The two of them were Regional Reserve Champions at fourth level and Prix St. George and competed in Wellington, FL for two seasons against some of the toughest competition in the country.  In the winter/spring of ’04, Betsy officially began teaching and training.  She then sold Al Manjano, and went over to Europe with her trainer at the time, Karen Lipp, and purchased Cantana.  Cantana was 7 years old and had just been started under saddle.  Betsy has trained “Tanner” up the levels to where he is now schooling Grand Prix, as well as training and showing many other horses.

Betsy currently competes regularly, as well as coaching her students at shows during the season.  Betsy and “Tanner” were Fourth Level Regional Champions in 2006 in Cincinnati, OH. Most recently, “Tanner” and Betsy competed at the Intermediare 1 level in many shows this summer and will be completing the season with competing at the Regional Championships in September taking place at Horse Shows By The Bay located near her home base at Casalae Farms in Traverse City, MI! Betsy has earned both her USDF bronze and silver medals.  To continue her own education, Betsy has ridden with many top riders and Olympians including: Maryal Barnett, Lars Peterson, George Williams, Susan Dutta, Christine Traurig and Michelle Gibson, as well as Catherine Haddad and Karen Lipp.

  The Philosophy of Betsy’s Teaching and Training:  Betsy Van Dyke loves to teach students of all ages and levels.  Her greatest joy is helping each rider find better harmony with each horse.  She has worked with not only dressage riders, but also western pleasure riders, hunters, barrel racers, and trail riders, to name a few.  Betsy is a firm believer that, no matter what the discipline, “good riding is good riding”. Betsy is a classical dressage trainer who also thinks "outside the box". She is a bit of an anomaly as she values a good cow horse, reiner, or dressage horse, all as good horses. She wants a horse to be trusting and confident in what ever she asks of him. To Betsy, that is the test of good training.  If, when asked,  a cow horse willingly comes into a soft frame and moves his shoulders over, that is a good horse. If she asks her FEI dressage horse to track a cow, he should be able to trust her and do so without trouble. Betsy probably owes some of this to her cowboy brother, Paul Van Dyke, in Wyoming. 

   “Dressage” is the French word for “training” and we can always improve our horses and our self by learning to understand and communicate with our horses better.  Betsy has trained many horses from numerous disciplines and enjoys bringing horses along in their training, from the bare basics to top, FEI dressage horses.