Born in Austin, Texas, Shannon grew up outside of Vancouver Canada. Her mother Jacqueline Oldham was an “S” dressage judge in both Canada and the USA, and instilled in Shannon a love and knowledge of classical dressage from an early age.
In 1994, Shannon spent many months training in Holland as a working student for Bert Rutten – this was when she decided to get serious about dressage. She rode in her first international competition in 1995 in California, and was long-listed for the Canadian Equestrian Team in 1996 with her mother’s Madison. In 1995 she sold her last event horse and bought her first real star, Korona, as a 3 year old from Bert Rutten.
Shannon trained Korona from the beginning. The partnership was very successful, beginning with an Individual Silver Medal at the Pan Am Games in 1999, they never looked back. Korona and Shannon represented Canada successfully at the Grand Prix level for many years. In 2002 at the World Championships in Spain they were the top Canadians, finishing 23rd in the Grand Prix and 25th in the Grand Prix Special. After winning the Canadian League World Cup Final in 2002, they represented Canada at the World Cup Final in Sweden in 2003. In 2003 they were also a part of the Canadian Team at the Open European Championships in England, which secured an Olympic berth for the Canadians at the 2004 Olympic Games.
It took her many years to find her next international superstar, but she bought Ayscha in Germany from a friend as a 6 year old. Ayscha was supposed to be sales project, but Shannon soon found out that she had talent for Grand Prix, and decided to keep her and develop her as far as possible. With very limited show experience, Ayscha began Grand Prix in 2010 as a 9 year old. Shannon and Ayscha were part of the Canadian Team which traveled to Europe with Robert Dover and they competed successfully in many international shows in Germany that summer. In 2011 Ayscha and Shannon headed to Great Britain to train with Carl Hester, where they competed at Hickstead and London Olympia as well.
Shannon has had wonderful coaching all her life, from the very beginning with Klaus Albin and Dietrich Von Hopfgarten in Langley British Columbia with her event horses. In her adult life she has had extensive help from Bert Rutten of the Netherlands, Lars Peterson of Denmark, Kathy Connelly, Robert Dover and Steffen Peters of the USA, Hubertus Schmidt and Wolfram Wittig of Germany, and most recently, Carl Hester of Great Britain.
Clinic dates posted soon!
