Once again, it is time to meet a fellow member of our Eventing Nation. To see previous rider profiles, click on “Rider Profiles” in the Categories sidebar. These features have been interesting and insightful– I am continually impressed and humbled by our readers as the emails keep pouring in. You guys rock!
If you would like to be featured in an upcoming profile, please fill out the Questionnaire and email it to [email protected]. Thanks again to all our participants…there are many profiles to post, and hopefully we will get to yours soon!
Your Name: Lindsay Berreth
Age: 23
Location: Fredericksburg, Va.
Primary horse’s name: Oh So Extreme
Age, breed, pertinent info:
10 y.o., Off the track TB. 17hh, black. He can be somewhat cocky, but I think that’s a good thing. He was raced until he was 7, so he started eventing a little later than most horses, but he’s finding Novice and training quite easy. He is brave and quick-thinking. On the flat, he can sometimes be his own worst enemy because he tries too hard. And he is almost impossible to jump at home because he gets so into it. Once I get to a show, he focuses on the job and jumps much better.
Level currently competing: novice/training
Short term goals this spring/summer:
to compete all season at training level successfully.
Year-end goals:
Maybe a prelim by the end of the year.
Overall goals?
I’d love to complete a long format event. I’ve done prelim and a training 3 day on my other horse, but I’m training Oh So myself, so it would feel like a real accomplishment. My trainer thinks he’s got the talent to go to the upper levels. He’s brave and loves to run and jump.
What’s the best thing you’ve learned recently?
Oh So is the first horse I’ve trained by myself, and through the help of my trainer, Lisa Reid, I’ve realized that you have to take your time introducing a horse to something, especially jumping. We’ve made him feel like there is nothing in the world he can’t jump, by taking our time with him and getting the basics down correctly. He’ll jump anything for me now, he’s so brave. Even if he’s unsure of a spooky fence, I feel like he’s saying “Ok mom, I’ll try it, even though I’m not so sure”.
Our strength is cross country for sure. As I said before, he is bold and fast. He’s got that TB mentality. You can’t tell him what to do, you have to ask and he’ll give you everything he’s got. Our weakness is dressage, only because he has a tendency to get tense. I’m learning to manage it through stretching. He’s so tall and has a huge neck and withers. When his head is up like a periscope, he is taking everything in and letting it get to him. When he’s stretching, it puts him in a better place mentally and I can “keep a lid” on him.
Favorite eventing moment/story?
I’ve been to Rolex a few times and most of the major events on the East Coast. It’s always fun to watch the greats go. Personally, I’d say my 2006 season at training/prelim was memorable. I was riding my other horse, What the Heck. He is an old campaigner, having gone advance and done long formats before I had him. We had just switched to my current trainer. He is a difficult show jumper, very careless. That entire season at training level, I think we only had a couple of rails down. More clear rounds than not. We did the Waredaca Training 3-day that fall and were leading until show jumping, where we had a rail and finished second. The next weekend we won or prelim at Lexington. We also did AECs that year and were 4th going into stadium, but had 2 rails.
Link to blog or website, if applicable:
I wrote this blog about my other horse.
Photo(s) or videos: Link to photo album Lindsay has lots of LOVELY pics, check them out!
