.:. about us

    Joanna Fowler is a British Horse Society Instructor with over 30 years of experience.

Before starting her career in teaching she was the first Pony Club “A” in the Northwest

Region and then was one of the youngest ever to receive the BHSI degree.

    She joined Pony Club at 13 yrs. old after moving to the Northwest from the Midwest

where she had been started as a western rider.  Her earliest instructors were her mother

Sheila, Suzy Moery, Bunny Coffin and Alex Trewin. 

    At age 15, Patricia Salt, FBHS, moved into the area and Joanna rode weekly with her for

3 years.  She became the Northwest’s first “A” pony clubber at 18.  In those days the

qualifications for the “A” included lateral work, show-jumping at 4’, cross country at 3’9, and

bringing an additional horse that you had trained from scratch.

    After that she followed Pat’s suggestion to take a year off after high school to train as an

instructor in England at Robert Hall’s Fulmer school of Equitation.  The year off extended

into 2 years before returning to attend the UW. 

    While attending the UW she continued teaching with Pat Salt and Phyllis Crooks at Evergreen Eq. Center while also riding in clinics with Deitrich von Hoppfgarten. 

    At age 24 she went back to England and resumed studies with Pat Manning, FBHS, and “Dorothy” who together had been her main influences in her years at Fulmer. She passed the British Horse Society “Instructor” (BHSI) exam in 1971. (Pat Manning became the coach of Virginia Leng, one of Britain's leading event riders and Olympian.)  Joanna

remained in England for a few years doing all sorts of things including studying Early Childhood Education and teaching English as a Second Language.

    She returned to the Northwest some years later with family life as a priority.  She continued her education by attending USDF, USCTA, and Canadian instructors clinics with Sally Swift, Henrik Johannson, Dr. Knapp, Bill Woods, Gabor Foltenyi, Charles de Kunffy, and others.

    Joanna brings years of knowledge and wisdom to all of her lessons. Her students learn tact, fairness, compassion and determination along with their riding skills.

.:. about Joanna

.:. about Duschka

    Duschka Fowler-Dunning grew up riding in her mother’s lessons and around the

barn.  She was an active member of Valley Green Pony Club and rode in local events.

She received her B in PC when she was 15, and after taking a couple years off

competed Prelim. and rode in a Mini-Prix (4’3 jumpers) when she was 17.

     For 6 months in 1997 she was a working student for Nick Holmes-Smith of the

Canadian Olympic team. She had 3 lessons a day with Nick and did a lot of hard labor,

learning the values of positive results from hard work.

    In 1998 she was a member of the gold medal young riders team at the two-star level

(Intermediate), placing 5th individually, on Baybeau, a home bred and trained horse.

She graduated from Western Washington University in 2000 with a degree in Latin

American Studies. In 2001 she went to Germany and rode dressage for 5 months with

the International Academy of Equestrians Studies, receiving her Trainer B certificate.

    Since then she has been teaching and riding.  She has been heavily influenced by Deitrich von Hoppfgarten whom she rode with monthly for 4 years,  Robin Hahn who she currently clinics with 2-3 times yearly, Nick Holmes-Smith whom she rides with whenever possible, and Kim von Hoppfgarten whom she currently rides with monthly.  And of course her mother whom she tries really hard to not fight with while she’s teaching her.  Due to the location of Brackenhollow stables she also benefits from neighborly comments from Suzy Moery and Bunny Coffin.

     She is an active competitor and trainer in the region. Most recently she has been competing at the Intermediate and 2 star level in 2009 and 2010 on her family owned horse, Legacy. Duschka is currently pursuing an MBA degree at Bainbridge Graduate Institute.