Glenda McElroy didn’t start out as a horse-crazy little girl–her first ride was while she was in college. But for the past three decades she’s been devoted to horses and horse sports. Today, McElroy owns Cornerstone Event Management, and she produces some of the largest and most prestigious dressage shows in the country.

McElroy grew up in Stockton, Calif., about 300 miles north of where she eventually settled into her prominent show management career at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, Calif.

Her childhood wasn’t horsy, but after a few western riding lessons while attending San Joaquin Delta Junior College she was hooked on horses. But McElroy was no cowgirl, this evolving equestrian wanted to jump. For the next 15 years, her focus was the hunter/jumper world.

McElroy’s love affair with dressage began hesitantly, much later in her career.

After graduating from college, she began managing equestrian facilities, and her first job was with well-known trainer and grand prix rider Larry Mayfield. Other well-known names McElroy worked with in the business include Nick Karazissis and Max Bonham.

Years later, current colleague Larry Langer, then owner of the Pacific Horse Center, offered McElroy a job she couldn’t refuse. PHC’s curriculum included horse-related courses accredited through California State University in Sacramento. The transition from management to teaching gave McElroy the opportunity to take her experience in the field to the college classroom. Plus, she was again close to her family’s home in Stockton. This career move and burgeoning business relationship with Langer led to her next job at the LAEC.

Initially, McElroy worked to lay the foundation for a riding school at LAEC. Soon after, a perfect position for McElroy’s combined experience in management and business opened up, and she became the new LAEC operations manager. Out of the barn and into the office, her new job included a variety of responsibilities, one of the most surprising was overseeing the LAEC dressage shows.

“I didn’t know anything about dressage shows, and I didn’t want to do it,” McElroy admitted. But she was soon smitten with the discipline after watching the best riders in the world at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“Dressage is so elegant,” McElroy said. “I’d been in the horse business for many years and seen hunters, jumpers, western cutting and everything else. Dressage was beautiful and more difficult than I realized. Nobody, in those days, had respect for it.

“Today the sport’s top riders are good horsemen and the top horses are great horses,” she added.

McElroy decided to bring upper level dressage competitions to California, a goal that would take the next 20 years and a lot of tenacity to reach.

Passage Into Dressage
McElroy is the founder and owner of Cornerstone Events Management, a company that’s organized and managed more than 250 dressage shows, 25 CDIs, two FEI World Cup Dressage Finals, the USET Dressage Selections at Gladstone, N.J., four USEF National Freestyle Championships and numerous spectator events.

Marie Meyers, who rides and trains at numerous Cornerstone competitions, credited McElroy for a great deal of the success California riders have tasted.

“Our top horses and riders are where they are because we have good shows and that helps the sport,” said Meyers.

McElroy agrees in the vast improvements of the quality of both dressage horses and riders on the West Coast.

McElroy strongly believes growing the sport nationally and at the local level occurs through educated instructors and riders as well as quality horse shows. Riders need to gauge their abilities against their peers.

“You also have to take care of the beginners,” McElroy said. “The lower levels will always support the high end.”

Luckily, there have been few horse show mishaps in McElroy’s management career.

“Over the years, like most managers, we have had to face some difficulties with weather, missing officials, arenas blowing down, bomb scares, and flooded competition rings with 2000 people sitting in the stands,” McElroy said. “All and all, I’ve been blessed with wonderful opportunities, a talented staff and enthusiastic riders and trainers.”

And many of those she compliments say the same about McElroy.

“She’s one of my favorite organizers to work with,” said USEF senior judge Betsy Berrey. “She’s friendly and professional, and her judges are well cared for, which we appreciate. I enjoy her as a person, too; she’s good company.”

Like Berrey, Meyers appreciates Cornerstone’s well-organized shows.

“Glenda really understands the needs of dressage riders, especially top level riders,” Meyers said. “She puts on the best shows, not just in California, but on a national and international level. The World Cup Dressage in Las Vegas was fabulous.”

McElroy has put together more than one world-class competition, so picking a favorite isn’t easy. She admitted that the 2004 Olympic Trials, held in San Juan Capistrano, is at the top of the list. With 3,700 spectators and the best riders, trainers and judges in the country, the event was a major boon for West Coast dressage.

“I felt we put on one of the best selections trials ever,” McElroy said proudly. “We were delighted to have [the Trials] on the West Coast. We provided a great format, and I think all the riders and spectators went home feeling it was a great experience.”

Perseverance And Passion
Dressage may be much more popular and successful than it was 20 years ago, but it still faces challenges. For example, dressage shows aren’t as financially rewarding as hunter/ jumper shows. The shortest dressage ride is six minutes, while hunters can go in and out of the ring in two to three minutes. Even with multiple rings going at one time, only a certain number of six-minute dressage tests can be judged in one day.

Another obstacle is the audience or the lack thereof.

“Many of our spectators enjoy dressage, but they don’t really understand the sport,” McElroy said. “We need to educate them, for example, the use of headsets with a running commentary has done a lot to increase the number of spectators at our bigger competitions.”

Building a better spectator base is one of McElroy’s long-term goals. “Every locale has some dressage event that could be promoted to the public,” she said. “Once we have the local interest we can bring everyone together to support many dressage events like the 2005 World Cup.”

To be sure people are aware of the upcoming Cornerstone show schedule, McElroy sends out e-mail alerts. She has several mailing lists with 2,000 to 3,000 names each and plans to increase those numbers in the next few years. Another key, McElroy said, is producing high-end shows with the competitor and the spectator in mind.

Although she would enjoy annual trips to Europe, that plan isn’t yet feasible with her schedule. McElroy does try to go at least every other year.

“U.S. dressage is years behind Europe in the overall sport, and we can learn a lot from them,” she said. “I don’t see much more room to grow dressage in Europe–it’s all ready such a huge sport there. If we could get Europe to look at us, in North America, as an opportunity for some of the European interest to expand, and that could be exciting for us. I would like to see dressage be as important in the United States as it is in Europe. The room for growth is here.”

McElroy also believes exposing the star quality of our top horses would benefit the sport. When Canadian show jumper Big Ben went on tour after his retirement, he drew big crowds.

“I think horses like Brentina, Graf George and Kingston could have a similar appeal. After all, every popular horse has an interesting history,” McElroy said. “That would bring out the horse lover in all of us.”

One horse that McElroy has enjoyed watching develop is Leslie Morse’s ride, Kingston.

“Kingston struggled,” McElroy said. “He was always talented, but it’s taken him some time to come around. Now he’s in his own element. He was 14th in the World Cup [in 2004] and sixth in 2005.”

McElroy makes it a point to watch the horses and riders as often as she can. She has her favorites, and while their identities remain a secret, she does admit to following their progress.

As if managing world-class shows isn’t enough, McElroy also owns and manages Glenroy’s, an equestrian gift shop located at LAEC. What began as a pet project a decade ago has grown into a successful business venture.

“It’s big enough now that it’s actual work, but it’s still kind of a diversion for me,” McElroy said.

She particularly enjoys decorating the store and shopping for merchandise, especially art prints, bronzes and pottery.

McElroy likes to travel, but not the sort of vacations where you just lie on the beach; she said she likes to see something interesting.

“Last year I just went around Los Angeles–there are some amazing things here,” she said.

As a new homeowner, McElroy spends most of her free time working on her house and gardening. “It’s important to take time off,” McElroy noted. “You have to stay fresh and creative.”