philosophy is that the horse can only be as good as its rider. I place great importance on the rider's position, methods, techniques, and effectiveness, not only so that he or she can better communicate with the horse, but so that the horse can better carry his rider. I love working with young horses and helping improve the aging athlete. The light bulb moments of new riders are just as exciting for me as the confirmation of a skill in the more experienced rider. Dressage is a journey, not a destination!  　

　


Over the years I have been lucky enough to participate in clinics with Kari McClain, Roxanne Christenson, Jane Savoie, Linda Zang, Axel Steiner, David Blake, Jennifer Roth, Christian Garweg, Beth Glosten and Conrad Schumacher. My primary instructors have always been my father early on, and Kari McClain of Olympia, WA. 



Some Accomplishments (Full list can be viewed on "Accomplishments and Accolades" page):
-USDF Bronze, Silver and Gold Medals "with Distinction"
-Diamond Achievement Award (USDF Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medalist, and USDF Bronze, Silver and Gold Freestyle Bars on self-trained horses)
-USDF Musical Freestyle Challenge Champion at 3rd Level in 2012, and Reserve Champion at 4th Level in 2013 

-2008 USDF Training Level Champion Horse of the Year (median score 78.4%)

-2012 USDF 5th place Training Level Horse of the Year (median 75.5% on a Friesian)
-2008 USDF 9th place First Level Horse of the Year (median score 73.9%)
-2021 Working Equitation Regional Reserve Champion at Intermediate B
-2008 and 2012 Sylvan Farm Perpetual Trophy Winner

-2012 Northwest Cup Champion
-Qualified horses in first and third positions for 2005 NAYRC, finishing 10th individually and 4th as a team
-Many top 8 finishes at Region 6 and Northwest championships, Training through Grand Prix Levels on multiple horses, including 37 Champion and Reserve Champion wins spread across all levels, each year attended, 1996-current year.
-2003 Reserve Champion at USAE Dressage Seat Semi-Finals
-2006 Top Ten finisher in Festival of the Horse and Golden State CDI’s at Prix St. Georges and Intermediare 1 on a self-trained horse.
-Numerous wins and top-ten finishes in USDF Year-End and All Breeds awards (Hanoverian/AHS, Friesian/FHANA, Trakehner/ATA, Andalusian/IALHA, Dutch/KWPN, Performance Horse/PHR, Arabian/AHA, Haflinger/AHR.)
-1996 USCTA Reserve Champion Area 7 Beg. Novice Horse and Montana Eventer of the Year

Olivia and Jay Van Het Vossenhof, 2019