About Amanda
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We are hosting a Long Lining Clinic with Richard Malmgren at Brandywine Farm on June 21-22nd. Auditors Welcome!
Amanda and Gotta Love Me ("Joe"), winner of the FEI Young Rider Individual at the USET Festival of Champions in 2000.
Amanda is a USDF L Graduate with Distinction, a USDF Bronze and Silver Medalist on horses brought up the levels, and is currently pursuing her USEF "r" Judge License.
Amanda trained with USDF "S" Judge and Grand Prix Rider/Trainer Elizabeth Madlener for 17 years. In addition to her long mentor relationship with Elizabeth, Amanda spent the year after high school as a working student with FEI rider Stefany Wolfe. She moved with Joe to northern Maryland, where she benefited from riding a larger variety of horses at all ages and stages of training and from on-site clinics with Betsy Steiner.
She also spent 8 months working for Elizabeth at Linda Zang's Idlewilde Farm, riding Joe and Izabelle (Kathy Levit's Holsteiner mare), as well as other horses in training with Elizabeth.
Amanda was fortunate to clinic with European trainers, including Siegfried “Bimbo” Peilicke, working on Joe’s developing piaffe and passage, and to ride in two of the USDF Adv. YR Clinics with Conrad Schumacher.
After her working student time, Elizabeth asked Amanda to teach her regular Virginia students when she was traveling for judging and clinics. The two also partnered to train and show client horses. Benefiting from Elizabeth’s generous support and detailed training methodologies, Amanda competed the Holsteiner mare Izabelle to CBLM Reserve Champion at 2nd Level, the OTTB gelding Grande Finale to many wins and scores to 76% at 2nd, 3rd and 4th level, and the Trakehner gelding Golden Hour to high score awards (78% at Training and 74% at First Level) and 3rd place nationally at Training Level for the U.S. Trakehner Association.
Izabelle, owned by Kathy Levit
Lombado
Parker's Way
Amanda continued professionally for ten years, teaching a wide variety of students of all ages and backgrounds, and training horses out of several barns in PA, MD and VA, while continuing to work regularly with Elizabeth and campaign her own Holsteiner gelding Lombado through Third Level.
After rehabbing an injured off-track gelding (Parker’s Way) into winning large open First Level classes and competing him in a Pink Floyd freestyle, Amanda gained a reputation for retraining off track thoroughbreds for dressage, and formed a partnership with capital area business leader, John Gioia, who kept a sizable string at Laurel Raceway. John was looking for an ethical and rewarding way to re-home his horses after their race careers. Amanda was able to select prospects directly from the backstretch for retraining, competition and resale. Notably, Star Style (JC Piper’s New Baby), achieved wins in Open dressage through second level (to 74%) and was awarded the Rood and Riddle USEF Thoroughbreds in Sport Award for Rookie Dressage.
Amanda maintains her passion for Thoroughbreds today, volunteering for Kim Clark's Thoroughbred Placement Resources and advocating for the ex-racer as a competitive and rewarding partner in sport.
At Liberty (American WBX)
As an instructor, Amanda takes after Elizabeth’s signature teaching style, which often focuses on returning to the basics for horse and rider, and breaking them down into digestible, build-able exercises. As Elizabeth would say, “all the pieces must be in place to make the whole go right.”
Through biomechanics, theory, and a kind of ineffable “heart” connection, Amanda focus is developing the horse into a happy athlete to the extent of his or her natural abilities.
Szaka (Arabian owned by Pat M.)
Sometimes the best breakthroughs come from returning to the simplest exercises or forming a new bridge of understanding through basic groundwork. Amanda finds deep personal satisfaction in finding creative ways to connect with each horse as an individual, to bring out the sparkle in the eye and cultivate newfound joy between horse and rider.
Golden Hour (Trakehner, owned by Debbie Ellis)
In 2014 Amanda married U.S. Navy physician Justin Harder and the two moved from coast to coast on assignments until settling in the West Metro area of Minneapolis.
There Amanda connected with retired USEF “S” Judge and Grand Prix Rider/Trainer Bill Solyntjes, at his Brandywine Farm. Bill’s exacting eye for the horse's balance, passion for correctness of position and application of the aides, and his four decades of experience with classical dressage principles, renewed Amanda's passion for the sport.
Amanda is spending the 2025 winter season furthering her education and training with her current mount, a 9-year-old KWPN gelding, with Grand Prix trainer/rider Jess Idol (Dynamic Dressage) in Loxahatchee, FL.
Kilimanjaro ISF owned by Amanda
Gotta Love Me at Dressage at Devon 2001
Amanda with Student Anna and OTTB Ben
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