This week Tamra Smith was named to the Pan American short list with Mar De Amor. Just a few days before she competed at The Event at Rebecca Farm with the help of the Rebecca Broussard International Developing Riders Travel Grant. Tamra was kind enough to send us this post about her experience and the inspiration of spending a weekend remembering Rebecca Broussard.
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From Tamra:
Last weekend at Rebecca Farm was full of everything that comes with eventing and competing. But it also was full of remembering a staple in our sport, Rebecca Broussard. We spent the week remembering a wonderful woman who was instrumental to the sport of eventing. It was inspiring to hear her beliefs, the story of her life, and what she brought to fruition. I never knew Mrs. Broussard well, but I could see the passion she had for our sport and helping people.
The Rebecca Broussard International Developing Riders Grant was developed in her memory. This grant will be awarded to help developing riders travel and compete at Rebecca Farm each year. Candidates that travel and compete at Rebecca Farm will then go on and interview for an international grant. Each year $30,000 will be awarded to one individual to help them achieve there goals of riding at the top level of the sport of eventing and help them get that much closer to competing for Team USA.
I was fortunate to receive a travel grant to help with competing at Rebecca Farm. I then interviewed with the USEA Endowment Trust committee for the international grant and although I was nervous I quickly became intrigued with what I learned about Mrs. Broussard and her vision for the sport of eventing. This woman helped so many people start and continue their careers. Her generosity both within there local community and the eventing community is astronomical.
I asked what Mrs. Broussard’s vision was….and what I mostly got out of the committee’s response was that Becky wants to keep this sport alive! I reflected on that and thought to myself, what can I do to keep eventing alive? I love this sport. It has kept me up in my darkest days and kicked me right back down when I needed that. It has been what saved me and raised me from a kid to a woman, and it created most of my lifelong friendships.
I was reminded by Mrs. Broussard’s example to try and help promote eventing! No matter how big or small our contribution is……eventing needs a rebirth! We need to pick our sport up and believe again! Believe that we have brilliant horses with talented riders and supportive owners and sponsors! And mostly an amazing supportive community! We need to have pride and even when the going is not going well we need the eventing community to stick behind this sport and pick it up, instead of pointing fingers. There are too many people in this world who thrive on failures, our country sure isn’t about that and neither is eventing!
Let’s create what I had as I watched the 1984 Olympics. I sat on my living room floor and said, “I wanna go to the Olympics and represent my country!” We need that passion back in this sport again.
So when someone looks at you and says….you are an eventer!? Say: yes, and we have the best equine athletes in the world, we have the toughest competitors in equestrian sports, and know that we have the most supportive community in any sport because we know how hard it is to lead from start to finish, and sometimes the under dog comes from nowhere and wins, sometimes the best of the best wins, but there is one thing for sure in eventing…..you never know!
Keep kicking on…and let’s do our part to bring eventing ALIVE!
