After a successful career as an amateur hunter/jumper rider, Donna Richardson switched to dressage in 1987. “As a teenager, I had been forced by Emmy Grant, one of the pioneers of American dressage, to do 40 minutes of dressage before being allowed to "jump.” However, when faced with a lame hunter and a jumper who didn’t like big fences, Donna remembered her earlier lessons and concluded dressage might be something both horses could do. By the time she had trained the Appendix Quarter Horse jumper to Grand Prix, Donna was hooked on the sport. When the time came for a new horse, Donna wasted no time is buying a three-year old Rhinelander from European dressage master Jo Hinnemann.

With Astaire, she started again at the base of the training pyramid. Despite a serious bout with EPM, Donna and Astaire eventually became California Dressage Society (CDS) and United States Dressage Federation (USDF) amateur champions at Prix St. Georges and Intermediate I.  When an injury ended Astaire’s career just as he was nearing Grand Prix, Donna retired him and bought another 3-year old gelding, Jazzman.
With no more worlds to conquer in the amateur division, Donna turned professional in 1993.  Jazzman was a once in a lifetime horse, advancing two levels a year, and winning CDS and USDF national championships at first and second level, third and third level freestyle, fourth level and fourth level freestyle, and Intermediate freestyle. In 1999, Donna fulfilled a lifelong dream, when she and Jazzman were named to the United States Equestrian Team. At the 1999 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, Canada, Donna and Jazzman were team gold medallists and sixth individually. Jazzman continued his success at Grand Prix, being long-listed for the USET in his first year of competition, and earning scores as high as 75%.

In 2002, Donna once again rode for the USET, this time at the Sydney, Australia CDI. Competing on borrowed horses, she and fellow teammate Jeremy Steinberg brought home a team bronze medal. Donna is now campaigning two FEI horses: Mondeo, an 11 year old Dutch gelding, who was the 2004 USDF Vintage Cup Prix St. Georges Champion, and Domino, a 9 year old Bavarian gelding, who finished 4th in the USDF Vintage Cup Prix St. Georges national standings. Both horses were nationally ranked in the USDF Intermediate Musical Freestyle Awards. Mondeo will move up to Grand Prix in 2005, while Domino will spend a second year at PSG/I-1.

Donna is now a United States Equestrian Federation S judge. She has lectured on “Physical Fitness for the Mid-Life Equestrienne” at the CDS Symposium, appeared as a demonstration rider at both the Conrad Schumacher and Raphael Soto clinics, exhibited Jazzman in a Grand Prix Freestyle at the Western US Horse Expo, and has written articles for Dressage Today and the USDF Connection. She coaches the local Pony Club in dressage and gives clinics throughout the United States. She trains horses and students at her own Fox Run Farm in San Marcos, California.