Photo by Abby Powell.
In 2011, doctors told Shannon Lilley that she would never ride again and should adjust her expectations as far as her future quality of life. In 2025, she’s proving them very, very wrong. She’ll be competing in her first CCI5* at the Kentucky Three Day Event aboard her long-time partner, Eindhoven Garette.
“I’m probably your oldest rookie. I went to the Pan American Games in 2011 and then had a fairly devastating spine injury three months later,” Shannon said. “They told me I wouldn’t ride again. They told me I’d be lucky to have any sort of quality of life. I didn’t really ride my first five years. But I’m not one to settle for mediocre. I’m not one to settle when you tell me no.”
While Shannon is not our oldest rookie (Mary Bess Davis has her beat by just one year), she may be the one who’s made the biggest comeback. The more people that told Shannon to give up, the more determined she became. “I just kept plugging away and trying to get better and get more healing back. And here we are,” she said.
Where we are is less than a week out from Shannon and “Garette” walking into the iconic Rolex Stadium at the Kentucky Horse Park to contest in their first 5*. It’s a big moment for any rider, to say the least. Life-altering may even be a better description. Shannon and “Gare Bear” have been together since COVID. When she first met him, he didn’t necessarily look like your classic 5* horse.
“When he first came, he was enormous,” Shannon said, laughing. “He was so fat. He had been in a field for a little bit too long, because it had been COVID and whatever. And he came to my barn, and I said, ‘Oh my gosh. He looks like a Care Bear.’ And so we started calling him Gare Bear.”
Since then, Shannon and Gare Bear have been working their way up through the levels to this moment– a process which hasn’t always been smooth sailing. “When we first got him, he would spin around and he might put me on the dirt, but you get used to that,” Shannon said. “You train for that and he’s much better now. Each year he grows up and he gets better. He’s quite good now and he goes in the ring like he’s all business. He probably has the best work ethic I’ve ever had in a horse.”
To me, a horse that spins and puts you in the dirt sounds like an interesting choice for someone who has previously had a life-altering (and not riding-related, I might add) spine injury, but Shannon persevered. Dressage is still their weakest phase, but as any eventer knows, the Kentucky Three Day Event is not a dressage competition. Garette and Shannon will be focusing on their two strongest phases: cross country and show jumping.
Shannon Lilley and Eindhoven Garette. Photo by Sally Spickard.
“He’s developed into a very good cross country horse and he’s a good show jumper,” Shannon said. “He wants to be careful. We plug away on the flat, like always. It’s getting better. I feel like training them to this level takes a long time, and he’s definitely so much better than last year. And we’re gonna do what we can do.”
Shannon and Gare Bear entered in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4* at Kentucky last year, but did not get the opportunity to run cross country. “We had a bit of a setback, unfortunately,” Shannon said. “He went and did a dressage test, but he wasn’t 100 percent. I chose not to run him, although I think the course would have been amazing and I think he would have done really well. It’s his type of course.”
To prepare for this month’s 5*, the pair ran the Advanced at the American Eventing Championships instead. “I thought he did a good job. It asked a lot of questions. I thought it was hard, and he cruised around and he felt great on the ground there and seemed really good.”
“I think it’s really important before you go to Kentucky to know what you have as a base. He’s done the Hagyard Midsouth Three Day Event there, and some other things. He does run well at Kentucky, so I knew that part,” Shannon continued. “You always worry about the distance, and the hills, and this and that. He’s done Morven Park twice and he found the distance fine. And then he did Bromont once, and he found that distance fine, too. And both of those are our hilliest and our longest courses around.”
Garette’s workman-like nature will pay off as he gallops across the 6,000+ meter cross country course. “He really has a lot of run in him, and so I’m hoping the distance is fine for him,” Shannon said. “I don’t know how I could have prepared him better, just because those events are some of the toughest ones in the country.”
Shannon Lilley and Eindhoven Garette. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Shannon will be fulfilling a childhood dream when she trots into the dressage ring in April. “This is big for me, emotionally,” she said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and I honestly didn’t know if it would ever happen. You always hope that you’re good enough on the day, but it’s been quite the climb back up to this moment. So to me, that is more rewarding. For my first 5* to be Kentucky is a lifelong dream. It has so much meaning behind it; it’s a really big deal.”
While it’s a big moment for herself, Shannon’s bigger focus is how to do right by her horse. “I’m very lucky to have the horse I have. I think he’s really special and he deserves the shot,” Shannon said. “As far as my goals, I want to finish. I’m not going to win. I want to do what’s best for my horse and I want to make sure he gets the credit he deserves. There might be things that we need to take options on, and I want to make sure I’m smart and responsible and get him home safely and listen to him.”
As she heads into the final stretch before the big event, Shannon’s keeping her mindset cuttingly realistic. “Honestly, you have to stay true to where you are in training,” she said. “I feel like I have certain strengths and weaknesses as a rider, we all do. I’m very realistic as far as being smart and hoping that the dressage is good enough, but sometimes ignorance is bliss. I have no idea what to expect.”
Shannon’s had some help on the road to Kentucky, particularly from seasoned 5* eventer Buck Davidson, who she describes as both a friend and mentor. One piece of advice from Buck has stuck in Shannon’s head, “You always know so much more on Saturday night of the five star than you did on Saturday morning.”
When Shannon gallops by on the historic blue grass of the Kentucky Horse Park on Saturday, raise a glass to her. She’s living proof that the right mix of determination and perseverance can create a life-changing cocktail.
EN’s coverage of Defender Kentucky is supported by Kentucky Performance Products. To learn more about Kentucky Performance Products’ science-backed nutritional support products, click here.
