Thoughtful dressage training for equestrians who value clarity, kindness, and connection.
Proudly based in Dallas, serving riders wherever their goals take them.

At Dark Horse Dressage, we help riders develop confidence, body awareness, and harmony with their horse- without sacrificing clarity or correctness.
Through thoughtful instruction and a focus on biomechanics, we build soft hands, strong seats, and riders who think independently.

Meet the Team

  • FEI Rider & Trainer, Professional Muzzler Smoocher, Wannabe Comedian

    Lauren began what can only be described as a deeply cringeworthy eventing career at the tender age of five. After enough years spent crying over fences, she wisely decided (at just twelve years old) that keeping all four on the floor sounded pretty damn good, and thus her dressage career was born.

    What started as pulling weeds and mucking stalls for extra saddle time quickly spiraled into full-time positions with top FEI trainers across Texas, Florida, and Virginia. There, she gained not only irreplaceable guidance, but also elite-level horsemanship skills (+ probably a healthy dose of trauma bonding with other working students).

    Lauren’s training lineage includes tutelage under: Conrad Schumacher, Carol and Mary Ann Grant, Lauren Sprieser, and Michael Barisone.
    She’s lived the working student life, groomed professionally at CDIs, taught as an assistant trainer, and earned her USDF Bronze and Silver Medals. Eventually, she left the East Coast to return to her native land of Texas- armed with way more skills, better boundaries, and substantially nicer saddles.

    Now as the “Chief Cat Herder”, Lauren is doubling down on her education through the EquiLearn Institute and Academy of Animal Sports Science.

    Her training approach? Equal parts classical biomechanics, unshakable empathy, and an abundance of wildly inappropriate jokes.
    Whether she’s starting young horses or rebuilding the broken-ish ones, she does it with tact, timing, and mostly without kicking and screaming.

  • Farm Security. Barn Manager in Training. Cookie Quality Control. Professional at Disrespect.

    LB is a 2018 standard edition Australian Shepherd/domestic terrorist.
    Her strengths include begging, strategic napping, pretending to drive Lauren’s truck, and issuing unprovoked threats to strangers/joggers/the occasional feed bag.

    Her weaknesses? Too long to list.
    Just give her a hug and Lauren a pat on the back for trying her best to raise a functioning employee.