Anita Adams

Anita Adams started her dressage training in 1975 studying with an elderly German, Fritz Weiss, who served in the East Prussian cavalry. His life was intimately intertwined with the horse that carried him into battle. This awakened Ms. Adams to the level of true horsemanship that existed in eras gone by. On completing college, she spent 6 months in Enzesfeld, Austria, located just 45km outside of Vienna, to participate in a British Horse Society Instructor Certification program. On her days off, she travelled to the Spanish Riding School to observe morning work sessions, not knowing at the time how the influence of the school would one day become the cornerstone of her work in dressage.

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On returning home to the states, she started taking clinics with Erik Herbermann in her home state of Michigan. When she relocated to Illinois in 1989, Mr. Herbermann recommended that she work with Karl Mikolka, who at that time was at Tempel Farms.  Upon this recommendation, Anita Adams sought out Herr Mikolka and requested that he guide her on a path of learning classical dressage. To this he replied, “Don’t do it!” Of course this warning fell on deaf ears.  Starting out with lessons, she slowly convinced The Master that she had the conviction to be a long term, dedicated student. Eventually she transitioned from lessons to an apprenticeship position.



She assisted Karl Mikolka for six years in the training of both Lipizzans and client horses on a daily basis. Ms. Adams participated in Lipizzan performances, riding in the Quadrille and exhibiting work-in-hand for the Airs-Above-the-Ground segments of the Lipizzan performances. During her time with Mr. Mikolka she assisted in the training of horses from Levade to Capriole and Courbette.

 

Ms. Adams has performed successfully both competitively and for exhibition.  She has brought junior riders to FEI level and helped numerous riders to advance their horses to piaffe and passage, pirouettes, and flying changes to two. In 2001 and 2002, two of her students made it to the top twelve national standing for the North American Junior National Championships. 



An entrepreneur approached Ms. Adams in 2004 to help actualize what came to be known as Blue Mounds Equine Center, a state of the art training and breeding facility in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin. Over the next six years, Ms. Adams developed a clientele and training program dedicated to the teaching of classical dressage. Ms Adams also coordinated quarterly clinics with Karl Mikolka at the faciity.



Currently, Ms. Adams has clients throughout the country who are following the Mikolka System and experiencing its benefits. She is eager to help those who are interested in preserving this time-honored method of training. If you would like to participate in a lesson or clinic with Ms, Adams, please contact her at anitaadamsdressage@gmail.com​.