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The Professor is supported in part by donations made to the Georgia Equestrian Foundation.  A 501(c)3 charitable foundation.

PRESS RELEASE

Horses dancing at Applewood Farm

Spring is the season of “firsts.” The new leaves see their first sunlight,

the swallows return to Capistrano, and the dressage horses return from the

winter training circuit in Florida to Applewood Farm in Alpharetta, GA.

While most people think of a horse standing in a field or trail riding, few

realize you can dance with your horse. In fact, dressage is the Olympic

sport where the horse shows strength, grace and beauty by dancing with it’s

rider. Fred and Ginger took years of training to develop that effortless

dance seen in the old black and white movies. It takes even more work to be

able to perform dressage with your horse. Every winter the dressage

horses at Applewood Farm pack up and move to West Palm Beach, Florida.

From around the United States over 6000 horses make this yearly migration so

they can continue train and compete in the sunny warm climate.

No one in the USA is better at dressage than Michelle Gibson, of Roswell,

GA., who won a Bronze medal in the 1996 Olympic Games. “My goal is to go

back to the Olympics in 2004” said Gibson, “people who sit and wait for

warmer weather don’t win gold medals, so in the winter I leave my family and

friends to continue training in Florida.” “The return of spring and the

return home makes this a double treat for me.” Gibson and her entourage of

horses, trailers, trucks, friends and helpers returned to Applewood Farm in

Alpharetta on April 3 to a hero’s welcome. “We really miss Michelle and all

of the activity of her being here during the winter months,” said Brad

Thatcher the owner of Applewood. “It is exciting for me to see such big

creatures performing the most graceful dressage movements in the arena” said

Thatcher, “Michelle has this natural ability to do the most beautiful

movements on a horse that was just grazing in the field earlier in the day.

It is going to be a good spring.”

Contact Phone: 678-575-1201