Cathy Zappe

Cathy grew up in South Africa and started riding at age 7 on a Basuto pony that her parents bought her. He had two speeds: gallop and stop. Having no saddle, she fell off nearly every day! She moved on to a schoolmaster then a young Arabian/Percheron cross that she showed and jumped in the Children's division.

When Cathy was 10 a very good equitatian program was introduced to improve the quality of young riders throughout the country. It was sponsored by BP and through it every junior rider had two-week long clinics a year with professional dressage or jumping instructors and then competed at the regional, provincial, and national level. One had to qualify for provincial and national competition. The competitons focus on effective, elegant riding in dressage and jumping on your own and strange horses. Cathy qualified for Nationals twice and both times was in the top 10 junior riders in the country.

As a young adult Cathy evented at the Prelim level and then went on to focus more on dressage. She has schooled and shown numerous horses to second and third level and Cathy is now competing at PSG on her Shire cross gelding that she brought on herself.

Cathy has her USDF Bronze and Silver medals and has done workshops for the USDF Instructors Certification T-4th, scoring good or excellent for all of them. One of her eventing pupils was the top Junior rider at Training Level in Region III during 2006 winning on her dressage scores. Another of Cathy's pupils won sever high score awards at Training level at Open shows on her Anglo-Arabian scoring in the 70s. She was 6th in the USDF rankings for Arabians at Training Level. She is now doing First Level and scoring in the mid 60s.

Cathy has been teaching dressage and lower level jumping for the past 25 years.

"I am very particular about the rider's position," Cathy says, "as I feel that the horse cannot move in balance and harmony if the rider's not sitting correctly. I like my horses to be relaxed and happy in their work as they are then pleased to work for us. I enjoy taking ordinary horses and riders and making them accomplished and competitive."

Watch the upcoming events calendar for Cathy's next clinic at Taura Farms.