David is campaigning for the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara Mexico with Lord Albert and Falsterbo. Catapult is now showing Grand Prix with the National Championships in Gladstone, NJ as a year end goal. Financial sponsorship is going to play a major role in his achieving these goals this year.  David is so appreciative to the Medal Equestrian Foundation for providing an outlet for people to be able to help make these goals a reality.

In 2004 David purchased his first horse, Catapult, from Suze Randall at Dark Horse Canyon Ranch. When David first saw him in 2003, he was passaging around the turnout and jumping anything and everything he could. Suze asked David to start Catapult under saddle to prepare him for the stallion approvals. During that six month process, David fell in love with his personality and spirit, he felt he would always try for him. Since then Catapult has done just that. They began their career together in Lexington Kentucky at the 2005 FEI 5 year old National Championships where they took 7th place. The team returned the following year to win the FEI 6 year old National Championships with a score of 7.95%. The following two years were remarkable for Catapult and David,  his dressage dream was in motion. David intended to move Catapult up to the small tour after a quiet year at Prix St. Georges while in his seventh year. Unfortunately, Catapult sustained an injury in the fall of 2007 that put his career on hold for all of 2008 and most of the spring and summer of 2009. Dressage Getaway in Thermal, California was this teams first time back in the show arena. It also marked their first attempt at the Intermediare I. They started off the show with a 75% at Prix Saint Georges receiving first place and ended the show on Sunday with a 69.73% at the I1, receiving second place.

In 2006 Steffen Peters called David regarding a young stallion that was running out of options. A client of Steffen's owned Lord Albert, who was extremely unruly and deemed un-ridable. After trying him a couple times, David felt that they could develop a partnership; David  purchased Lord Albert and brought him home to Thousand Oaks, California. Within six months, Lord Albert and David qualified for the Young Horse Breeding Championships in Verden, Germany. Qualifying for the Championships was the easy part. Raising the $50,000 it took to get there without sponsorship or help from the Federation proved to be more difficult! With the help and support of family, friends, fundraiser's and generous donations, they made it. Albert and David ended up placing 16th overall and left satisfied knowing the challenges they had overcome to get there. Lord Albert made his first showing debut since Verden, at Dressage Getaway too placing 2nd on Sunday with a score of 65.5 % at Prix St. Georges.

Davids ultimate Dressage goal, like any professional athlete, is to compete in the Pan American Games and FEI World Cup and ultimately the Olympics. He fully understand that to make these dreams possible he will not only have to train diligently, but will also have to finaicial support. David made an important move in the fall of 2009 and feels extremely fortunate be at Arroyo Del Mar, where he is able to train on a daily basis with Steffen and Shannon Peters. Steffen has developed a program for Catapult and Shannon for Lord Albert; they have both taken a great interest in his horses and in his career, a dream come true for any rider

David Clyde Blake was born April 8, 1979. He is married with no children and resides in Encinitas, CA. David can be reached via cell phone at 310.435.2204, fax at 858.756.0134 or email david@davidblakedressage.com. You can also visit his web site at www.davidblakedressage.com