INTERNATIONAL EQUESTRIAN DRESSAGE JUDGE AND TRAINER

Kristi Wysocki’s deepest passion is HORSES.  She loves sharing her knowledge with others, no matter their experience.  Her dedicated understanding of dressage is unparalleled. She left her engineering career in the oil industry in the mid 90’s to pursue her passion as a dressage rider and never looked back. Kristi is an international dressage and para dressage judge (Olympic Equine Discipline) and national Dressage Sport Horse Judge. She has a reputation as being both empathetic and fair when judging at any level.  Kristi has trained and taught dressage since 1989. For several years she also ran an equine rehabilitation center for horses recovering from injuries. 

As a Federation Equestre Internationale FEI 4* Dressage and FEI 5* Para Dressage Judge, Kristi has judged CDIs and CPEDs in the U.S., Europe, Russia, Australia, Canada, Mexico, South and Central America. She judged the 2018 World Equestrian Games Para Dressage and the European Para Dressage Championships in 2017. She has recently been appointed to judge the 2022 Para Dressage World Championships. At a national level,  she has judged the USDF National Dressage Championships and many USDF Regional Championships on numerous occasions. She is also a U.S. Equestrian Dressage Sport Horse judge. Kristi has judged Dressage at Devon on many occasions along with many other USDF Breeder Series Finals around the country. 

As a rider Kristi has successfully trained and ridden many horses from starting youngsters to Grand Prix Dressage. She has competed several horses to the FEI levels, winning many regional and local championships through Grand Prix.  She has also successfully competed in the CDI arena with multiple horses. She has earned her bronze, silver, gold medals and gold freestyle bar from the USDF.  Kristi’s students range from beginners to FEI, she loves teaching both. Several students have also competed successfully through the Grand Prix Level, some in the CDI arena, and many have also earned their USDF bronze, silver and gold medals.

In the Dressage Sport Horse division, Kristi received her introduction to breeding while working at Hilda Gurney’s Keenridge Farm in 1996. She started handling at Breeder Series Horse shows in 1997.  She became a USEF licensed dressage sport horse judge in 2002. Kristi has judged dressage sport horse shows such as Dressage at Devon on many occasions and many USDF Breeder Series Finals around the country. She has also served on the USDF Sport Horse Committee as a member and chair for many years.  She is a faculty member for the USDF Sport Horse Seminars and USEF Sport Horse Judges. She has also served on the USEF Dressage Committee, USEF Para Equestrian Committee and USEF/USDF Test Writing Task Force. She was currently appointed to the International Dressage Officials task force assigned to create better integration between dressage judges and para dressage judges.

Her engineering background, sport horse breeding and rehabilitation experience make her uniquely qualified to analyze training, soundness and development issues related to the horse’s individual conformation and movement. She can help riders work through otherwise limiting factors to excel in the sport.  She has recently taken intense one on one training focused on helping riders work through fear, self-confidence and self-doubt issues that often arise in riding, while in the heat of the moment.

Over the past few years, Kristi has expanded her local training program, by developing all-inclusive day clinics where she works with riders and trainers as a team. Through this ongoing training program, Kristi works in partnership with these teams so that they can reinforce their progress before the next training session. The program has been extremely well received by both riders and trainers in her region.

Recently Kristi has developed a comprehensive online education platform that is geared to provide dressage and equine enthusiasts with greater access to education from home.  With her wealth of expertise and experience, she enhances her students’ abilities to give them greater insight with their equine partners. To see more about the specific opportunities, go to WyDressageAcademy.com

A student recently shared: “I love that she teaches the WHY, and not just the HOW…” Kristi loves horses, she loves dressage – mostly because of the WY – not the how. The WY is what brings the magic.