SANDY OSBORN
 
 
Sandy Osborn is a USEF "S" judge, as well as a USDF Gold and Silver Medalist, who has been actively involved in dressage, beginning in the NEDA region since 1980. She began her dressage career while a student at the University of Massachusetts under the instruction of Linda Jaskiel Brown and Sarah Geikie. After graduating she worked for Kathy Connelly who helped her get started in the "r" judges program and was influential in helping her start her early days of freelancing in the Concord, Massachusetts area.
Milestone winning the GP at GMHA in Woodstock, VT in '06
Subsequently, Sandy went on to ride and study with such notable professionals as Robert Dover, Jessica Ransehousen and Gerd Reuter. In 1986 she was offered the position of Director of Equitation at the University of Massachusetts, a position which she held for eight years before going back into the private sector. During those years at the University of Massachusetts, she was influential in building the foundation of some of NEDA's most popular instructors today.
The scenic Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts with the university visible in the background.
In 1996 Sandy met Roel Theunissen, the trainer with whom she has studied exclusively since then. Through Roel, she found her equine partner of six years, Milestone, the horse with which she was finally able to negotiate the long road to the Grand Prix. That journey culminated with the achievement of qualifying for Devon in their first year at the GP, and then making the cut for the freestyle as well.
Sandy, Miles, and Roel
preparing for the first GP.
During those years leading up to the realization of that dream of training her own horse to the GP level, Sandy joined Roel as a trainer in his business outside of Boston, Massachusetts, in order to immerse herself in a classical European training system and discover the mysteries that make dressage so elusive and so difficult for so many. From October 2007 through May 2012, Sandy worked with Roel and Adam Lastowka, as an independent trainer based at After The Fox Farm in Madison, Ga. In June of 2012, After The Fox Farm closed its doors and was sold.  Sandy is now located at Ashland Farm in Covington, GA.