Dressage Competitor And Trainer Allison Kavey Brings A Fresh Outlook To Riders Of All Disciplines BY EMMA MILLER
Allison Kavey and Cacharel PHOTO BY EMMA MILLER
When Allison Kavey first made the trip to Wellington in 2002, she couldn’t have dreamed what the world’s winter equestrian capital would come to mean to her. Kavey first visited the Florida winter season with Uwe Steiner in Venice, and then came to Wellington to work with Bent Jensen the following year. The Wellington horse community, packed full of top-tier trainers and horses from all corners of the world, offered enormous opportunities to her in both the business and competitive sense. “Uwe Steiner was an amazing trainer, and I’m so glad I had the chance to work with him while he was alive,” Kavey said. “Much of my [training] foundation is due to Uwe. But I needed to be exposed to a much more competitive atmosphere to learn how to really show. The horse show opportunities and the atmosphere of Wellington were so different from Venice, which was very laid back. I just love it here. It is absolutely exciting and inspiring. In this country, you just don’t have the opportunity to watch riding like this very often.” When she was able to return to the Florida season in 2015, Kavey quickly came to realize how many unique opportunities existed in Wellington. She was especially excited about the chance to watch top professionals of other disciplines compete — all of them existing just a few minutes from each other. “It was so cool to go to the show wellington the magazine | march 2021 61