David Blake Dressage

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About

USDF Gold Medalist and FEI competitor David Blake operates Rigdon & Blake Stables at Ad Astra Stables on Windsor Road in Encinitas's Cardiff-by-the-Sea district, training horses and riders from foundation levels through Grand Prix dressage. The program shares Cardiff's equestrian corridor with Equitage Horsecare, and Blake's horses follow individualized conditioning plans that integrate farrier, nutrition, and veterinary schedules specific to each animal's competition timeline. Blake earned his USDF Bronze Medal at sixteen, Silver at seventeen, and Gold on a self-trained horse, later completing his USDF 'L' graduate judging license at twenty-two. He won the 2006 National Young Horse six-year-old division, represented the United States at the FEI World Young Horse Championships in Verden, Germany, in 2007 aboard Lord Albert, and was selected by USEF to compete at CDI events in Hickstead and Lingen in 2015 with his Grand Prix mount Ikaros — credentials built along the same coastal riding corridor that borders Cardiff State Beach. The stable's highest-tier services include FEI-level Grand Prix preparation, stallion licensing campaigns, and World Breeding Championship qualification programs for young horses competing at the international five-, six-, and seven-year-old levels.