Maya Simmons (stirrup-less!) and Archie Rocks. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.
Maya Simmons’ iron nerve and thighs of steel were on show at Carolina International last weekend when she lost her stirrups, literally. EN’s Leslie Threlkeld was out on course photographing and watched the whole thing go down:
“Maya Simmons and her 9-year-old Thoroughbred Archie Rocks were having a good round on their first Advanced cross country course at Carolina International, but after they dropped into the first water complex, something unusual happened. Look closely and you’ll see in the above photo that Maya has lost both of her stirrups, which will in a few strides fall completely away from her saddle and land with a thud in the galloping lane.
“In an awesome display of determination and athleticism, Maya chose to continue on anyway. To the wild cheers of the onlookers, they made it most of the way around the course until Maya popped out of the tack at the tricky coffin combination, but it gave us all a great thrill and was the ultimate inspiration for strengthening that lower leg by practicing regularly without stirrups.”
Let’s watch the video:
A little blip from my xc adventure last weekend. When I pulled up to look for my stirrups I felt like I contemplated my decision to carry on for at least a minute…. I guess more like a second Archie’s the best
Posted by Crown Sport Horses on Monday, April 3, 2017
Well-played, Maya! Go Eventing.
