Allie Slusher on her Pan Am Games short-listed ride Pierre
I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about Allie Slusher since she moved to my neck of the woods here in Kentucky last December, but for whatever reason our paths didn’t cross until schooling at the Horse Park wednesday, and you can now number me amongst her growing legion of local fans. Deciding to up sticks and re-locate from the West Coast was a huge leap of faith for 25 year old Allie, but it seems to be paying off, and although she’s had to sacrifice some competition time and training this spring she told me she thinks it will definitely be worth it in the long run,
“I put all my focus into setting up shop and the business aspect of it over competing. I haven’t had the finances to show much because I basically gave up all my income to take this risk coming here, and also I didn’t feel like I could leave the farm as much, I feel like I needed to be here, to spend the time and meet the clients, go to mini-shows and all that, so while I’ve feel like I’ve missed out on some shows, (I haven’t done an FEI event yet this year which is weird!), it’s also been a nice break, and a good time to reflect, and I think I’m going to come out better once I start competing. I miss it, I’m really excited to compete, even though it has been nice to spend some nice quality time training at home.”
Buck Davidson is coming to the Bluegrass next weekend to teach a clinic in Louisville and Allie is looking forward to taking a few horses to participate, and then competing at May Daze the following weekend.
Ahead of schedule in where she wanted to be in her business thanks to hard work, a good attitude, great people skills and of course in no small part a talent for riding and teaching, there are, however, of course, some things Allie couldn’t replicate here in Kentucky,
“I miss my friends from California; obviously there are certain things I miss, it was my home, but I don’t miss it in the sense that I haven’t ever once wished I was back there. I really love it here in Kentucky, I love it more than I expected to love it.”
Allie won the Rebecca Broussard International Travel Grant worth $10,000 and hopes to use that later this year. Many thanks to Allie for stopping to chat during a very busy day of teaching and riding, it was lovely to meet her at last. Thank you as always for reading, and Go Eventing!
