Judge Profile
Bill Woods 
Ocala, FL
Bio
USEF "R" Judge Bill Woods offers an experience gained through over forty years of working with horses, having ridden literally thousands of them and having taught thousands of riders at all levels. He has an eclectic riding background that began with Eventing, foxhunting, and polo.
Bill, along with his wife Susan, owns Four Winds Farm in Ocala, FL. Aside from his weekly lesson schedule in Florida, Bill travels throughout North America year-round, having judged or conducted clinics in 43 states and five foreign countries. In addition to still competing himself, he regularly coaches his students at every level from Training to Grand Prix.
Career Highlights:
- A USEF judge (now "R") since 1983.
- Was mentored by Swedish Olympian Maj. Anders Lindgren for more than twenty years.
- A former three-time participant at the storied Violet Hopkins/USDF National Instructors’ Seminars. Then joined its staff in 1985, serving with Maj. Lindgren, Col. Aage Sommer (DEN), Eric Lette (SWE), Karin Schlüter (GER), Gerd Politz (GER), Gunnar Ostergaard (DEN), Robert Dover, and Sally Swift through 1991.
- The first American designated by the USDF to conduct official Regional Dressage Instructors’ Workshops. Presented over 30 of them in such diverse locales as California, New York, Arizona, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Alaska.
- Chaired the USDF Council of Instructors and Trainers for seven years and was largely responsible for pushing to fruition the USDF’s program for instructor certification and the beginning of the USDF's program of annual National Symposiums.
- The writer, associate producer, and narrator of the Farnam Company’s video “The Official USDF Introduction to Dressage.”
- The “voice” of the annual USDF National Symposium and editor of the symposium tapes each year from 1992 to 2002. Many of these two dozen programs are still occasionally shown on RFD-TV.
- Scripted, edited, and narrated the first “On the Levels” video set for AHSA/USDF in 1995.
- Named in 2003 at its Thirtieth Annual Convention, as one of the USDF's 20 most influential members in the organization's history.
- Author of Dressage Unscrambled, distributed by Trafalgar Square Books and reviewed in the USDF Connection as “the only dressage book they would recommend for beach reading!”
See his website: www.woodsdressage.com for more information and his blog.
Blog
