Ashley Holzer Named as Inaugural Dressage Canada Athlete of the Month

Ashley Holzer & Pop Art - photo © www.TetleyPhoto.com

The winning ways of Canadian dressage rider Ashley Holzer have secured her yet another title in her illustrious dressage career—the inaugural Dressage Canada Athlete of the Month.

Holzer, originally from Toronto, ON, and currently residing in New York, NY, has been enjoying a tremendous year with Pop Art, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Ian and Moreen Nicoll and Rusty Holzer. In 2008, this combination have won almost every Grand Prix class entered with the small exception of the Olympic Games where they made Canadian history by making it into the Individual medal round and finishing in 12th place in the world.

The next month, Ashley and Pop Art continued their winning ways at the prestigious Dressage at Devon CDI-W where they won the Grand Prix and narrowly missed another first place ribbon in the Freestyle by just .150 %. This exceptional consistency has catapulted Holzer and Pop Art to be one of the top ten dressage partnerships in the world. They are currently ranked seventh in the FEI World Dressage Rankings.

“I would like to thank the coaches that have helped me so much over the last 10 years,” noted Holzer. “I could not have done what I have without the help from Evi Pracht, Robert Dover, Sjef Janssen and of course my incredibly supportive husband, Rusty. Poppy would like to thank his best friends, Denielle Gallagher and Holly Jones.”

Dressage Canada is very pleased to launch a new athlete recognition program to celebrate the achievements of Canadian dressage riders who represent Canada in national and international competition at the FEI Pony, Children, Junior, Young Rider, Advanced, Grand Prix and Young Horses classes.

Dressage Canada is also very pleased to announce Red Scarf Equestrian's generous support of this new athlete recognition program. Red Scarf Equestrian will be providing each "Athlete of the Month" with a generous gift certificate.

"Dressage Canada is excited to launch this program which recognizes the achievements of our Canadian dressage athletes, and grateful to Red Scarf Equestrian for their support,” remarked the Chair of Dressage Canada, Kerri McGregor. “Ashley's consistent success throughout the year, and her most recent historical achievements at the Olympic Games and the FEI World Dressage Rankings, made her the perfect choice as the inaugural recipient."