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Design your next Freestyle DTM plan with a little help from the app and
Steph Croxford.
Design your next Freestyle DTM plan with a little help from the app and
Steph Croxford.
All you could want to know
ABOUT US
The app is the result of a mad idea from Grand Prix international Dressage rider Steph Croxford, aided and abetted by fellow Dressage rider (not yet international) and app developer Ilse Daly from Blackdog Applications.
Their goal was to create an app that would make designing a freestyle Dressage to music floorplan both easy and fun.
Stephanie Croxford
Dr* Stephanie Croxford moved into the world of Dressage 25 years ago and since then has competed up to International Grand Prix all over Europe. She has competed as part of Nation Cup Teams in CDI 4 and 5 star events as well as on the World Cup Circuit. Her 3 International Grand Prix horses have been Mr President, Mr Hyde and Mr Benn.
Steph has specialised in freestyle design for over 10 years now and loves being creative with floorplan designs - as you'll find out from her "design inspiration" patterns.
She's also well known in the Dressage world for her work in boosting positivity in our sport. To this end she founded the very popular "ShiteDressageUnited" group on facebook. An idea that was spawned on an early morning dog-walk that's grown from simply being a supportive space on the internet to real-life shows, events and camps.
Steph is currently competing at Middle Tour level with 9yo Mr Jurist. The pair were 3rd in the BD Middle Tour Championships in 2022. She plans to move up to Grand Prix with him in 2023, which would make it 20 years of uninterrupted National and International GP. She is also bring along a young horse, a chestnut mare (best of luck with that one!), who is currently working Elem and Steph plans to be out campaigning her in 2023.
Ilse Daly
Dr* Ilse Daly is a Dressage rider and app developer. Through her business, Blackdog Applications, she's produced several equestrian apps including the Blackdog Equestrian App, Dressage Score Analytics, Equipole and Polework Patterns.
She's a competitive amateur Dressage rider who's competed to PSG and has worked (during summer holidays) for GP riders Judy Harvey and Anna Ross. Her ultimate goal is to get her current horse, Hillgrounds Fire Dance, to Grand Prix - they're currently at Medium, working at home on taming the flying changes. She's also accidentally taken over the ride on her mum's pure Irish Draft who is proving surprisingly adept at the whole Dressage thing, much to his and everyone else's surprise.
Somewhat ironically given she has developed this app, she has never actually done freestyle DTM but has plans to do some this year. No excuse not to really!
* Yes, both Steph and Ilse are Dr's with PhDs. Steph's PhD is in mine water Chemistry from the University of Sheffield - work that comes in handy day to day with the horses of course. Ilse's PhD is in mantis shrimp vision from the University of Bristol - yep, she is the world's leading (only) expert in the way that shrimp move their eyes. This too comes in handy day to day with almost every aspect of normal life.
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