CARLEY KNAPP

Carley Knapp is a young Dressage rider from Bennet, Nebraska who has grown up riding horses competitively. Starting off her riding career at the age of six, she competed in Western Pleasure and Showmanship classes on her older Quarter Horse, Goldmine. As her love of riding grew, she became fascinated with Dressage. In 2011 Carley started training with Missy Fladland in Griswold, Iowa and continued to compete in Dressage for 6 years. During that time, she also worked closely with Kip Fladland learning valuable natural horsemanship skills, taught by Buck Brannaman, Ray Hunt, and Tom Dorrance. Shortly after graduating high school, Carley moved cross-country to Colora, Maryland where she spent 2.5 years working at Hilltop Farm, Inc. with Michael Bragdell, honing in on the development of her young horses. During her time at Hilltop, she worked one on one with top competition and breeding stallions and travelled to Wellington, Florida each winter. 

Carley has worked with a variety of horses from weanlings and three year olds, to Grand Prix athletes. Carley is bringing her knowledge and skills back to Nebraska to help the local Dressage community grow and develop. In 2022 she started up CDK Dressage, LLC. Shortly after the Florida season in May, 2023 her family established Time's Side Acres in their hometown of Bennet.

Carley's lesson program is centered around rider awareness of correct aids, postural alignment of rider with stability strengthening, and connecting all the pieces that make the horse and rider partnership succeed. Her training programs are individualized to the needs of each horse, where the key focus is placed on building confidence in the horse through specialized groundwork training. She is available for starting young horses, riding/training, lessons for competitive riders, and those looking to better their all-around horsemanship skills.