The Dressage Foundation (TDF) is pleased to announce that the 2025 Karen Skvarla Fund Grants for Emerging Professionals have been awarded to Ciera Foley (AL) and Hannah Owens (IA). Each will receive a $1,500 grant to pursue training or educational opportunities.
The Karen Skvarla Fund provides grants enabling dressage professionals, at the beginning stages of their careers, to receive education that will enhance their knowledge and teaching abilities. The Karen Skvarla Fund selection committee especially looks for applicants who are eager to grow and improve and who are fair and respectful to both students and horses.
Ciera Foley is a USDF bronze, silver, and gold medalist and a four-time USDF Regional Champion. She currently runs a growing training, lesson, and sale barn in Alabama. Her goals include producing and training horses to the top of the sport and gaining experience and education to apply to her students. Ciera plans to use her grant funding to train her young horse with Karen Lipp.
Photo by Emmet Roche with Lisa Michelle Photography
Ciera said, “I couldn’t be more excited and grateful to have been chosen as a recipient of TDF’s Karen Skvarla Fund Grant for Emerging Professionals. This opportunity will allow me to gain invaluable training and further my education as I continue to develop my young horse, Dansemeyer. We will be able to travel to Atlanta to train with Karen Lipp and work towards solidifying Dansemeyer at Third Level this season. Thank you to everyone at The Dressage Foundation, the Skvarla Family, and to all of the donors who have made this dream a possibility for us!”
Hannah Owens is a USDF bronze medalist and is working toward her silver medal. She has been a professional for five years and has students at a variety of levels. She will use the grant funding toward spending one month training in Florida with Anne Cizadlo and is looking/aspiring to take lessons with JJ Tate and Lee Tubman.
Hannah said, “I am incredibly thankful to have received a grant from TDF’s Karen Skvarla Fund for Emerging Professionals. I am very eager to use this grant to help expand my education by taking as many lessons as I can in the upcoming 2026 Florida season. Opportunities like this allow me to become a better trainer so that I can return that information to my own students. They always push me to be better, and I couldn't be more grateful to have such a great team of people."
The Karen Skvarla Fund for Emerging Professionals awards two annual $1,500 grants, with applications due by February 15th of each year. The application can be found at www.dressagefoundation.org.
For more information about the Karen Skvarla Fund or The Dressage Foundation, please contact Sara Weiss, TDF’s Director of Grants and Programs, at (402) 434-8585, by email at sara@dressagefoundation.org, or visit www.dressagefoundation.org.
The Dressage Foundation
The Dressage Foundation is a 501(c)(3), non-profit, tax-exempt, donor-driven organization that is dedicated to educating, supporting, and advancing the sport of dressage. The organization solicits contributions, appropriately allocates the donations, and awards grants to dressage riders, judges, instructors, breeders, high-performance teams, nonprofit equestrian organizations, and more. For more information, please visit www.dressagefoundation.org.
