Early in my riding career I had the great fortune of securing a position as rider, working under the daily tutelage of the late Major Robert Borg.   Major Borg rode on and coached both the dressage and the three day eventing teams for the U.S. in the 1948 Olympics.  Largely through his efforts, the team obtained the highest placing to date in dressage, securing the team Silver medal, and in eventing the team obtained the Gold medal.

    My apprenticeship with Major Borg was at Red Bob Farm, one of the largest, most respected Thoroughbred breeding farms in Michigan.  The farm consisted of over 200 acres; a veterinary clinic; large indoor and outdoor arenas; a regulation race track; and 110 stalls supporting mares, foals, numerous horses in training, and standing eight or more world class stallions.
    
    I spent much of my time with Major Borg in the early 1980s, backing and training eight to ten youngsters each year under his daily tutelage.  I also schooled client horses and horses with training problems, including dressage horses and eventers as well as fox hunters.  Under Major Borg I primarily studied the French methods of James Fillis, who was Major Borg’s preferred Master.

    Under Major Borg's daily tutelage I was classically trained through judiciously strict methods which remove unwanted tension in the horse and place the horse in a classically correct position which renders him helpless to do anything other than respond correctly.  By these clear, simple,  classical methods, the horse is kept relaxed, happy and correctly forward thinking in his training.
    
    Major Borg . . .

• Was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army Cavalry as a Horsemanship instructor and trainer until June 1955 at Fort Riley
• Was assigned to the U.S. Equestrian Team and competed at Army Olympic Trials, winning both the Oakbrook and Fort Riley Trials
• Trained the U.S. Dressage Team to a Silver medal win and placed 4th in Individual competition at the London Olympics;  to this date it is the highest placing achieved and the only Silver medal won by the U.S. in Dressage
• Trained and instructed the U.S. 3-Day Event Team to a Bronze medal win at the Helsinki Olympics
• Trained the Gold medal rider and won an Individual Silver medal himself in Grand Prix Dressage at the Mexico City Pan American Games
• Is the only person in Olympic history to have both coached and competed in the same Olympic games
• Was the very last man to have enlisted in the Cavalry, who also trained all of the horses and all of the men who performed in dressage at the Olympics during his time on the U.S. Equestrian Team, first as a military officer and then as a civilian

by L. Dianne Braden, February 1973
INSIDE THE BLACK TOP HAT
An interview with Major Robert L. Borg
DRESSAGE the National Magazine, pages 38 -43, Vol.4, No. 2

"Come in," said a voice behind the unlocked door of Major Borg's white house on Red Bob Farms.  That was how it began; the visit behind the scenes, a tour inside the magician's black hat, a trip into the world of one of America's celebrated dressage riders and trainers.

by Jennifer O. Bryant, 2005

Obituary
Major Robert J. Borg
USEF Equestrian publication

THREE-TIME U.S. OLYMPIC DRESSAGE competitor Major Robert J. Borg, USA (Ret.), of Oxford, MI, died April 5.

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by Mary Shaw Moore, 1998

ROBERT BORG
The Last of The Pioneers
MDA, News and Views, Official Publication of the Midwest Dressage Association, cover and pages 13 - 15

As the United States Dressage team prepares for another Olympic effort, the only American rider to bring home a Silver Team medal continues to train horses in the Michigan countryside.

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