DAWN WHITE-O'CONNOR


DAWN WHITE O'CONNOR - USA

FEI DRESSAGE TRAINER AND RIDER

Dawn, originally from a small town in Colorado, has worked for Steffen and Shannon Peters for over a decade. She began as a working student and groom, but has earned her way to great success in the competition arena. In 2014, White-O’Connor placed 8th at the Festival of Champions in the Small Tour with Carla Hayes’ KWPN gelding Aristo.

At the age of 27, Dawn was given the opportunity to compete on Steffen's 2016 Olympic mount Legolas, owned by Four Winds Farms Akiko Yamazaki. In 2017, she competed Legolas in CDIs in both California and Wellington, Florida with great success. They won second place during the 2017 World Cup of Las Vegas, right behind Steffen Peters. A few months later they won the Grand Prix and the Special in San Juan Capistrano. They were then selected to represent the The Dutta Corp. U.S. Dressage Team in Grand Prix in Europe that summer.

It was with Legolas that Dawn was first invited onto the USEF Developing Rider list in 2017. Dawn competed Legolas until he was retired in April of 2018.

In 2018, Dawn competed on Four Winds Farms’ 10-year-old Oldenburg gelding, Bailarino (Breitling W—Schila, De Niro). The pair won the 2018 USDF National Developing Grand Prix Championship at Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, Illinois.  That same year, they were also selected as the demo Grand Prix pair for the Isabell Werth Clinic in Encinitas, CA. In 2019, White-O’Connor and Bailarino were selected for the USEF Developing Rider list.

Dawn has a large string of up-and-coming horses that she trains and competes on, and she is often at the top of the leader board at any CDI or national show.

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