Meghan O'Donoghue and Pirate at Rolex in 2013. Photo by Kasey Mueller.
The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event is right around the corner! As in recent years, the official Rolex site (www.rk3de.org) is hosting blogs from three featured riders. This year’s participants are Will Faudree, Ellen Doughty, and Meghan O’Donoghue. The first installments are up, and I can’t wait to read more!
Will Faudree, on his two horses Andromaque and Pawlow:
Andromaque is a very fierce competitor. If I’m asked to describe her I always say she’s like Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada.” People and other horses are usually a little intimidated by her. And when I ride her, she’s all business.
Pawlow, he’s incredibly talented but he’s really lazy. I think he’d rather be listening to Bob Marley, playing bongo drums. He’s like Matthew McConaughey – a bit more laid back and kind of roll-with-the-punches.
[Read more.]
Meghan O’Donoghue says it’s about enjoying the journey to get there:
I have a strong faith and I believe that I’m there for a reason – whatever competition or situation I end up in, good or bad. I believe you can learn from the bad and you take the good but you don’t get too high on it, because the low is pretty low too and you have to be able to balance yourself in the middle. So before I go out and gallop across those huge jumps, I have a strong belief that it’s meant to be. I’ve looked at my whole career that way – as my journey. And I try to enjoy the moments of getting there because the end result is just the end result! It’s about the journey of getting to a competition like Rolex Kentucky. I’m still young I have a long way to go and a lot yet to learn, but I’m enjoying every step along the way. [Read more]
Ellen Doughty: hard work and determination will pay off.
I knew to make my dream of one day riding at Rolex and being on a US Team a reality, I was going to have to work harder than everyone else and stay focused on my long-term goals. I’ve never had a team of people behind me; I’ve had to figure out how to make it on my own. I’m out at the barn every day; most days I start at 7 or 8 a.m. and a lot of nights I don’t leave until 10 or 11, because I’ve got 14 horses to ride and can have 12 -15 people to teach in a day! Currently, I don’t have a groom that tacks up my horses or goes in the field to catch them; I have to get my horses tacked myself and untacked and cooled off properly, clean my tack, pack my trailer, etc! I stay busy every day but it enables me to actually do this full time as my career and make enough money to be able to campaign at the upper levels. [Read more.]
