Col. Jan Dickerson, author of Make The Most Of Your Horse and Training Your Own Young Horse and founder of the Southeast Virginia Dressage Association, died Feb. 24 in her home in Toana, Va. She was 80.

After graduating from Hardin-Simmons University (Texas) with a degree in journalistic studies, Col. Dickerson enlisted in the women’s Army Corps where she served as a press officer for the Secretary of Defense during the Korean War.

She was a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College. While stationed in Ft. Monroe, Va., she helped establish U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).

An extremely versatile equestrian, Col. Dickerson was experienced in saddle seat riding, barrel racing, western pleasure, Arabian show events and hunters. She served as a District Commissioner for the U.S. Pony Club and was an honorary whipper-in for the Mission Valley Hunt (Kansas).

A trip to Europe in 1952 first sparked Col. Dickerson’s interest in dressage. While stationed at the Pentagon, she studied under Col. Bengt Ljungquist, the coach of the U.S. dressage team.

In 1976 she organized her students to form the Southeast Virginia Dressage Association, providing exposure to dressage for the entire region and offering budding dressage riders opportunities for further education.

Her first book, Make The Most Of Your Horse, was published in 1970 when dressage was relatively unknown in this country and has since been called a “dressage book in disguise.” Two other publications followed. In 1978 she released Training Your Own Young Horse, and her third book was serialized by Dressage & CT Magazine between 1985 and 1988 as a series of articles entitled “A New Look at Classical Dressage.”

Throughout her writing, Col. Dickerson combined her knowledge of classical horsemanship with her passionate belief that “equestrian tact” is the heart of superior horsemanship.