Dear Rita,

Occasionally dressage trainers get together to do something fun and a little less serious than the circles in the sand that fascinate us nearly every day.

If you are so lucky as to be a member of the International Dressage Trainers Club, you have the opportunity to do something fun with your fellow trainers at least once a year during the annual meeting in April. This year’s meeting was held in the famous little town of Newmarket in Great Britain.

Dear Rita,

It seems we have some catching up to do. This winter in Germany has been long and dark, more so than any other I have experienced. We’ve had no snow, the days were incredibly short, and gray skies were the norm. Fortunately, the last few weeks have brought the scent of spring and better days to come.

Dear Rita,

This evening in Vechta the fog is so thick you could eat it with a spoon. I have heard fog described as a cloud that touches the ground. With all this moisture suspended in the air, I wonder if this cloud is formed by the tears we have all shed for Cadillac.

Thank you to everyone who has been so kind to contact me by email or Facebook and to those few of you who actually got through on the phone or came by to see me. I have guarded my privacy this week, but I am also thankful for all the good wishes from friends, family and fans.

Dear Rita,

In the very first blog that I wrote for The Chronicle of the Horse in February 2010, I invited my readers to join me on my quest for success in the sport of dressage while warning them that, “…this kind of journey can be full of heartbreak, joy, accomplishment and failure.“

Dear Rita,

The Global Dressage Forum is an event I have always wanted to attend. Usually I am competing at the Lyon CDI-W in France on the same weekend, but this year due to my delayed return to Germany with Winyamaro, I couldn’t compete in France. So off I went to Hooge Mierde, the Netherlands, and the stable complex of the Bartels family for two days of stimulating debate and discussion. I loved it!