MEET the TEAM

 PREVIOUS HISTORY

2
Ashley began riding at the age of 7, and offers 24 years of riding experience and horse management. She is originally from Washington State and got her start riding in the local 4-H Club. She showed ponies english and western, then quickly found her true passion in dressage at age 11. From a young age, to afford horses in her life, she always worked in exchange for the opportunity to ride and have her own horses. This gave her invaluable experience being  involved in every aspect of horse care and barn management, from cleaning stalls to feeding, turnout etc, before and after school. This also provided the opportunity to ride many different levels and breeds of horses as a working student during her high school/college years in WA.

2010

Ashley worked for Siggi Wolff, of Cavallis LLC as the assistant trainer at

4J Farm in Fall City, WA.

​

2012

An opportunity presented itself, and Ashley moved to Del Mar, CA to take a grooming position for David Blake at Arroyo Del Mar home of Shannon and Steffen Peters. What started off as a three month long apprenticeship, quickly turned into nearly three years. Ashley quickly advanced to become assistant trainer for David, and his wife Rebecca Rigdon. It was a dream come true for Ashley to be fully immersed and surrounded by top quality horses and riders in Southern California.

​

2015

Ashley began working with Elizabeth Ball, who she highly valued her experience and mentorship with. Ashley played an integral part on Beth’s team, assisting her in many aspects of taking care of her top FEI horses. She would travel with Beth to local shows, CDI’s and high-performance training sessions and continued to provide support for Beth at home, by riding her horses for her when she was away.​

​

2017

Was the start of her own training business, Donadt Dressage. Originally began as a mobile training service, before being based out of Fairbanks Ranch Equestrian Center in 2017. She then got the opportunity to relocate to Highpoint Farm in September 2020.

​

2019

Ashley trained with Anna Buffini and got the opportunity of a lifetime to ride and learn on her Grand prix Schoolmaster, Sundayboy - the king! They gave Ashley her start in Grand Prix, competing together in August and October 2020. At their second show together in October, Ashley and Sundayboy received a 69% in the Open Grand Prix! 

​

EVAN DONADT

Groom and Social Media Content Creator

Meet Evan Donadt, Ashley’s husband, and trusted partner at Donadt Dressage. Originally from Massachusetts, Evan graduated from UMASS with a Chemical Engineering Degree, and has a background in Biotech and Marketing roles.

​

Prior to meeting Ashley, he knew nothing about horses, but he took to them immediately and never looked back. He has always been the self proclaimed, biggest fan of Ashley’s career with horses, and has encouraged her to dream big since day one.

​

For the past seven years, he’s learned about the horses through Ashley and provided extra support, at home and at competitions, by grooming, filming and all the small details that help keep things running smoothly.

At the start of 2020, he began full time at Donadt Dressage as Head Groom, providing top notch grooming and stable care. He is well liked among both the horses and humans with a calming demeanor and a keen eye for detail and each horses individual personalities. The level of trust and communication with Evan is paramount to make for a very efficient and productive care program at Donadt Dressage.

​

Evan has also grown quite the following on his social media platforms. What started as a fun hobby for him, quickly turned into a large community of like minded followers who support his wholesome and positive message for the horse world, #horsesandhumor.

​