Our third inductee into the USDF Hall of Fame this year is Ivan Bezugloff, Jr., in recognition of his leadership in providing a forum for the American dressage community by founding the first national periodical dedicated to the sport. Read more
Until 1971, there was no publication for U.S. dressage enthusiasts. At this time, the sport was beginning to attract interest among horse people, who were hungry for news, training information, and a means of communicating with one another. Enter the Czech-born Ivan Bezugloff, Jr., who founded Dressage magazine and who served as its editor for 25 years. The name was later changed to Dressage and Combined Training to reflect the publication's two-sport focus, and finally shortened to Dressage & CT. For a man whose knowledge of dressage was rudimentary at best until he reached his mid-twenties, Bezugloff exhibited both remarkable foresight as to the sport's future popularity and unflagging dedication to his magazine, eventually exhausting most of his retirement nest egg to keep Dressage & CT afloat when the monthly fell on hard times.
The son of a Russian emigrant, Bezugloff came to the U.S. in 1952 and took a job as an electronics engineer in New London, Connecticut. Ten years later, he started his own company in Cleveland, Ohio. From a Hungarian-born employee, he learned of nearby Lake Erie College's equestrian program and its director, Laddie Andahazy, and soon the men were having discussions about dressage.
It bothered Bezugloff that there was no U.S. dressage magazine because it was his firm belief that, as in any other sport, there were theoretical aspects to dressage and horse training. Andahazy challenged him to act on his convictions, and in 1971 Bezugloff sold his company and founded Dressage Magazine.
The magazine's audience was small but passionate, and Bezugloff enticed the likes of Kay Meredith, Charles de Kunffy, Karl Mikolka, Sally O'Connor, Dr. Kent Allen Vasko, Dr. Deb Bennett, Hans Von Blixen-Finicke, Dr. Henri L.M. Van Schaik, and Captain Andrew de Szinay, to contribute articles.
Bezugloff's first goal was to find an author who would be able to provide instructional material for a systematic method of basic training. His first such author was British Pony Club Graduate instructor Jennifer Stobart, who penned a 17-part series starting in the magazine's July 1971 premiere issue. Later, Emmy Temple, former wife of USDF Hall of Famer Chuck Grant, wrote another 12 installments. Former USDF President Kay Meredith's 22-part "Dressage for Beginners" series began in the July 1974 issue.
Along with providing training information that was written in such a way that it could be used by readers who had no access to an instructor, another of Bezugloff's goals was to keep his readers informed about dressage happenings, both in the U.S. and abroad. Dressage & CT ran an events calendar, show results, and news shorts. Correspondents in the U.K., Germany, and Denmark covered important dressage competitions and three-day events.
Today's USDF members may not realize that, besides founding Dressage & CT, Bezugloff also helped to found USDF. He was a proponent of the Federation's basic structure as a network of local dressage and eventing associations.
Former Dressage & CT contributors have strong praise for Bezugloff's contributions to American dressage. Charles de Kunffy told Dressage & CT in its final issue: "In my opinion, Ivan Bezugloff is Mr. Dressage USA. Dressage & CT isolated and defined classical riding for an American audience. It formed the dressage community."
De Kunffy continued: "Today, we could still be a nation that doesn't know what dressage is, with four or five wealthy people who import an occasional German to give them a lesson. Why did it change? Why did we become a major dressage nation? This has a lot to do with Ivan."
The success and growth of dressage in this country have a lot to do with Ivan, now 76 and still active - through his publishing company, Xenophon Press - in educating people about our sport. We are honored to induct Ivan Bezugloff, Jr. into the USDF Hall of Fame.
Samuel J. Barish
USDF President
In recognition of his leadership in providing a forum for the American dressage community by founding the first national periodical dedicated to the sport. For 25 years, he served as the editor of his magazine, originally named "Dressage," which educated dressage enthusiasts at a time when there were few texts or clinicians available in the U.S. Mr. Bezugloff's magazine defined classical riding for an American audience.