HorsesDaily - Who's Who

Karen Robinson - Freestyle Design, Journalist, World Traveller

Longtime contributor to HorsesDaily On the Scene coverage is Canadian Karen Robinson, who we first had the pleasure of meeting at the 2002 WEG Games in Spain. Karen arranged accommodations for us and several other friends at a lovely resort on the sea for a great price, and none of us were victimized by the Press Hotel 1 hour from the site! Karen will be provideing her expert coverage on the Dressage Freestyles at the 2006 WEG Aachen as well as Eventing and Showjumping reports.

Karen Robinson wears two hats in the equestrian world: journalist and dressage freestyle designer. Her company, Applause Dressage Freestyle Design, took off at speed and has been accelerating steadily since she launched it in 1999.

Her current international clients include: Leslie Morse, Leslie Reid, Ashley Holzer, Shannon Dueck, Miguel Duarte of Portugal, Paralympian Lauren Barwick, and a number of Juniors and Young Riders at this year’s NAYRC.

Besides her Olympic, WEG, World Cup and Pan Am Games clients, Karen has designed freestyles for riders of all ages and levels. She gives freestyle clinics around North America, and will be a keynote speaker at the 2006 Equivents Linking The Steps symposium in Ontario with Mariette Withages and Jean Bemelmans, coach of the Spanish team.

Karen’s work as an equestrian journalist nicely complements her freestyle business, though her focus as a writer goes well beyond dressage to the other disciplines. Specializing in one-on-one interviews and training articles with experts, she is a permanent contributor to Dressage Today, Horse Sport, and Canadian Horse Journal, as well as a regular contributor to Horses Daily and Chronicle of the Horse. Journalistic highlights of the past two years include the Olympics and World Cup Finals. Aachen 2006 will be her second WEG, the first one having been Jerez 2002.

Karen makes time in her busy schedule to ride and show her six year old KWPN gelding, Teodoro, who made his freestyle debut at Second Level in 2006. Finally, as crazy as it sounds, she enjoys traveling with her husband Jan in her time off, both overseas and at home in their sailboat and VW camper van. Karen plans one day to add travel writing to her resumé.

Karen Robinson’s website is www.applausedressage.com.