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Lilian Roye
July 12, 2001

Lilian Wittmack-Roye, US dressage pioneer and founder of the first dressage club in the US, International Equestrian Organization, in York, PA, died on July 12, 2001. She came to the US from Denmark after World War II, first performing with her horses for Ringling Brothers Circus. She was the first woman to compete and win a Grand Prix Jumping competition when she pointed out that the rules didn't prohibit women from competing.

She organized the first ever recognized dressage show in the US.

Lilian is remembered in this email from one of our members:

I first met this lady when I was a LITTLE kid. We lived in Williamsport and my mother was a member of the Williamsport Riding Club. In '55, this club had it's own show grounds and stable and hosted a BIG annual AHSA horse show each August. At the end of that year, the club lost the ground to a developer so they bought ground elsewhere and in the spring of '56, the site was developed with an arena, bleachers, covered box seats, permanent concession stand, outside course (in the days when "hunter" actually meant something akin to hunting) and all of the rest. I was sent to summer camp for the month of June and when I came back, all of this was ongoing. I remember being told to take hay from junk bales left in a long row, and spread this evenly over earth that had been moved so the grass would grow on it and avoid erosion. The Club was determined to have the facility ready for the annual show so every hand, even little ones, were pressed into service. My mother was the show's secretary and my father, for some odd reason, was the Club's president. So our house was chock full of show preparations and papers and what have you.

Time for the show came and so did Lilian Wittmack Roye, one of several
equestrians, other than competitors, invited to the show to entertain during
breaks in the classes. The show started on Wednesday afternoons and
continued through Sunday. The Wednesday classes were strictly for local
riders, including classes only for Club members and their families. So I
rode my pony in these events and still have the pictures.

Mrs. Roye came with two horses two days before the show started but I don't
recall if she rode them both in the show or rode one and had the other as a
spare. She stayed at our house, came to the Wednesday classes and was very, very kind to "the kid on the pony." She knew Herr Fischer and I think she
had something to do with advising the Club to invite him to come to a meeting
to show his films and give his lecture later that year. I do remember being
"wowed" by the circus tricks she did with her horse, her riding attire and
all of that when she rode her exhibition sessions over the four days of the
"big" part of the show.

She was one of the early people here in the US after the war who had received
European training before coming here. And until she started the IEO and got
the AHSA to recognize dressage so that competitions could be held under
standard rules, there simply was no such thing. I can think of less than a
dozen people who were here in the US at that time who actually "knew"
something about equitation. Her show in York was one of the first dressage
shows I went to with the $400 quarter horse that I was given when I outgrew
the pony.

Our paths crossed on occasion after she visited us for the show. In the
times I was in her company, she was very nice to me.

Lilian's contribution to US dressage was recounted in the March issue of Connection.

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