Meet Mary Davis: Winner of the Great KER ClockIt Fitness Challenge

Photo courtesy of Mary Davis Photo courtesy of Mary Davis

This spring we partnered with Kentucky Equine Research (KER) to bring you the Great KER Clockit Fitness Challenge. Readers dutifully submitted their sessions using the KER Clockit Sport app for a chance to win some amazing prizes and we have a winner!

Huge congratulations to Mary Davis and her horse, Hogan!

Originally from Columbia, Maryland, Mary has been riding since the age of 8 and has owned Hogan since she was 16. Hogan is an OTTB who had raced 11 times before being being restarted under saddle. When Mary purchased him, the then 6-year-old Hogan was jumping 2’6” courses, but she knew he had the potential to go higher considering he had jumped out of a his field over a five-foot fence a few times.

Mary and Hogan’s journey in eventing hasn’t been completely smooth-sailing — the pair didn’t complete the cross-country phase of their event together — but they have steadily improved and progressed. Mary brought Hogan to school with her at Virginia Tech where she was a member of the Eventing Club and after graduating early last summer with her bachelor’s degree, they completed their first Novice USEA recognized event at Waredaca, their home base during winter and summer breaks from school.

Mary Davis and Hogan - your KER Clockit Fitness Challenge winners! Photo courtesy of Mary Davis.

Mary Davis and Hogan: Your Great KER ClockIt Fitness Challenge winners! Photo courtesy of Mary Davis.

Now 22 years old, Mary is a second year veterinary student at the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Massachusetts and Hogan has again accompanied her to school, boarding just a mile away at Emerald Isles Eventing Center.

“I’m working hard to find enough time to ride him between classes,” said Mary. “Our goal this year is to qualify for the Classic 3-day at Waredaca.”

Mary is specifically looking to pursue equine medicine and she is especially interested in focusing on nutrition and sports medicine. As a scientifically-minded veterinary student, the KER Clockit app particularly piqued Mary’s interest.

The free app helps take the guesswork out of equine fitness by monitoring heart rate, speed, distance and altitude during rides. EN’s guide to the app explains all the details: 7 Reasons to Download KER ClockIt Sport.

“KER Clockit has been great in helping me keep him fit during our conditioning days because it lets me know when a set is done and to move on to the next one,” she said. “I like being able to look back at all the graphs and see how hard Hogan was working or if he wasn’t quite working hard enough.”

Mary’s winning session took place during March in Westborough, Massachusetts. It was Hogan’s first conditioning set day of the season: “The session started when we were walking over to the field. The field has some rolling hill and flat sections on it,” she reported. “Our first canter set was faster than normal because Hogan decided even after our first winter in Massachusetts he felt fit and raring to go!”

KER Clockit

Mary’s winning KER Clockit Session.

In addition to $100 gift card to shop.kerx.com and an EcoGold Secure XC Saddle Pad, Mary also won a lesson of her choice from either Buck Davidson, Liz Halliday-Sharp, or Dom or Jimmie Schramm. Mary chose to have her lesson with Buck, whom she hopes can help her improve Hogan’s rideability and adjustability over fences, as well as his confidence.

“Hogan tends to be timid when it comes to cross country and I would love for some help working on making him braver,” she said.

Congratulations again to Mary, and thank you to everyone who participated in the Challenge!

Go Eventing.