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Team USA at Final Event Before Paris: Cross Country Report from Stable View

By on Jun 22, 2024 4:44 pm -

Will Coleman and Off the Record. Photo by Liz Crawley Photography.

Team USA used their cross country day here at the last Mandatory Outing at Stable View to test their fitness and overall adjustability. Riders didn’t worry too much about making time, though U.S. chef d’equipe Bobby Costello instructed them to ride competitively, ensuring the horses a confident round before heading off to Europe in a few weeks.

Boyd Martin and the Annie Goodwin Syndicate’s Fedarman B (Eurocommerce Washington – Paulien B, by Fedor) picked up 15.2 time penalties and no jump faults. Boyd explained that there are some small improvements that need to be made over the next few weeks, and they’ll probably do another cross country school to work on adjustability, turning, and accuracy.

“We’re in good shape – I feel like they’re confident and they’re jumping well. They feel healthy and everything is going according to plan,” he says.

Will Coleman and the Off the Record Syndicate’s Off The Record (Arkansas VDL – Drumagoland Bay, by Ard Ohio) had 2.4 time penalties, making their round the fastest time among the team. Since we aren’t exactly sure what the course will look like in Paris with designer Pierre le Goupil, Will used Capt. Mark Phillips’ course this weekend to make sure Off The Record was listening and confident.

One thing we do know for sure about the course in Versailles is that the horses will gallop over the Grand Canal by means of pontoon bridges. Will puts it plainly: “As long as the horses stay on top of the bridge, it should be fine.”

Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake. Photo by Liz Crawley Photography.

Caroline Pamukcu and Mollie Hoff and Sherrie Martin’s HSH Blake (Tolan R – Doughiska Lass, by Kannan) took 18 time penalties, but she says that ultimately, he feels ready for the Games. Again, the team was mainly using this weekend as practice for what’s to come, not worrying about being at the top of the leaderboard. “I’m really fortunate. I feel like the USEF has brought Blake and I up the levels together; they kind of raised us, so we feel really prepared and ready.”

Unfortunately, Liz Halliday and the Nutcracker Syndicate/Ocala Horse Properties’ Cooley Nutcracker (Tolant R – Ballyshan Cleopatra, by Cobra) parted ways after the water question at 5B; no injuries were reported for either her or the horse. While of course never the ideal outcome, Liz will be confident in the results she’s had with Cooley Nutcracker as she prepares to head to Paris as the team’s Traveling Reserve. “At the end of the day, the way the Olympics works is you have to be ready to go, at any moment, in any phase,” Liz told the USEA yesterday. “So I’ll make sure that I’m 100% ready to step in should the team need me…so I’ll have the horse fit to run and all the things.”

Liz Halliday and Cooley Nutcracker. Photo by Liz Crawley Photography.

There’s a balancing act between training your horse enough to perform well at the Games and burning them out before such an important event. All team members said the same thing: knowing how to find the happy medium comes with experience.

Caroline relies on consistency to make sure that Blake reaches his peak at the right time. “I’m just following my same program, my same system that I’ve established,” she says. Sticking with what has worked in the past is going to be the best plan for the horses and riders going forward. Will says that the happy medium is taking it day by day. “I have a plan, but I’m very flexible within that plan.”

Boyd Martin and Fedarman B. Photo by Megan Runge for Liz Crawley Photography.

Boyd, no stranger to the Olympics, says that “I’ve made every mistake you could ever imagine. The biggest thing is learning from the errors and thinking back to what you did right, what you did wrong, and trying to refine it each time.”

Overall, Stable View provided a wonderful last outing for the team. “It’s a great group, we have a lot of experience, and some good horses. This weekend served its purpose,” Will says.

The riders and horses are well-supported; it certainly takes a village. Whether it’s the Team USA staff, the grooms, the owners, the ones keeping the fort down at home, etc., each horse and rider pair have many people in their corner.

“We have nothing but world class people and we’re lucky that we’re supported by so many wonderful human beings,” Will says.

Chef d’Equipe Bobby Costello says that he is proud of the team’s ability to work together, especially during this weekend. “The last few team trips have been great because everyone has shown that they can really work as a unit. That’s incredibly important if you want to be successful,” he comments.

James Alliston and Karma. Photo by Liz Crawley Photography.

One of the seven alternates, James Alliston, made the trip all the way from California for this outing. Sydney Elliot was kind enough to host him before they shipped both Karma (Escudo II – Travita, by Lavita) and QC Diamantaire (Diarado – Lantana, by Sandro Hit) to Stable View.

James remarked that he appreciates the fact that Karma, who is owned by Alliston Equestrian and Ric Plummer, was able to come and get some experience on different terrain. “It was really nice for her to see a different venue on the grass, which is always good for the California horses. They’re not used to that, so it was really awesome!”

James and Karma will also make an appearance at CHIO Aachen in a few weeks. From now until then, his groom, Sophie Hulme, will ride her a few times while James is back in California. After meeting up with them in Germany, they’ll train with the rest of the Defender US Eventing Team before going down the centerline on July 5.

James only picked up 0.8 time penalties today, and he hopes to keep that swiftness going into Aachen, since that course will require a bit of a faster run. “Karma is very fast and nippy, but she settles into it as she goes. This course at Stable View will have helped with making time at Aachen,” he says.

Will Coleman and Diabolo. Photo by Austin Ross for Liz Crawley Photography.

James and Karma finished with a win in the Advanced division on a 36.1. Will and Off The Record followed on a 37.4, and in third was Will with his direct reserve, the Diabolo Group’s Diabolo (Diarado – Roulett M, by Aljano 2) on a 38.3.

Now, the countdown begins! We’re all wishing Team USA the best of luck gearing up for Paris in these next few weeks. Bon voyage et bonne chance!

Stable View Summer H.T. (Aiken, SC) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer]

View more of EN’s coverage of the Paris Olympics here. We are pleased to bring you our Olympic coverage with support from Kentucky Performance Products.

Friday at Stable View: Team USA Completes First Two Phases in Final Mandatory Outing

By on Jun 21, 2024 6:22 pm -

Boyd Martin and Commando 3. Photo by Liz Crawley Photography.

The 2024 Olympics in Paris are just over a month away and this weekend we’re at Stable View to cheer on Team USA at their last Mandatory Outing before heading overseas. The team is using this weekend to fine tune details and iron out what they need to work on over the next few weeks as the U.S. seeks a strong finish after coming silver at the FEI World Championships in 2022. All team members, traveling reserve, and alternates are here in Aiken competing in the Advanced division.

Our first leaders after dressage this morning were Boyd Martin and Yankee Creek Ranch’s Commando 3 (Connor 48 – R-Adelgunde, by Amigo xx) on a 27.8 from judges Sara Leary and Jame Hamlin. Boyd and Fedarman B, his main Olympic mount, scored a 31.8 to sit in fourth place after the dressage.

Boyd Martin and Fedarman B. Photo by Liz Crawley Photography.

The riders this weekend used FEI CCI4* Test D, which shares some similarities with the Olympic Eventing Dressage Test that was first unveiled at Tokyo in 2021. Where most CCI4*/CCI5* tests can reach into 4.5/5 minutes in total runtime, the FEI introduced a shorter test (approximate time from entrance to final salute being about 3 minutes, 50 seconds — so it’s a lot shorter to some of its counterparts, historically!) in Tokyo in order to allow for a more spectator appeal, among other reasonings.

For all the riders, the focus has been yes, practicing the upcoming Olympic test, but also making sure they’re still looking at the big picture of correct training. Overall, Boyd was happy with his horses’ tests and plans to use the last few weeks before Paris to really work.

“I’m not really allowed to ride them unsupervised for the next couple of weeks,” Boyd joked, referencing Grand Prix dressage rider and his wife Silva. “She’s really taken these two horses under her wing and basically every day we’re training the horses together. It’s just practice, practice, but I don’t want to make him sour by overworking him either. It’s going to be short, intense work so that it’s quality work, but I’m not going to make him miserable by overtraining him.”

Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake. Photo by Liz Crawley Photography.

Caroline Pamukcu was elated with Mollie Hoff and Sherrie Martin’s HSH Blake (Tolan R – Doughiska Lass, by Kannan) after scoring a 33.3 in dressage. Her goal for today was simple: have a relaxed test. “He’s a unicorn. He’s honestly perfect and makes me look so good,” Caroline says.

Will Coleman and the Off the Record Syndicate’s Off The Record (Arkansas VDL – Drumagoland Bay, by Ard Ohio) sat in ninth place with a 35.0 after dressage. Will has approached this weekend as a stepping stone and plans to continue maximizing on Off The Record’s strengths leading up to Paris.

Traveling Reserves, Liz Halliday and The Nutcracker Syndicate / Ocala Horse Properties’ Cooley Nutcracker (Tolant R – Ballyshan Cleopatra, by Cobra) sat in 6th with a 32.8 after dressage.

Cooley Nutcracker is just one of three of Liz’s horses in the Advanced division this weekend, along with Ocala Horse Properties’ and Deborah Palmer’s Miks Master C (Mighty Magic – Qui Lumba CBF, by Quite Easy) and Ocala Horse Properties’ Shanroe Cooley (Dallas – Shanroe Sapphire, by Condios), who are alternates for Paris as well as named to represent the U.S. at CHIO Aachen in two weeks’ time.

Liz Halliday and Miks Master C. Photo by Liz Crawley Photography.

Even though there will be the different Olympic test to contend with in Paris, Liz is approaching her training for it the same way she normally does. She’s always focused on practicing the movements of a test rather than the test as a whole, so this test will be no different.

Cooley Nutcracker was a bit spicy in dressage, as he hasn’t been out since Kentucky, she noted. “That’s why we’re here, right? Just to practice and brush the rust off,” she says.

Although show jumping was early in the afternoon, it was blazing hot. These horses and riders are all such good sports and kept pushing on, with three out of the four team pairs jumping double clear rounds.

Fedarman B was excited to jump to say the least, and is in third leading into tomorrow. Boyd says that “he flew around the course with his eyes shut, so I was extremely pleased with the way he came out and jumped today.”

Will Coleman and Off the Record. Photo by Liz Crawley Photography.

Off The Record was enthusiastic to jump at an event for the first time since Kentucky and is in seventh place after show jumping. “We’ll take this and go back to the lab to try to make it what it needs to be, clean it up a little for Paris,” Will said. He plans to take “Timmy” to a jumper show or two before heading off to the Olympics.

Caroline and HSH Blake had one rail and 1.2 time penalties to put them in 10th, but she says that the plan is not to cram anything new into his training, just to focus on being consistent and keeping him happy. “I was very pleased with it. It’s a bummer to have a rail, but better to have a rail here than at the Games,” she says.

Liz Halliday and Cooley Nutcracker. Photo by Liz Crawley Photography.

Liz and Cooley Nutcracker jumped a double clear round to sit in fifth. Simply put by Liz: “He was spectacular!”

Boyd and Commando 3 stay in the lead overnight on their dressage score, Will and his direct reserve horse, the Diabolo Group’s Diabolo are in second on a 29.6, and Boyd and Fedarman B are in third on a 31.8.

Will Coleman and Diabolo. Photo by Liz Crawley Photography.

Again, the point of this competition isn’t to go out and win and push the pedal down for the Paris-bound pairs. We can expect time penalties and the use of Stable View’s not-insubstantial terrain as a fitness top-off tomorrow, which can cause a shake-up on the final leaderboard, which isn’t necessarily a big part of these pairs’ goals for the weekend.

Team USA will begin leaving the start box tomorrow around 10 a.m. and we’ll be sending them off with a toast after they finish up on cross country. Stay tuned!

Go Eventing.

Stable View Summer H.T. (Aiken, SC) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer]

View more of EN’s coverage of the Paris Olympics here. We are pleased to bring you our Olympic coverage with support from Kentucky Performance Products.

For #SuperGrooms, by a #SuperGroom: Behind the HorseGrooms Community

By on Jun 20, 2024 12:00 pm -

We love celebrating and learning about the #supergrooms who make this sport go around — quite literally! This time, we’ll hear from Dinette Neuteboom who founded HorseGrooms, which is an online community for grooms around the world. Catch up on the other interviews from this series here and nominate a #supergroom of your own by emailing [email protected]! 

This series is supported by Achieve Equine.

The face behind HorseGrooms right here! Along with running HorseGrooms, Dinette works for Bryan Baldwin at Meralex Farm. Photo courtesy of Dinette Neuteboom.

Dinette Neuteboom began grooming on a freelance basis in Holland, where she grew up. After traveling to places like Wellington, Peru, Argentina, New Zealand, and China, she decided to make the U.S. her homebase. Dinette knew there was something missing within the horse grooming community, so she decided to do something about it.

“I thought: What can I do to help improve horse welfare and help grooms around the world?”

And HorseGrooms was born!

The HorseGrooms website is set up to provide grooms with a multitude of resources to help them (and the horses) in their careers. You can access blog posts, guides and trainings, contract templates, and more through the website. Take it a step further and enter your email to gain access to the community page where you can ask for advice from fellow grooms around the world!


Dinette wanted to focus on fundamental aspects of a grooming career, like financial guides, practical grooming tips, mental health resources, and nutritional advice for grooms. “The goal is to keep horsemanship alive. I hope it improves the lives of horses and the lives of grooms,” she explained.

Some excellent blog posts that are available on HorseGrooms are Navigating Mental Health as a Groom, Financial Planning By Age, and Chatting With IGA Founding Director Lucy Katan. HorseGrooms even has articles available in Spanish, like Para Mel Obst, menos es más.

Dinette’s background as a rider and a groom was the foundation for starting HorseGrooms. Her experience teaching equine courses at Zone College in Holland contributed to her confidence in helping to educate fellow grooms.

Dinette worked as a rider at Zangersheide in Argentina in 2011. Photo courtesy of Hipismo Digital.

During Dinette’s extensive travels around the world, she met Amy McGann of Unbridled Form while working as a wrangler for a ranch in Wyoming. Amy was excited about Dinette’s idea and offered to help with HorseGrooms– and the rest is history!

“She’s a creative mastermind and an amazing brand strategist! I’m the main owner, but I seriously couldn’t have pulled this off without her. Amy is a storyteller at heart,” Dinette explains.

“Through text, images, colors, and fonts she captures the values, missions, ambitions, and wildest dreams of her clients. As the Creative Director of HorseGrooms she did just that. It is a joy and privilege to have her as a partner.”

In the future, HorseGrooms will introduce a paid tier of membership, where you can have access to exclusive content like webinars and Q&A sessions. Most everything available currently (which is completely free) will continue to remain free of cost. Regardless, Dinette hopes to keep HorseGrooms a place where everyone can feel a sense of community.

“It’s a place for grooms around the world, but not only for grooms, it can also be for anyone who wants to keep horsemanship alive and do the best for their horses.”

Dinette continues to advocate for grooms to get more respect in the industry and stands by the fact that they can all learn from one another, no matter the discipline.

“If you can get support in your community from your own people, how amazing is that? We just make this world a little bit better altogether.”

If you’re interested in joining the HorseGrooms community, click here.

An Ode to Hot Wheels: Sophie Click’s Heart Horse

By on Jun 18, 2024 9:30 am -

Sophie Click and Hot Wheels. Photo by Shelby Allen.

Hot Wheels, a horse beloved and known by many, but especially his rider Sophie Click and her family, passed away on April 30, 2024.

Sophie was 14 when she first started riding Hot Wheels, aka “Wheels” and it was the kind of situation where everything happened for a reason, leading to the strong partnership of Sophie and Wheels.

At the time, Sophie was riding a different horse; her mother, Amy, had bought Wheels for herself. Amy and Wheels were cross country schooling when she fell off into a ditch and broke a rib. Sophie’s horse had an abscess, so she started riding Wheels– and the rest is history.
In her Instagram post announcing his death, Sophie said that Wheels taught her “bravery, courage, patience, and resilience” throughout their time together.

Well-deserved pats for Wheels. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

Wheels is not your typical eventer– on the surface. His unusual breeding and love for the sport made him unique and special. The Paint/ Thoroughbred by Three Alarm Fire (TB) and High Mountain (Breed Unknown, but most likely a Paint/QH) went from prelim to advanced before he retired. “The vets used to always say ‘he’s a Thoroughbred from the knee up and Paint from the knee down. That’s why his conformation wouldn’t hold up to the gallop,” Amy Click says.

While his conformation limited his eventing career, his heart did not.

“I always knew he was going to keep her safe. They were unbelievable to watch together. It was purely what he wanted to do,” Amy says.

Sophie Click and Hot Wheels. Photo by Shelby Allen.

As a mom watching her daughter compete at the upper levels at a young age, Amy knew that Wheels would keep Sophie safe at all times.

“He was smart and quick. She didn’t have to have perfect striding, which for a young rider going at that level, he was able to compensate for her youth,” she says.

Sophie and Wheels encountered their first prelim level competition together, competing up to the advanced level in their career together. The pair represented Area VII at NAYC in 2014 and 2015 in the 2*. They competed at NAYC again in 2017, but in the 3* and placed 8th individually. They went on to finish 2nd in the Aspen Farms Advanced Gold Cup, then placed 4th in the Galway Downs International CCI3*-L, receiving the Top Finishing Young Rider Combination Award.

Sophie and Wheels. Photo courtesy of the Click family.

The pair’s overall record is impressive, and their cohesiveness on cross country is worth mentioning. Wheels loved cross country, to say the least.

It took the pair some time to figure each other out, especially when it came to dressage and show jumping.

“We would say that he would pop wheelies– because he would. She would take contact, he could be at a full gallop and he could still pop a wheelie,” Amy says. Wheels and Sophie’s journey together was of course full of ups and downs, like any other, but it was always unmistakable that the two of them had a tight-knit bond.

Amy says that a big takeaway from Wheels and Sophie’s relationship is that in order to be a successful eventer, a horse does not need to look like a cookie-cutter eventer. “They don’t always have to look exactly the part to be wonderful.”

“He was her heart horse, and always will be.” There is no doubt in the fact that Wheels left a long-lasting impression on not only Sophie and her family, but also the eventing community as a whole. You will be missed, Wheels.

Get to Know Buckeye Best Turned Out Award-Winning #Supergroom: Sophie Tullar

By on Jun 6, 2024 9:30 am -

We’re back to highlight another #Supergroom! Congratulations to Sophie Tullar, head groom for Mia Farley, for winning the Buckeye Best Turned-Out Award at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian. Catch up on the other interviews from this series here and nominate a #Supergroom of your own by emailing [email protected].

This series is supported by Achieve Equine.

“It was surreal to be with Mia and Phelps at the event! I feel so lucky that I was there to support them,” Sophie Tullar says.

Mia Farley’s head groom, Sophie Tullar, is truly Phelps’s biggest fan. She truly enjoys making sure he’s in tip top shape, but winning the Buckeye Best Turned-Out Award at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian was just the cherry on top.

“I was so shocked, but it’s incredible. Phelps makes my job so easy and I love him so much. It makes me so happy to make him look good.”

After working for Mia on and off for around two and a half years, Sophie graduated high school last year and has been working for her full time since then. Sophie’s mom is a trainer, so she’s been riding horses before she was born – literally.

Sophie’s always loved being involved with horses, and her love for Phelps is noticeable.

“He’s very humble and unassuming. He loves to work and to have people around. He’s just a happy guy,” she says.

Smooches for Phelps. Sophie Tullar and Phelps at Defender Kentucky. Photo by JJ Silliman.

Sophie likes to allow Phelps to be just a horse as often as possible. “He loves to be outside, so we try to have him out as much as we can.”

Since Phelps was Mia’s only horse at Kentucky, Sophie was able to take him on walks and get him out of his stall as much as possible.

When it comes to favorite products, Sophie says that Shires is their best bet for making Phelps look and feel his best. You can never go wrong with a good curry and some baby oil for shine as well. “Less is more with him, so I try not to get carried away with anything.”

She makes it a priority for Phelps to get time to himself without being bothered. The night before cross country, she sets everything out and makes sure that the day can go as smoothly as possible.

“I try to make sure that I have no excuses to be bothering him before I need to, so he has as much time as he can to just be a horse,” Sophie says.

Cross country is a strong suit for Phelps, and even though Mia and Sophie tell him it’s just a normal day, of course he gets amped up when he watches the 4* cross country going by while Sophie grazes him. It’s his time to shine!

Sophie Tullar and Phelps at Defender Kentucky. Photo by JJ Silliman.

After his double clear cross country round, Phelps recovered fast. “He’s like, ‘Ok guys I’m ready to go again!’” After a bit of time to himself, Phelps gets iced and Sophie makes sure that he feels good and is ready for show jumping the next day.

“He recovers so well, so he makes my job really easy,” Sophie says. They’re based right in Lexington, so Phelps was able to make it home to his coveted turnout by Sunday night after placing 13th at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by Mars Equestrian.

“He’s been on vacation since then and has had a lot of fun rolling in the mud. He’s happy as can be.”

Phelps is only 11 and he and Mia will definitely be a pair to keep your eye on in the years to come. They are lucky to have Sophie in their corner, always making sure Phelps is happy and at his best.

“I can’t wait to see all the places he goes. Just watching him on cross country is so incredible. There aren’t many like him out there.”

Go Sophie and Go Eventing.

Unsung Heroes: Spotlighting the Longtime Volunteer Crew at Virginia Horse Center

By on May 15, 2024 12:00 pm -

Eventing truly wouldn’t be possible without all the amazing volunteers who ensure the shows run smoothly for us riders. They volunteer because they love our sport and the horses. Today, we’re highlighting a few volunteers at the Virginia Horse Center! Want to sign up to help out during the VHC’s May Event next weekend (May 23-26)? There are still plenty of openings to sign up for, which you can view here.

Diane and Art as fence judges at the World Equestrian Games at Tryon in 2018. Photo courtesy of Diane and Art Bird.

Diane and Art Bird have been volunteering at the Virginia Horse Center for over 25 years. They now live and volunteer in Aiken, but continue to travel back to the center a few times a year to pitch in for certain events.

They trail ride and take care of their four horses now, but both have been involved with horses for most of their lives. “We don’t event,” Art says, “but we’re eventing groupies,” Diane says.

Most of the time, Diane works the start box on cross country, and Art can be found scoring in the office or as a fence judge on cross country. “We do whatever anybody needs when we go to volunteer at an event,” Art says.

Diane loves working the start box, trying to keep riders calm before they go out on cross country. “I really love eventers; they’re really nice people and they treat their horses well,” she says.
Diane and Art have been married for 50 years and volunteering has been a major part of their lives together. “It’s been good for both of us. It’s fun because we both get up really early in the morning and we both get home really late– we’re both really tired, so we’re in it together,” Diane says.

Dennis doing his thing at the Virginia Horse Center. Photo courtesy of Dennis Bussey

Dennis Bussey moved to Lexington, VA two years ago, discovered the Virginia Horse Center and became a frequent spectator at their events. He leads the James River Hikers group and already enjoys outdoor activities, so adding horse shows to his calendar was nothing but fitting.

“The Virginia Horse Center, to me, is a magical wonderland because almost every weekend there is some kind of an event that has to do with horses,” Dennis says.

While Dennis was asking the office staff about the following week’s events, they mentioned that they needed volunteers for an eventing show that weekend. “I thought to myself, you can promise that nobody wants Dennis Bussey to be a volunteer– and anything having to do with judging horses because I don’t know anything about it,” he says.

After being promised that he would receive training and could practice using the walkie talkie before going out to be a fence judge on cross country, Dennis decided to volunteer. “I went out and it was a real hoot to do this thing!”

Dennis was a fence judge at an event, and one horse stood out to him, so he pulled out his phone to take a video. He later learned that the rider he got on video was the one and only Phillip Dutton. After telling some of his friends that he had recorded an Olympian, he recruited them to volunteer at the Virginia Horse Center as well.

Dennis not only loves watching the horse and rider pairs on cross country, but he also has a passion for getting to know them. He frequents the stables at the Virginia Horse Center and enjoys asking people about their horses.

“These people that have horses and come here to participate in all these things – they love their horses,” Dennis says.

Dennis getting to know one of the horses stabled at the Virginia Horse Center. Photo courtesy of Dennis Bussey.
Dennis getting to know one of the horses stabled at the Virginia Horse Center. Photo courtesy of Dennis Bussey.

Dennis, Diane, and Art are just a few volunteers out of the many that make this sport go round. They understand how much goes into volunteering and how important it is to have volunteers at these events.

“If there weren’t volunteers, they couldn’t do it,” Diane says. “We love investing our time because we really like the people and beautiful horses. It’s just amazing what the horses will do for us.”

Diane and Art love the welcoming community that volunteering has provided them and says that everyone should volunteer at least once. “I think some people are a little bit afraid that they don’t know enough, but they’ll be trained at the briefings and the experienced volunteers will help them,” Diane says.

Not to mention, if you are a rider, you can learn a lot from volunteering– watching (and hearing what judges have to say if you volunteer as a dressage scribe) is one of the best ways to learn!

“I would encourage people to come and try it. I think they’ll like it,” Diane says.

Next time you’re at an event, don’t forget to thank the volunteers; we could not do this without them! Better yet, volunteer at an event yourself– you never know what you might learn!

If you would like to volunteer at the Virginia Horse Center Eventing May Recognized HT, click here.

Always Learning with #Supergroom Kate Servais

By on May 14, 2024 12:00 pm -

We love celebrating and learning about the #supergrooms who make this sport go around — quite literally! — so we’re on a mission to interview as many grooms as we can to learn about their journeys. Catch up on the other interviews from this series here and nominate a #supergroom of your own by emailing [email protected]! Today, we get to hear from Kate Servais.

This series is supported by Achieve Equine.

Kate Servais gives Jaguar Duende some love. Photo by Sally Spickard.

Kate Servais grew up wanting to be surrounded by animals. As a kid, she took some pony lessons, but as she got into other sports, horses went to the back burner. Think of any sport– Kate played it, at least a little!

Upon getting to high school, Kate started experiencing pain throughout her legs and joints. When multiple specialists couldn’t find an answer, she decided the best thing to do was to stop participating in running sports. So, she picked back up with riding lessons. She became a working student at Flatlands Equestrian Center, doing a little bit of everything from grooming to riding to photography. 

“The more absorbed I got into the sport, I wanted to do this full time, I wanted this to be my life,” she says. After riding with Sharon White in a few clinics and lessons, Kate inquired about becoming a working student for her and the rest is history.

After almost two years as a working student for Sharon, Kate took the position of head groom. “That progression was definitely a learning curve,” she described.

Even though mistakes have been made along the way, Kate says that experiencing it and learning from her mistakes has been helpful in the transition to head groom. “That’s all part of learning, as long as you understand what you did, accept it, and oftentimes apologizing to the people affected.”

#supergrooms: also part-time videographers. Photo by Sally Spickard.

She said that the USEA Groom’s Group Education Night at Carolina International this year was helpful in learning from grooms who’ve had more experience under their belts. “It was really helpful to have people sit down and talk to all the people who are starting out as grooms or want to become grooms and give some guidance,” she says.

Kate’s words when describing her experience working with Sharon for the past two years are nothing but positive ones. “You constantly learn so much. It’s such a wonderful environment and I’m surrounded by so many fantastic people.”

Although she is early on in her equine career, Kate has some tips and fundamental things to think about in regards to grooming:

 

  • Always have sugar in your pocket. 

 

“It’s an essential to me as a groom.”

 

  • Always be grateful. 

 

“There are some definite lows and some definite highs, but always be grateful for where you’re at and that you get to be in the sport and be surrounded by these animals because they’re just so wonderful.”

 

  • Always be thoughtful

 

“Be thoughtful to each and every horse; all horses are different, so pay attention to every single horse you put your hands on. As horses move up the levels, pay attention to what helps them have a good day and what may have fed into a bad day.”

 

  • Write everything down.

 

“Any changes in feed, any changes in exercise that may have happened, write it down! Write it down with the dates so you have it and you know.”

Kate has not only been handling the responsibilities of Sharon’s head groom, but she’s also been competing herself. She’s been leasing Life Story, aka Basil since this past December and has been gaining valuable experience from him.

Balancing grooming tasks and tending to her own horse is no easy feat. “It’s mental, in the way that if you’ve had a show all day, or you have to leave for a show in an hour but you still have to do your horse, you have to put your stress aside and focus on your horse. He’s a very sensitive horse, so if you have any semblance of a hurry or stress, he will know and he will project that.”

Kate and Rachel Dunning celebrate Sharon White’s clear cross country at Kentucky with Claus 63. Photo by JJ Sillman.

This year, Kate got to experience grooming at her first CCI5* event, the Kentucky Three-Day Event with Sharon and Claus 63.  “I’m was ecstatic for that– I’ve only been to Kentucky once and it was as a spectator. It was incredible to be able to see the behind-the-scenes and to learn from the people around me.” But, the weekend didn’t come without its share of anticipatory nerves: “This was basically my first Long format, ever, with her! So I was pretty nervous about what to expect.”

If you’re considering becoming a groom, take this advice from Kate: “Definitely weigh your options. It’s not for everyone, it’s very intense; you have to really love the sport and the horses and be 100% all in. And it’s okay if you’re not, it’s okay if it’s not the right option for you, it’s not going to make you any less of a horse rider.”

Go Kate and Go Eventing.

Her Love of Thoroughbreds Runs Deep: Kendahl Holden Launches ABW Sporthorses in Honor of Avery Whisman

By on May 14, 2024 9:30 am -

Kendahl and her first event horse and OTTB, Levitate. Photo courtesy of JJ Sillman.

Kendahl Holden’s love for Thoroughbreds started at a young age and it only continued to grow as she flourished in the eventing world with her first event horse and Thoroughbred, Levitate.

Avery Whisman came from a family of horse people and he was riding a horse by the age of two. From riding in the eventing world to becoming a jockey, he always also cultivated a deep love for Thoroughbreds.

Avery and his horse Stonewall Jackson had been partners since Avery was around 13 years old. They went up the levels together. The pair competed at the FEI North American Youth Championships (NAYC), formerly known as the North American Junior and Young Riders Championships (NAJYRC) in 2017.

“Avery had multiple event horses that were Thoroughbreds in his career, but Jackson was the most special to him,” Kendahl says. Jackson is now happily retired in Versailles, KY with Avery’s parents.

As Avery moved from eventing to racing, he became an apprentice jockey, and later began his professional career. Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith mentored Avery as he was starting his career. “From there, he never missed. He was so good at what he did,” Kendahl says.

Avery as a jockey at Del Mar Racetrack in California. Photo courtesy of Del Mar Racetrack.

In his racing career, Avery rode 810 horses through the starting gate, totaled 90 wins, and earned over $2.7 million.

On January 11, 2023, Avery passed away at the age of 23.

Kendahl, his fiancée, has been preserving his legacy since, launching ABW Sporthorses in January of this year. “We always wanted to start a business together and this is most definitely an honor to him,” she says.

Kendahl focuses on restarting Thoroughbreds — whether they’ve only been race trained or have had an entire racing career. Since Avery loved Thoroughbreds over other breeds, she wanted to honor him and focus on Thoroughbreds specifically.

“He is by far the most talented horseman I’ve ever met in my life. He had such a way with them that always captivated me. I could never understand how someone could be so deeply connected to an animal,” Kendahl says.

One of the horses that Avery raced was Stay Out, or as he called her, Mi Amor. “Out of all the horses that he sat on, she was one of his favorites. He loved her and would always send me videos and pictures of her,” Kendahl says.

At Avery’s tribute race in February 2023 at Laurel Park, Kendahl was able to get in contact with the owner of Mi Amor and paid the horse a visit. “I did a little kissy sound and I said ‘Mi Amor!’ and she perked her head up and she came over. Instantly, she put her head in my chest and closed her eyes. I have never in my life had such a quick and powerful connection with a horse before.”

Avery always told Kendahl he would love to bring Mi Amor home when it came time for her to retire from the track. So, she wanted to do just that. After a month-long process, she was able to follow through on Avery’s plan, buying Mi Amor and bringing her home.

Avery and Mi Amor. Photo courtesy of Jodi Murphy.

Kendahl’s mom came up with Mi Amor’s barn name: Mia for short. They knew that Mi Amor would be her competition name, but it was missing something. “I really wanted to honor Avery here and she is Avery’s love, so why don’t I put his initials in front of it and tell everyone that she’s ABW’s love? And that was the birth of the prefix ABW.”

Kendahl will have each client sign a contract in order to keep the ABW prefix tacked on each horse’s name. “It’s respect to him and it’s respect to the business. I can follow the horses and it shares his legacy.”

This was the start of ABW Sporthorses.

Kendahl’s love and passion for Thoroughbreds is evident in her training practices. She takes her time restarting them, understanding that they deserve a grace period after they get off the track. They deserve to be just a horse before learning an entirely new way of life.

“They’re just so intelligent; they’re level-headed. They have sense to them and they have heart like no other. The Thoroughbreds are just incredible; I love everything about them.”

Although she specializes in eventing, Kendahl recognizes that some horses that go through her program will end up in another discipline. “My main goal is to keep them happy inside their homes, and if that means it’s in another discipline, then that is fine with me.”

So far, connecting with the horses but not getting too attached has been a bit difficult for Kendahl. ABW Anath came to her at three years old just after she ran her last race. Kendahl knew she wanted to take as much time as needed to build a connection with her.

“I understand that having a quick turnaround is more financially responsible, but at the same time, I think that when we put in the time and effort into something, people gravitate toward that. I enjoy the process more than anything, so I’m happy to say that ABW Anath and I have definitely connected,” she says.

Good things take time, and Kendahl has been and will continue to channel this approach in her training with all the ABW Sporthorses.

Kendahl and Mi Amor. Photo courtesy of Mady Hsue with Tid Bits Media.

“You can’t expect them to listen to you and communicate with you if they don’t trust you. I want all my horses that come through my program to learn how to trust me,” she says.

Kendahl originally planned to become a nurse, but after Avery’s passing, she decided to not pursue that path. She turned to what has always kept her going: horses. “They’ve saved my life in the past when I’ve gone through tragedy and hard times. They keep me motivated and they make my heart full.”

Although ABW Sporthorses is still a fairly new business, Kendahl’s passion for her program and the meaning behind it shines through. For her, seeing the small wins and small progress each day keeps her going.

“You can never stop learning and I think that’s my favorite part about this business so far. Everyday I’m learning something new, whether it be about my horses, people, this business, or this community,” she says.

The support that Kendahl has received already from potential clients and her community keeps fueling her passion for the industry. This year, she plans to get the ABW Sporthorses name out there and build some clientele. Long-term, Kendahl hopes to see ABW Sporthorses all around the country.

“I want to be able to go on the USEA Horse Search, look up ABW, see all of the horses competing, and feel Avery’s legacy.”

Kendahl and Avery. Photo courtesy of JJ Sillman.

Continuing to keep Avery’s legacy alive motivates Kendahl to continue to develop her business. The main reason for ABW Sporthorses is Avery and he will continue to be the driving force behind it.

“To see his initials in front of horses that he loves, that he was passionate about, to see them grow in this community and this sport that we love, it’s vital.”

Kendahl cherishes her memories of being in the winner’s circle with Avery as well as celebrating his wins at eventing competitions. “He’s just the best horseman I’ll ever know and I strive to be even half the horseman he was.”

Catch Up with This Winter’s Achieve Equine #Supergroom Award Winner Danielle Platt

By on Apr 9, 2024 12:30 pm -

We can never pass up an opportunity to highlight a #Supergroom, especially this one! Congratulations to Danielle Platt, head groom for New Zealand Olympian Joe Meyer, for winning our Achieve Equine #Supergroom award for the winter season! Stay tuned for the opening of our nomination form for our next winner. Catch up on the other interviews from this series here and nominate a #Supergroom of your own by emailing [email protected]! Now, let’s hear from the #Supergroom herself:

Danielle and Joe at Blenheim. Photo by Libby Law Photography.

What’s involved in being a #Supergroom of the winter season?

It feels really awesome to be acknowledged for the hard work that we put in. I really love that there’s an award for it, actually. It’s great and it probably brings a lot of highlights to the grooms that are out there and also something to work for!

What led you to work with Joe and Ruthie Meyer?

When I was 17, I started as a working student for different people and I actually got really burnt out. Three years ago, I was coming to the Meyer’s farm to sell a horse that I had; I wanted to quit riding completely.

I started boarding the horse with him and I would work for them a couple days a week to help pay the board. The horse eventually sold six months later and I had really formed a good bond with the girls in the barn and with Joe and Ruthie and I felt like I could trust them.

I had entered the horse that sold in a competition that weekend, so they offered me to ride a horse that was for sale in the barn. I took it to the show and we did really well. They offered me the position of general barn manager– with that comes grooming and I ride all the sales horses as well.

What advice do you have for other grooms facing burnout?

There’s a lot of places that you can go to that you might not fit in 100% or feel like you’re appreciated at all. In this industry, it is six days a week and some days can be 14 hours long. To go from somewhere that doesn’t make you feel appreciated for those days to somewhere that does make you feel appreciated for even being there for a regular easy work day is something that really stands out.

It was the environment that made it something that I wanted to continue doing. I had lost faith in working for people and not getting back what I was giving. Honestly, to keep looking for something that does give back is what I would suggest to other people in the same situation.

I don’t think the first situation that someone goes to is going to be something that works for them for the rest of their career. You have to find the place that makes you feel welcome and makes you want to get up every day and go work for 14 hours if you have to.

Danielle and Joe at TerraNova. Photo courtesy of Danielle Platt.

What has it been like working with the Meyers?

Ruthie is included in a lot of it too; she does a lot of the planning and behind-the-scenes with sales horses. Even though it might look like it’s just Joe and I on social media, it’s not, she’s so much a part of it. She’s always at the big shows too, supporting and she’s really been an amazing mentor.

Working for Joe, everyday is like a comedy show. He’s hilarious and we both get along really well. That’s important too, for people looking to find a place that they want to stay longer term is getting along and feeling welcome– like you want to go out to the barn every day and enjoy it; you don’t want to feel like you’re going to do something wrong and the whole world is going to end.

We’ve got a good group of girls and we’re always looking for more working students. I spend a lot of time teaching them attention to detail. It’s really important to teach the younger riders coming up the importance of grooming and that it’s not just the job at the bottom before you start being a professional rider. It’s all really important and it’s things that you need to know just for dealing with horses in general.

Danielle and Harbin before the flight to the UK. Photo courtesy of Danielle Platt.

What has been your favorite experience so far?

Last August, we went overseas to Blenheim to do the 4*-L, so I was over there with Harbin for six weeks. It was a really fun experience– I grew up in England, so all of my family is there and so I got to be with them and I got to see a different level of the international eventing than what we do in America. It was very cool to see the environment and see how different it is being in America versus competing in England.

I learned so much on that trip and I made a ton of friends in the barn. The grooms over there were so nice and I still talk to some of them. In grooming, I felt so welcome and it was probably one of the best experiences I could have gotten.

Ballygriffin Chacoa Power and Danielle. Photo courtesy of Alex Scribner of MIPSY Media.

What are your plans going into the future?

I am currently in the process of syndicating my first upper level horse, Ballygriffin Chacoa Power, aka Squishy; Joe and Ruthie are helping me. We’ve had one come into the barn recently that went 3* in France at the Young Event Horse Championships. She came to us to sell and she’s a little bit spicy and a little bit opinionated– and I just fell in love with her.

Feeling like the luckiest person in the world to be given an opportunity to start my own syndicate for this amazing mare.
Ballygriffin Chacoa Power came to us last month to find her new home, but I believe everything happens for a reason and I’m so excited for the future. I have big goals and they’re already too easy for this mare.
Full syndicate video will be on facebook 💞

I owe so much to @mipsymedia Mipsy Media LLC for making my vision come to life with this video. There’s truly no one I would trust more and I’m beyond grateful to know someone so talented and creative.

Please reach out for more information and opportunities within this syndicate!
Dplatteventing@gmail.com or danielleplatt4@gmail.com
–
@vrequestrianathletics
@arrohelmets
@bifidsupplements

Posted by Danielle Platt on Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Joe and Ruthie are showing me the ropes of the whole syndication process and everything that you have to do in order to be a rider who’s supported by owners. That’s another thing about them that’s just so amazing and humble of them because they don’t have to do that at all and they’re trying their hardest to help me.

Grooming for Joe at Kentucky will be my first time grooming at the 5* level. Depending on what horses sell, the goal is for me to ride in the young horse classes at Maryland, so I will be there grooming for the 5* but also hoping to ride in the young event horse classes as well.

The goal with Squishy would be to start doing some preliminary/ 2* events by the end of this year, and then move up to 3* and finish next year with the Maryland 3*-L.

I would love to groom for Harbin until he’s done and he is 14 now, so he’s still got a lot of time left to go. I love that horse so much, so I would love to be there to support him wherever he goes.

Go Eventing, Go #Supergrooms, and Go Danielle!

Behind the Performance: Riders from Bruce Duchossois’ Alma Mater Perform at 2024 Grand-Prix Eventing Showcase

By on Mar 20, 2024 12:30 pm -

There was so much to see at the $100,000 Conceal #GPE2024 at #BrucesField presented by @taylorharrisinsurance 🎉❤️🇺🇸 We…

Posted by Conceal Grand-Prix Eventing Showcase at Bruce's Field on Monday, March 11, 2024

The Culver Academies Lancers Platoon & Equestriennes has been in existence since 1897, taking up the honor of performing at each U.S. presidential inauguration parade since 1957. These groups are some of the honors organizations within the equestrian program at Culver Academies. One of the group’s alumni and longtime eventing supporter, Bruce Duchossois, purchased what is now known as Bruce’s Field in Aiken, SC.

Bruce was inducted into the Culver Academies Horsemanship Hall of Fame in 2004 and leaves a legacy throughout the equine world. Everything came full circle when the Lancers Platoon & Equestriennes appeared at Bruce’s Field for the first time ever to do their mounted display at the 2024 Conceal Grand-Prix Eventing Showcase earlier this month.

Craig (Bruce’s brother) and Janet Duchossois funded the team’s trip to perform at the venue named after Bruce.

Skip Nicholls, the group’s captain, says that he came from an eventing background himself, but wasn’t sure how the students would react to watching a three-day event for the first time. He says that they were somewhat interested in dressage and show jumping, but when it came to watching cross country, they were amazed.

“The inspiration of the power, the control, the planning. And then to see top level event riders -– gold medalists out there, Olympians out there -– and it can still go wrong, that was a great leveling moment for the kids to go ‘Yeah, even the top’s still have incidents and fall off.’”

The group choreographed a new routine for the showcase and students were able to design the music for this specific routine.

“We sort of stood away from that for the first time and let them do it, so for them it provided good leadership models,” Skip says.

The original stables at the Culver Academy can be seen in the background of this photo from 1897. Photo courtesy of Culver Academies.

The team trained twice a week for six weeks before Christmas break and twice a week six weeks after break, leading up to the event. In the weeks leading up to break, they practiced the mounted display with only bridles and neck straps.

“I did it initially for a joke, just to help deepen their seat; we did it without saddles. I just wanted to work on their riding positions, just deepen their seat, get their leg a little bit longer,” Skip says.

One session turned into around 12 sessions bareback, and after around 12 more sessions (with saddles this time!) leading up to the Showcase, the team was ready.

“It’s just a great experience for the kids to go and show off their equitation skills, practice for it, that dedication, preparation, and then the execution of the plan itself when you go out to the event. It all comes together, the hard work all becomes justified.”

Some students are part of other athletic teams at Culver and some are involved in the other horsemanship disciplines that are offered such as quadrille riding, polo, and show jumping.

Skip has been the captain for two years and moved from England to the U.S. for the position. He continues to lead the team because of his love for the horse.

“It’s a pure equitation piece as well as blended with the learning because it’s a college preparation school.” He says that being able to ride while getting an education teaches empathy, problem solving, and communication.

“And then it’s that little break. We put so much pressure on kids when they go through school, sometimes it gives them that mental break,” Skip says.

The Lancers Platoon & Equestriennes gave the eventing community the chance to watch some remarkable horsemanship skills in action. Likewise, the students were able to watch horsemanship skills of a different kind throughout the weekend as well.

“Horse is a universal language that transcends all around– whatever religion, creed, background you come from. To see something new and something different can inspire people in different ways as to why horses are so unique and so crucial to our life and how much influence they’ve had in shaping the world that we now live in,” Skip says.

Skip and the Culver Academies riders reminded everyone at Bruce’s Field that our love of horses runs deep.

“It reminds us that it doesn’t matter whether you’re a professional or an aspiring professional, or an amateur, or a leisure rider, we all get the same joy and frustrations from horses in whatever discipline we do. We can all sit and have a conversation about the horse irrelevant, whether you’re an Olympic rider or you’re a weekend hacker.”

Looking Ahead to the SRF Carolina International & H.T.: Stacked 4*S Entry List Promises Full Slate of Action

By on Mar 5, 2024 9:00 am -

Will Faudree’s experienced campaigner Pfun takes third in the 4*S at Carolina in 2023. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

37 horse and rider pairs currently entered in the CCI4*-S are sure to make for an exciting year at the 2024 Setters’ Run Farm Carolina International, happening at at the Carolina Horse Park on March 14-17.

Starting off strong, we’ll get to see the entire Pan American Games team, which includes Sydney Elliott and QC Diamantaire, Liz Halliday and Miks Master C, Sharon White and Claus 63, and Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake. Caroline and HSH Blake took the gold at the Pan Ams on a final score of 30.8, so they will be a pair to watch out for!

Liz will certainly have her plate full with four rides in the 4*– Cooley Moonshine (owned by Ocala Horse Properties), Cooley Quicksilver (owned by the Monster Partnership and Ocala Horse Properties), Cooley Nutcracker (owned by the Nutcracker Syndicate and Ocala Horse Properties) and of course Miks Master C (owned by Ocala Horse Properties and Debbie Palmer). As always, Liz and her horses will be ones to keep your eyes on.

Andrew McConnon, who received this year’s Rebecca Broussard International Developing Rider Grant, is bringing two mounts for the 4*– Wakita 54 and Ferrie’s Cello.

Other entries that stand to be competitive include Lauren Nicholson and Ms. Mars’ Landmark’s Jungle’s Gold as well as Will Coleman and Diabolo, owned by the Diabolo Group. Two very exciting horses for Phillip Dutton will also compete: Quasi Cool and Possante, who are both coming off of competing at Grand-Prix Eventing.

FE Lifestyle, ridden by Jennie Brannigan, was actually bred to be a show jumper, but has found his home in the sport of eventing under Jennie’s tutelage. “Foxy” finished 12th at Burghley last year, leading Jennie to win the highest-placed Burghley first-timer. This pair will be an exciting one to keep up with during this competition!

Rachel Lawson and High Tide will be another pair to watch out for, as they have truly made it through many ups and downs to get to this point. As Rachel’s first OTTB, their origin story makes them a pair you don’t want to miss.

Cassie Sanger, one of the US Equestrian U25 Emerging Athletes, is entered with Fernhill Zoro. She’ll be riding as a part of the USEF Futures Challenge as well, and you can view more on that exciting event running alongside the 4*S here.

A small– but mighty – one to watch out for will be Corture, ridden by Briggs Surratt. The Holsteiner cross mare who was bred by Elisa Wallace is just 14.2 hands!

View the full entry list here. Whether you’ll be watching in person or from home (click here to access the live stream on Horse & Country, this will not be an event to miss, as we’re getting our Olympic year underway!

Eventing Nation is pleased to work with Carolina International as the press team. If you’re interested in attending this year’s event as a member of the media, click here to fill out the credential request form.

Top Grooming Tips From This Year’s #SuperGrooms

By on Dec 18, 2023 11:30 am -

Here at EN we have been highlighting some amazing grooms that truly make this sport go round. All season long we’ve worked together with Achieve Equine to highlight these hard-working grooms both at events and at home. Now, as we wrap up the year, we’re looking for one more nomination for The One #Supergroom to Rule Them All.

Nominating a groom is easy. Head over to the nomination page here before December 27th. The winner will be announced on December 29th! You can also click here to fill out the form in your browser.

Make sure to get those nominations in by December 27th! In the meantime, here are some of the best grooming tips from the best in the business to keep your horses happy and healthy!

Debbie Carpenter

Last time we caught up with Debbie, she told us all about her life as a freelance groom. You can learn more about her life as a #supergroom here.

“Buy a decent quarter mark brush for making your marks pop at a show. I use the Hass Mustang and a good show sparkle!”

Meredith Ferraris

When we caught up with Meredith earlier this year, she said Ariel Grald’s Leamore Master Plan always needs his favorite treat– Mrs. Pastures cookies– wherever he goes! Learn more about her story here.

“Make sure to wash and disinfect your brushes regularly to keep your horse’s skin and coat healthy.”

Alyssa Dobrotin

Alyssa was Tamie Smith’s right hand gal for the FEI World Championships last year. Read about her story here.

“Rinse your horse’s mouth out with water before bridling so you don’t have green saliva and foam. Use a big syringe and make sure to have one for each horse.”

Sophie Hulme

We caught up with Sophie earlier this year and she made a jump over the pond to study equine science at Hartpury University. You can learn more about her story here!

“We wash the horses tails with shampoo and conditioner and then immediately with detangler and mane and tail spray. We don’t brush it until we do that so you don’t break or damage the tail! We also use equi shave, razors to help trim and shape them and make them nice and pretty. We also use baby powder to help whiten socks for shows and we always do that first then apply hoof oil so it looks nice and sharp.”

Sam Cuomo

Sam grooms for Doug Payne and won “Fastest Braider” for EN’s Maryland Groom Superlatives.

“For competition, my best friend is baby oil! Baby oil really helps to enhance the horse’s shine and it’s super easy which is a plus. I take a clean towel and put a few drops of baby oil on it, then use it on all the areas of the horse that I want to accentuate: hip, shoulder, hock, nose, down the front legs, etc. I also love to use it on the tail– a quick and easy way to make it glisten in the sun!”

Sarah Tompkins

Booli Selmayr and Millfield Lancando. Photo by Sally Spickard.

Sarah groomed for Booli Selmayr at the Maryland Five Star and won “Most Likely to Have Purple-Stained Hands” for EN’s Maryland Groom Superlatives.

“When bathing your horse, scrape them off after scrubbing them, before rinsing them. I like the old cheap aluminum scrapers because of the blunt edge they have. I find that scraping them while they’re still soapy helps pull up the dirt from underneath so it can be rinsed away, leaving a cleaner horse for clipping or showing.”

Go #supergrooms and Go Eventing.

The EN #Supergroom series is brought to you thanks to support from Achieve Equine, providers of FLAIR Equine Nasal Strips, VIP Equestrian, and Iconic Equestrian.

Grooming at Boekelo Helped #SuperGroom Sophie Hulme Bounce Back

By on Dec 6, 2023 9:30 am -

We love celebrating and learning about the #supergrooms who make this sport go around — quite literally! — so we’re on a mission to interview as many grooms as we can to learn about their journeys. Catch up on the other interviews from this series here and nominate a #supergroom of your own by emailing [email protected]! Today, we get to hear from Sophie Hulme.

Sophie and the Alliston team supporters at Boekelo. Photo courtesy of Libby Law.

Sophie Hulme was based in California with James Alliston for a few years before making a jump and moving to the UK to study equine science at Hartpury University. “I geared my degree toward competition horses and I specialized in performance and therapy rehab because I knew I wanted to manage performance horses and event horses,” Sophie said.

While at Hartpury, Sophie took nutrition courses, learned about equine performance, and studied how to keep horses maintained instead of always trying to treat an injury after the fact. “I loved it because I was really struggling when I was in high school with what to study. All my friends were doing history and English, and I wanted to do something that is going to allow me to do the horses but I need something that’s going to help pay for the horses.”

Sophie’s parents are English, so they were able to help her find Hartpury. Growing up, Sophie visited the UK to see her grandparents often, so moving there at 19 years old wasn’t a huge adjustment for her. “You’re not going to move countries often in your life, in theory. I thought I might as well come and do it while I’ve got the opportunity.”

Her studies have helped her in running her own business in the UK, training her own horses as well as teaching. She still grooms for James when she gets the chance, and grooms for friends from time to time.

James asked if she could help him out at Boekelo this past September. “Obviously I’m a lot closer to the Netherlands than California, so I said yes!”

Sophie hasn’t competed abroad herself, so grooming for James for the FEI Eventing Nation’s Cup was a valuable opportunity. “Getting to know the other grooms and that side of having a team aspect as well was quite fun and different. Everyone rallied together, which was really quite nice, to support every member on the team.”

On the way to Blair Horse Trials in 2021, Sophie lost her top three horses in a trailer accident. She had planned to run them in the 2* at Blair and then look toward competing in a 3* in Europe. As things were loosening up after COVID, Sophie was looking forward to finally getting out again at Blair.

“It was really hard for a while, getting used to [the fact that] we lost them,” she recalled. At the time, Sophie had two other horses at home — five and six years old. “We’ve rebuilt the yard in terms of horse power, and rebuilt myself up in terms of it affecting me a lot more than I expected to, in terms of getting back into competing.”

Her first event getting back out there was difficult, especially getting used to the changes in her line-up of horses. “We’re not all three-star again yet, but we will get there hopefully in the next year or two with some of the new ones.”

Sophie was eager to groom for James at Boekelo since she was still rebuilding her yard after the accident.

Sophie and Ice Cool Cooley at Gatcombe Park in 2018. Photo courtesy of Matt Nuttall Photography.

“It was really nice for James to let me groom for him at an upper level like that because, at some point, I would love to be at that level,” she said. “You get to be a part of everything in a different capacity when you’re grooming, which I think is really fun and really cool because you’re still a part of the team at the end of the day.”

Sophie is “definitely a mare person,” having six mares in her yard at the moment– all at different levels. She’ll be gearing them up to compete regularly and hopefully run some 2* and 3* next year.

“The thing that frustrated me when we lost the ones at the crashes, I’d had two of those for years and I’d built the relationship and I knew them inside and out. It’s hard; you can’t just build that relationship, you can’t speed it along.”

Sophie hasn’t been rushing her newbies up the levels. Instead, she’s taking the time to get to know them and strengthen their relationships. She is a jack of all trades: riding at the upper levels, grooming, and teaching too! She’s certified at a Level 2 UK Coaching Certificate (UKCC) and is working on becoming Level 3 certified.

Sophie and the rest of the Alliston team at Boekelo. Photo courtesy of Libby Law.

“One of the positives out of the crash was it gave me the time I didn’t have before the crash to teach and coach,” she said. As she’s done more coaching in the past two years, she’s learned that she really enjoys it.

“I really enjoy seeing clients progress and then the excitement they get from progressing. I find it contagious and it pushes both of you to work harder and make it better. I find a lot of satisfaction seeing my clients get that enjoyment out of actually reaching a goal, which it’s sometimes small and sometimes it’s big.”

Go Sophie and Go Eventing.

The EN #Supergroom series is brought to you thanks to support from Achieve Equine, providers of FLAIR Equine Nasal Strips, VIP Equestrian, and Iconic Equestrian.

Becoming an “r” Licensed Cross Country Course Designer with Genevieve Faith

By on Dec 5, 2023 12:00 pm -

Setting jumps before the event. Photo courtesy of Genevieve Faith.

Genevieve Faith is a rider and trainer who has gone a step further to learn all about cross country course designing. While Genevieve manages her training business, she has been working on getting her cross country course designer license.

Genevieve’s curiosity got the best of her when she started wondering why exactly certain jumps are set in certain places out on course. She wanted to learn more, so she set out to get her cross country course designer license. “Our sport needs to continue to provide a safe environment for the horses and riders and a fun environment,” she said.

“I had an amazing mare that brought me up through the intermediate level and I started to pay attention a lot more to why my coaches were setting up certain terrain questions.” Genevieve’s natural instinct to gain more knowledge has served her well in this process. “Once I do something, I want to learn more and that was really interesting. So then, I just kept pursuing more education on it.”

The best part about the process to get your cross country course designer license is that you can go through all the training just for the educational aspect of it — you aren’t required to sit for the test. First, you go to the USEA Training Program for Licensed Officials (TPEO), which is hosted twice a year where “you go for two days and you work exclusively with a top designer and you go through and you walk courses.” At the training, the designers give you feedback on what you need to improve on and which rules you should review in the rulebook.

Genevieve and Burned You Too at the 3* at Chatt Hills. Photo courtesy of JJ Sillman.

“You don’t have to want to become a course designer to go and do these two days of training. It does help everybody understand different concepts that designers use and why they do certain things. I think a lot of trainers should actually go do it because it gives a really good perspective.”

Once you get certified at the training, you apprentice with at least two upper level designers for a minimum of eight hours each. “I want more hours working with people, so I’m continuously still pursuing more work, more apprenticeship, more time, making sure I understand it before I go and essentially say I’m comfortable with putting out a course and these riders can go out and ride it,” Genevieve said.

When working on your apprenticeships, most of the time, you’re helping them before an event. “They’ve used their course maps and they have a general idea of where each jump is going to go for each level.” The first day or so, you’re moving jumps around on the course.

“You learn firstly, communication: how to communicate with someone on a tractor who can’t hear you and they’re moving these thousand pound jumps. You have to be able to do some hand signals and show them where you want a jump to be lowered, how you want it to be lowered, if it should be tilted just slightly.”

Once you’ve completed your apprenticeship hours, you can sit for the exam, which includes a paper exam as well as setting courses for a panel of judges. “You want to go into it with your best approach and obviously that means you have to take time and study the art of course designing.”

The certification levels for a course designer are as follows: r, R, S, and FEI Levels. A certification is required for each level. Most of the time, it is preferred if designers have competed at the upper levels so they have an understanding of course design concepts at most of the levels.

A lot goes into course designing, and it doesn’t all just look like designing a course and making course maps. “At a horse show, especially the designers, they spend a minimum of a week out there moving jumps, changing them, leveling them, checking distances. I mean there’s so much that goes into it.”

Understanding things like the fact that the jump decorations are there for the horse to see where the jump is and how terrain affects striding are important aspects to becoming a course designer. “There is actually a why behind every single fence out there, the course designer has not just thrown in a fence out there in the middle of nowhere just to give you a speed bump. Every single fence out there is placed meticulously to help the rider.”

Course designing is all about educating the rider as well as the horse at each level. “Having a horse understand a question is the other half of it. You always want the horse to get rewarded throughout the course for doing a good job, and that’s tricky too, doing a course like that,” she said.


Making sure all the final touches are in order. Photo courtesy of Genevieve Faith.

Genevieve recognizes the need for course designers, especially if we want to keep our sport going. “We’re taking lives into our hands, essentially. And we’re making this safe for the horses and the riders.”

As much as we may think it, course designers aren’t putting a jump by the water because they know you absolutely despise jumps by the water. “They’re out to help teach the horse, train the horse continuously, help the horse’s education,” Genevieve said.

She said that if anyone has any questions about a course they’ve ridden, they should definitely reach out to the designer to ask what their theory was or why they set a question up a certain way.

Genevieve originally planned to take her official license test at Morven Park in October, but realized she wanted to take the test again later in February. “It was one of those moments, I said ‘Wait, I felt super prepared coming into this and I still feel prepared, but at the same time I want to be 100% sure.’ I admitted to myself when I was there, I don’t have enough experience going out and setting fences.”

Genevieve went through the motions of setting a course and explaining to the course designers why certain decisions were made at Morven Park, but she wanted more hands-on experience with putting the questions in place. Since she is inherently booksmart, she was confident in course planning and measuring, and was also confident in executing the set-up of the course, but ultimately wanted more experience under her belt.

Jumps on jumps on jumps! Photo courtesy of Genevieve Faith.

“I don’t want someone to get seriously injured because I didn’t take an extra month or two going out and doing more apprentice work. I was really glad we discussed how I can do that more,” she said.

In preparation for her test in February, Genevieve plans on volunteering for jump decorating at events. “I never thought I’d do [that] before. I didn’t realize how much those little things play an important role if you don’t always have to do it.”

She’s getting her hands on any experience she can, offering to design full show jump courses for her friends. At the end of the day, Genevieve wants to make sure she feels more than ready to have riders compete on her courses.

“Am I comfortable sending a horse and rider that’s not me? Am I super confident in this? Realizing you might have 100 people going through your course, knowing that you feel like it’s safe, that’s a lot of big things to think about. I think that’s important for anybody thinking about course designing in the future -– how much responsibility it is but also how rewarding it is.”

Go Eventing.

What Goes into Planning a Competition? Behind the Scenes with Stable View Organizer Molly Bull

By on Nov 26, 2023 10:30 am -

Photo by Shelby Allen.

For us as riders, we prepare for events ahead of time: making sure our horse is fit, sending in our entry, and fine-tuning our dressage test. For all the people who make our competitions go ’round, it’s no different! There is a lot of preparation and moving parts to an event — more than most people realize. I caught up with event organizer Molly Bull to learn about what goes on behind the scenes of an event.

Molly organizes various events on the east coast, Stable View’s full roster of National and FEI Horse Trials being one of them. She lives outside of Charlottesville, VA and makes the seven-hour commute to Stable View for all of their recognized events and some of their unrecognized events.

Molly rode at the Advanced level for many years but took a break when she had her son. “I knew I didn’t want to ride at the upper levels anymore, but I still wanted to be involved in eventing. So, when he was little, that’s when I started doing a bit of secretary work,” she explained.

Eventually, she switched to being an organizer and now Molly makes sure all the moving parts are moving where they need to be. In order to do that, planning is a multi-step (more like a million-step) operation.

The process of planning and executing an event starts just as soon as the event ends. “When an event ends, I usually write up a debriefing email with notes, that for Stable View, it would go to Barry and Cindy [Oliff], the owners and then anybody else who might be affected by whatever is in the notes.”

Liz Halliday-Sharp and Deniro Z. Photo by Shelby Allen.

Molly ensures that people like the show jump designer, Technical Delegate, president of the Ground Jury, dressage and show jump judges, and cross country designers and builders are able to work the event the next year. “I allow my thoughts to settle after the event ends and then start thinking about who I want to hire for the next year,” she said.

Some event officials stay consistent throughout the season, so at the end of the year Molly will send them the event dates to make sure they can work all of them. For the officials that rotate between events, Molly assembles a team in her head and contacts them to see who can commit.

Next step: getting the event on all the calendars. “You have to renew the competition through your USEF dashboard and pay the fees for that. Closer to the event, you have to register it with US Eventing and pay a fee for that. Then, as you get closer still, you have to do your omnibus page and submit that, plus a bunch of prize list materials to the USEF and then that has to get approved.”

Since Stable View hosts so many events throughout the year, they own things like golf carts, radios, manure dumpsters, and Porta Johns. “They’re a little bit of a unique venue because they own so much that you don’t need to order; at some events that I organize, I have to order radios, order Porta Johns, order ribbons.”

Depending on the size of the event and how many levels are competing, Molly will make the drive to Stable View a few days before the course opens. For smaller events, this means driving down on Wednesday or Thursday of that week, but for larger events, she arrives on Monday or Tuesday.

“When I get on site, usually there’s no competitors there yet, so I like that process of getting everything ready for them and putting up tents and getting everything set out — posting maps on the start box once they’ve been approved.”

Photo by Christine Quinn Photography.

Molly enjoys her job and once everything comes together on the day of the event, she finds it thrilling. “It’s always exciting when dressage starts. But for me, the most exciting is when the first horse leaves the box for cross country. That’s the moment that I’m like ‘Ok, I’ve put all this work into it and now it’s really happening.’”

Inevitably, some things are bound to go wrong, but that’s no worry for Molly. “My job isn’t to make sure nothing ever goes wrong but to react and handle it when things do go wrong– make good decisions, be calm, just come up with a way to solve the problem.”

So, what can we as competitors do to help people like Molly and the rest of the crew? “I think speaking for the secretary, they can get their paperwork in and have complete entries.”

Another thing we can do to help is not waiting until the closing date — or after — to enter an event. “It makes it really hard to plan the schedule, as an organizer, that’s hard because if you think you only have 100 entries, but then between closing and the event, you get 100 additional entries, it completely changes the makeup of the day and how many officials you need.”

Molly, along with all the other show organizers, officials, and volunteers work insanely hard to make it all happen. We are so lucky to enjoy so many beautiful venues and well-run events that keep our sport running.

Next time you’re at an event, be sure to thank all those wonderful people who make it all happen!

Go Eventing.

Caroline Pamukcu and King’s Especiale Win MARS Great Meadow International CCI4*-S

By on Aug 27, 2023 6:00 pm -

Caroline Pamukcu and King’s Especiale. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.

After yesterday’s many withdrawals at the MARS Great Meadow International, seven pairs out of 22 were left to tackle the 4* cross country course today, designed by David O’Connor.

Caroline Pamukcu stayed in the lead with the 8-year-old King’s Especiale (Connect – Cha Cha Special, owned by HX Group Redfield Kings), picking up only 10.8 time penalties to finish on a score of 44.2. Caroline also won the 3*-S with HSH Vamonos (owned by Sherrie Martin RAH Resources LLC), ending on their dressage score of 28.9.

“They’re the best horses I’ve ever had; this is the best string I could ever think of and there’s so much work that goes into them and we have such good owners,” she said.

King’s Especiale, although only eight, stands at a tall 18 hands. “Because I’ve had him since he was a five-year-old and I’ve done every single cross country jump on him, he makes it feel so easy. I know him inside and out, he knows me inside and out. It really makes a difference when you have them from babies.”

Overall, the course ran smoothly for the pair, with some combinations needing extra preparation because some of the distances were on the shorter side.

Next on the calendar for the pair is the 4*-L at Morven in October. “You just take it show by show and week by week. They’re eight and they’re getting stronger in their body and they’re growing a little bit, so if I feel like maybe they don’t need to, they don’t have to go [to Morven].”

Lillian Heard Wood and Dassett Olympus. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.

Lillian Heard Wood took second place with Dassett Olympus (Lancelot – Cruising, owned by Debby Greenspan), adding 19.2 time penalties to end with a score of 55.6.

“I thought all these people are withdrawing, should I not run? I don’t want to hurt my horse, the ground is hard. And then I just said to myself, ‘Ok, I’m just not going to go fast, I’ll run, I can get to do all the combinatons. It would be really good education for him, but I just won’t hustle him really hard between the jumps.’”

You’ll see this pair at Morven in the 4*-L, but up until then, Lillian will continue working on lowering their dressage scores and keeping Dassett Olympus fit so he’ll be ready for the 10 minute course at Morven in October.

Tim Bourke and Monbeg Libertine (Womanizer – Chill Lady, owned by Lisa Takada) moved into third, picking up the least amount of time out of the top three, 10.4 penalties, and finished on a score of 61.1. Tim said that the cross country course was straightforward and ran well considering the conditions. “They did a good job in the back half of the course aerating it and having it ready,” he said.

Tim took some time off for a little over a year and a half with a broken leg last year, so he’s getting back into the swing of things. Because of the new FEI categorization rules, he’s working on getting back to being an A categorized rider, so the rest of the fall will be spent on getting more 4*-S under Tim and Monbeg Libertine’s belts to hopefully go 4*-L by the end of the year.

“The organizers did a great job for the conditions that were put to them. And I think us, as riders, we’ve got to do everything we can to support these shows so they don’t disappear off our schedule.”

That wraps up the action from MARS Great Meadow International, and now we’ll kick on for the upcoming action at American Eventing Championships as well as Burghley this coming week.

EN’s coverage of MARS Great Meadow International is brought to you by Kentucky Performance Products. Click here to learn about just one of their science-backed nutritional supplements, Equi-Jewel, for the hard keeper in your barn who needs the calories but not the extra grain.

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The ‘Round the World Diaries of Freelance #SuperGroom Debbie Carpenter

By on Jul 19, 2023 12:00 pm -

We love celebrating and learning about the #supergrooms who make this sport go around — quite literally! — so we’re on a mission to interview as many grooms as we can to learn about their journeys. Catch up on the other interviews from this series here and nominate a #supergroom of your own by emailing [email protected]! Today, we get to hear from Debbie Carpenter, a freelance groom based in the UK.

Debbie Carpenter with Liz Halliday-Sharp and Miks Master C at the Aachen prizegiving. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

Debbie Carpenter has nearly grown up with the horse bug, but the grooming bug bit her later on.

She grew up going to a riding school in Oxford, England and later went to agriculture college for two years. At 18, Debbie went right for the industry she loves and began working with Julie Tew.

After taking a year or two of a break in 2007-2008, Debbie got the bug again. “I came back into it and again realized I loved it and ended up working for Andrew Nicholson for a year or two.” After working for Izzy Taylor for around four years, Debbie went freelance and has now been at it for eight years.

“I just decided that I wanted a bit more time to myself, which turns out it doesn’t really happen!” she said. As a freelancer, Debbie is out helping at events almost every weekend, usually keeping Mondays and Tuesdays as her days off to recover from events. In 2019 alone, she groomed for 32 international 3-day events!

When she’s not traveling all around for events, she has some local clients that she works for if they need it — “It’s not stressful, it’s easy going and we just get the job done,” she described.

Since she jumps around from client to client, she doesn’t get to see their horses every single day as a full-time groom would. This is a unique aspect of a freelance groom’s life, and Debbie said the biggest difference between a full-time and a freelance groom is the relationship with the horse.

“I do miss waking up in the morning, walking out onto the yard and having all your horses that you look after everyday whinnying at you for breakfast,” she said. But even though she doesn’t care for them every day, she still manages to get to know her clients’ horses as well as she can while she works with them. “I work for a lot of the same clients as a freelancer, so I do have that relationship with a few of my horses now,” she said.

To make up for any gaps between the home groom and the freelance groom at an event, Debbie tries to keep the horse’s routine the same as their routine at home. She plans the day out with the rider the night before to make sure their horse gets all the TLC needed and isn’t afraid to call in support from the troops at home.

“I would quite often contact the grooms at home and say, ‘Is this normal? What does he like? What doesn’t he like?’”

Debbie said that grooms in the UK often aren’t able to come to every event because some of them don’t have the HGV license to drive the trailer, so the use of freelance grooms particularly in Europe is quite popular. Other times, American riders who are traveling sans groom will pick up her services at competitions. In this way, Debbie becomes a vital, albeit temporary, part of the team. “I always try and thank the team at home — and make sure that they don’t feel that I’m stealing their horses away and not including them in what’s going on!”

Since Debbie values keeping in contact with the horses’ grooms at home, this makes for a more successful way to care for them at the event.

“My role as a freelance groom, especially at the higher level is that the riders know that I would look after their horse and they don’t have to sort of tell me how to do it. They just know that I’ll get up in the morning, muck out the stall, feed, take the horse out for a hand walk and a graze. So the responsibility is that they don’t have to keep an eye on me all the time.”

But of course, this can still be a job that brings pressure with it — as does any grooming gig. “There is pressure, when you don’t know the horse -– it’s quite a lot especially at the big competitions when you don’t know them,” Debbie says. “But, that’s when you have to keep checking with the rider and making sure that, for feeling legs and stuff, that that’s normal for how the legs feel.”

Most recently, Debbie groomed for Liz Halliday-Sharp and Miks Master C at Aachen, where the pair finished fifth individually and second in team competition. “I have worked with her previously on and off for a good few years, so that was just really nice to be asked back again to work with Miks Master C, which was pretty cool because I hadn’t actually met him,” she recalled.

In working with so many horses, surely there have been a few favorites that have arisen — and Debbie does have one, though she admits it’s difficult to pick. “At the moment I’ve got a favorite horse; I shouldn’t have favorites!” Her current favorite horse is Bill Levett’s RNH Tom Tom R — “He’s a bit of a character.” — with whom she worked at Millstreet last year and has seen grow from a young horse into a professional athlete. “He just went around double clear at Bramham and hopefully we’ll finish the season at Boekelo.”

Debbie credits her knowledge and experience to working full time for three or fours years with a few different riders. “It’s invaluable, seeing horses’ legs every day, looking at their skin, assessing their weight, looking at their fitness, and gaining all that knowledge from being on a yard every day, with a professional rider.”

Debbie’s advice to anyone seeking to be a professional groom? “Surround yourself with good people and enjoy it because it’s one hell of a ride.”

Even though Debbie originally made the switch to freelance to free up more time for herself, but ended up with a busier plate she wouldn’t trade the job for anything else. “It’s quite a treat, really, doing it all.”

Go Debbie. Go Eventing.

EN’s #supergroom series is proudly sponsored by Achieve Equine, home to FLAIR Equine Nasal Strips, VIP Equestrian, and Iconic Equestrian. At Achieve Equine, it’s All About the Horse — and who better to trust with putting horses first than the incredible grooms who care for them? Keep an eye out for more #supergroom initiatives happening here on EN all. year round.

Catching Up with #Supergroom Meredith Ferraris after Pratoni

By on Sep 30, 2022 11:00 am -

We love celebrating and learning about the #supergrooms who make this sport go around — quite literally! — so we’re on a mission to interview as many grooms as we can to learn about their journeys. Catch up on the other interviews from this series here and nominate a #supergroom of your own by emailing [email protected]!

Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

Now that the (volcanic) dust has just about settled from the 2022 FEI World Championships of Eventing in Pratoni, we want to know everything about the experience from the folks who were at the heart of it. We caught up with Meredith Ferraris, travelling groom to Ariel Grald and chief caretaker to Leamore Master Plan (also known as Simon), to ask her some of our burning questions about her experience preparing for the biggest event of her rider and horse’s careers.

EN: How did you get into grooming?

MF: I was managing a barn after college and it just didn’t feel like the right fit. I wanted to move back to North Carolina to be closer to my family so I looked on Yard and Groom in early 2018. The only job in this location was working for Ariel and although I didn’t have any previous grooming experience, we both decided to take a chance and the rest is history!

EN: How did you prepare for Pratoni?

MF: I have several detailed packing lists depending on the type of horse show and time of year, so I was able to create one for Pratoni based off of those. Preparing was particularly challenging because I had to be completely packed for Europe before we left for Great Meadow. Simon and I didn’t return home before shipping overseas — I had to make sure we brought everything we would need for the following month so that definitely made it a little trickier!

Horse kisses are the best! Photo courtesy of Taylor Pence.

EN: What are some essential items to pack for a trip like this?

MF: The number one packing priority is always Mrs. Pastures cookies — we don’t go anywhere without Simon’s favorite treat! Simon is a big horse and traveling isn’t easy on his body, so I always make sure to bring therapy tools that will keep him feeling his best. For this trip I brought his Bemer blanket and boots, a handheld laser, and his nebulizer to help him recover from all the lorry and airplane rides.

EN: What’s your favorite thing about Simon?

MF: Simon has a very big personality and likes to express himself at all times, making him one of my favorites in the barn. Most of the time he’s very polite (unless he gets a little fresh!) and he’s just a lot of fun to spend time with on the ground. He’s always down for a good face hug and a cuddle in the stall.

Cuddles and hugs with Simon. Photo courtesy of Ariel Grald.

EN: What was your favorite thing about going to Pratoni?

MF: One of my favorite parts of traveling overseas is getting to know the grooms and competitors better. You end up spending a lot of time together and it usually ends up forming some very lasting friendships. Pratoni was exciting because it had the team dynamic to add to the international championship experience and everyone was rooting just as much for other U.S. riders as they were for the ones they worked for.

EN: What was challenging about the trip?

MF: It’s challenging to keep enough weight on a fit 5* horse and traveling only makes that more difficult, so helping Simon maintain weight throughout his travels and competing was my biggest priority. He’s already a very picky eater and tends to lose a little bit of weight while traveling. It was such a long trek to get over to Pratoni, but luckily I’m used to catering to his changing needs and was able to keep his weight up.

#Supergroom Alyssa Dobrotin and “His Highness” Mai Baum are Preparing for Pratoni

By on Sep 8, 2022 9:00 am -

Tamie and Mai Baum with Alyssa at Aachen. Photo by Libby Law.

We love celebrating and learning about the #supergrooms who make this sport go around — quite literally! — so we’re on a mission to interview as many grooms as we can to learn about their journeys. Catch up on the other interviews from this series here and nominate a #supergroom of your own by emailing [email protected]! This one is a special one because Alyssa Dobrotin will be joining Tamie Smith and Team USA in Pratoni for the FEI World Championships.

Alyssa Dobrotin, Tamie Smith’s groom for FEI World Championships for Eventing it Italy this month, grew up riding and competing as well as working for Tamie throughout her childhood. “I wasn’t going to ride at the upper levels, so grooming was my opportunity to be a part of the sport,” she says.

She works for Tamie on a part-time basis, helping her with events like Pratoni — which is especially fun for Alyssa, since she’s known Tamie for 16 years.

Alyssa and Tamie have been working hard to prepare Mai Baum for Pratoni. Alyssa said that Tamie has been “really focusing on the flat, doing a few jump schools, and just trying to keep him fit and ready to go.”

In addition to typical fitness preparation like water treadmill workouts and gallops, Alyssa said that Tamie has been working hard on their already formidable dressage. “After Badminton, she really wanted to improve on that score, so that’s been a big focus, just working on the flatwork and how to get those extra points and be as competitive as possible,” she says.

Mai Baum and Tamie are fresh off of a second-place finish at Great Meadows with their final score of 26.9, only adding some time faults on cross country. Great Meadows, along with Badminton earlier this year, have prepared him for Pratoni and Alyssa says that “now he’s ready to go.”

Going from the West Coast here in the U.S., where it’s very dry, to the east coast in Europe requires thoughtful preparation on Alyssa’s part. “It’s really important we manage their coats and their feet,” she says. This care requires various products like Sound hoof conditioner and Keratex hoof hardener for his feet as well as pink spray and witch hazel for his coat. After using the pink spray and witch hazel, Alyssa curries him well to help his coat with the transition from dry to wet climates.

Of course, Mai Baum comes with a load of other items to keep him at his peak comfort. “I always like to have everything that he needs like all of his boots, all of his fly sheets and magnetic blanket, Professional’s Choice theramics– all of those products just to keep him as comfortable as can be for whatever the weather is,” Alyssa says.

The U.S. team left for France on Saturday. After spending a week training there, they’ll head on to Pratoni, which is just south-east of Rome in Italy — which means another long road trip is on the cards.

Alyssa says that the team of grooms and support staff will “be keeping them happy and eating through the travel” and “keeping an eye on how they’re acclimatising and changing over to the hay.”

Mai Baum has a sweet, yet quirky, personality, which makes him a joy to look after — as long as you pay attention to his likes and dislikes. “He doesn’t like to be sprayed, but he loves to be pampered,” says Alyssa. “He likes to be the center of attention. He’s very sweet, he’s very opinionated. He’s just a really good guy; he’s a total gentleman.”

Because Mai Baum likes to “feel like he’s the king,” Alyssa calls him “His Highness.” She says that “he definitely has a royal kind of persona. We actually call him the Queen of England often because he is royalty but he’s also very kind.”

Alyssa has a special appreciation for Mai Baum. “He’s my best friend. He knows what’s going on. He knows when we’re traveling for something big. He can be a little cheeky, but when it’s time to perform, he’s all business and he’s such a competitor himself,” she says.

Tamie and Mai Baum were named Team USA’s first alternate for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which was an honor, but Alyssa is excited for the pair to be competing on the team this time around.

“I’m honestly excited for him to have this opportunity to take his shot at it. Being the reserve for Tokyo was a great experience, but him being able to go and compete and really show what he’s got – I’m just excited for that,” she says.

There is a lot to look forward to with an experience like this and Alyssa is excited to work with the rest of Team USA’s grooms over the next couple of weeks.

“I think we have a really good team; I think it’s a really good group of grooms. Everybody’s experienced, everybody gets along great, so I’m looking forward to that,” she says.

Alyssa, along with the rest of the team’s grooms have been working extra hard to prepare for an event like this, and EN wishes them luck and safe travels!

Go Alyssa. Go Eventing.

#Supergroom Sally Robertson’s 6 Pieces of Advice for Professional Grooms

By on Aug 25, 2022 9:00 am -

We love celebrating and learning about the #supergrooms who make this sport go around — quite literally! — so we’re on a mission to interview as many grooms as we can to learn about their journeys. Catch up on the other interviews from this series here and nominate a #supergroom of your own by emailing [email protected]!

Sally Robertson and Vermiculus. Photo by JJ Sillman.

Sally Robertson, from Coromandel, New Zealand, has been working in the equine industry for decades. Having worked for riders like Chris Chugg, Clark Montgomery, and Lauren Nicholson, it’s safe to say Sally has learned quite a bit — and so, ahead of next month’s FEI World Championships for Eventing, where Sally will be caring for Team USA member Lauren Nicholson’s partner, Vermiculus, we wanted to pick her brain and learn a few things from this top pro. So, without further ado, here are Sally’s six pieces of advice for aspiring professional grooms!

1. Be patient and stick with it.

Sally has experienced various programs and their atmospheres, but says it may take time to find one that really fits you. “Lauren and I, we just work really well together. I probably wouldn’t want to work for anyone else; she has a great program. She not only respects her horses, but she really respects the staff. It’s taken me a long time to find a position that I feel extremely valued in.”

Being a professional groom is not an easy journey, and the tough days can be as frequent as the exciting ones. But if you stick with it, it’s worth it. “In the early years you have to be prepared that it’s going to be a lot of hard work. You might not get to where you want as quickly as you want. But if you can stick with it, and you find the right place, it’s incredibly rewarding.”

“There are a lot of sacrifices. So it’s up to the individual whether those sacrifices are worth making. Personally, I find that they are.”

Sally and Lauren Nicholson at Kentucky. Photo courtesy of Sally Robertson.

2. Take care of yourself.

It’s typical for anyone in this line of work to ignore minor injuries or pains. No pain, no gain, right? Although that mindset is shifting and becoming less common, it’s still important to be conscious of taking care of yourself, especially when the job is taxing on your body.

“If you get into the profession and you want to stay with it long term, don’t make the mistake I did. Start looking after yourself from the get-go. If you need to see a chiropractor, if you need to have a massage, if you need to take that day off and not leave the house and lay on the couch and reboot yourself, you need to take care of yourself from the get-go. And then, you’ll make your life easier in the long run.”

3. You’ll learn something from everyone that you work for – people you like and people you don’t like. Learn something from each person and keep those lessons in your toolbox.

“To be honest, I’ve learned something from everyone I’ve worked for. And whether that be right or wrong, I think each program has its ups and its downs. If you can take away what they’re trying to teach you whether you agree with it or not agree with it, then you’ll never stop learning. And you’ll find many different ways to deal with people and deal with the horses. Not one staff member is the same; not one horse is the same. The more tools you have in your box, the more versatile and better you can do your job.”

Pony hugs… the best kind. Photo courtesy of Sally Robertson.

4. When the job gets stressful or tiring, remember why you started.

“In the past, if I’ve been in that situation, I just try and take a moment, take a breath, remember why I’m doing it. At the end of the day, everything’s going to get done because it has to get done.”

Sally also said that preparing for what comes next and staying organized helps reduce those stressful moments, which leads us to her next point…

5. Stay organized and think ahead.

Typically, Sally thinks and plans as much as two months ahead of time.

“I’m actually like that on a daily basis and weekly basis. So I don’t have the surprises, but then when the surprises do pop up, I generally find it pretty easy to deal with that. I think just grounding yourself again, for a moment, and remembering to breathe, and the most important thing is making sure the horses are taken care of properly. So if that’s your number one priority, then the rest will fall into place. You might not be finishing at the time you want to but that’s horses. It’s any animal.”

That smile says it all! Photo courtesy of Sally Robertson.

6. Witch hazel is your best friend.

Sally’s go to product is witch hazel, especially because it can be useful for so many things.

“That’s a thing daily in our barn. Once we’ve done our afternoon grooming and they’re curried and brushed off and whatnot, they all get a spray with witch hazel. I just find it helps the coats a lot. I won’t ever at shows put fake stuff on them to make them shiny. I’m not big on that. I think sometimes it interferes with the tack, then you can end up with a slippery saddle pad or something. But I find that witch hazel can actually help with that, a bit of an extra shine if need be without making their coats yucky and greasy.”

Thank you Sally for passing some of your wisdom on to us!

Go Sally and Go Eventing.

#Supergroom Conner Ann Clark Balances Training Clients and Producing Her Own Horse up the Levels

By on Aug 3, 2022 3:00 pm -

We love celebrating and learning about the #supergrooms who make this sport go around — quite literally! — so we’re on a mission to interview as many grooms as we can to learn about their journeys. Catch up on the other interviews from this series here and nominate a #supergroom of your own by emailing [email protected]!

Conner Ann and Hawley at her farm in Idaho. Photo courtesy of Conner Ann Clark.

Conner Ann Clark, originally from Emmett, Idaho, has spent the last six years producing her own horse up through the levels, along with teaching lessons to her own client base that she’s been building since graduating high school. That busy schedule is no accident: Conner Ann began working for Hawley Bennett-Awad in 2020 as a working student, which eventually turned into a groom position. Since the program was on the smaller side, Conner Ann was lucky enough to be able to bring two horses along with her and says that Hawley “pretty much helped mold the idea that my horse and I are capable of doing more than just Training or Preliminary, and she was in his corner for that aspect.”

Even now, working for Valerie Pride in Maryland, Conner Ann is still able to balance riding her horse, Second Chance McFly, aka Chance, along with teaching lessons. “She’s really good about making sure that our horses get on the schedule early enough in the day; that it’s not going to be 4 or 5 p.m. by the time you’re swinging your leg over your own horse,” Conner Ann says.

When you’re managing to ride your own horse as well as teaching others, it’s important to remember what got you to that point in the first place. “The reason you’re doing this is the horses you have, so don’t let them get the short end of the stick just because you’re wanting to fill up a schedule of lessons or schedule of horses,” she says sagely.

Conner Ann coaching her student around her first recognized event at Galway Downs in 2021. Photo courtesy of Conner Ann Clark.

Although Conner Ann’s title is Assistant Trainer, that doesn’t stop her from being at the barn at 7 a.m. with the rest of the girls taking care of the horses. She has always prioritised putting in the work, which has helped her get to where she is today.

“I don’t come from a wealthy background and I don’t have the most expensive, well-trained, fancy horse. I got here by working my butt off every day for the last 10 years,” she says.

One of the keys to success in the tough, often relentless horse world is a hunger to learn and get stuck in, and Conner Ann has never passed up an opportunity to get involved with horses. “I fed, cleaned, tacked, groomed, anything I could for the opportunity to swing my leg over anything and everything I could. This is what opened all my doors for me to get where I am,” she remembers.

While Conner Ann is teaching clients– both in Maryland and back home in Idaho – she also manages to compete her horse at the CCI1* level. Some weekends she travels back to her hometown in Idaho to teach lessons to loyal, day one clients, and some weekends she’s competing at an event herself, which gives her a unique perspective on what her clients need from her.

Chance and Conner Ann through the CCI1*-S finish flags at MDHT. Photo courtesy of Allison Green with SDH Photography.

Conner Ann and her OTTB have been partners since 2016. Although her mother didn’t like the idea, Conner Ann and her dad went to look at the skinny rescue horse who they would later call Chance. They’ve undeniably come a long way since then, winning the CCI1*-S at The Maryland International Horse Trials this July among their accolades.

“I think that just being his person from day one of this journey has been really gratifying; I know him like the back of my hand, if not better than that. And I feel like he knows me just as well,” says Conner Ann. You can read more about their tight-knit partnership in the story that Conner Ann wrote for EN here.

It’s becoming more and more common for aspiring equestrian professionals to take a gap year after school to work as a groom or working student. Although hers is an unconventional approach, and one she was conscious might be looked down upon by some outside the industry, Conner Ann opted to follow a different route: she began her business straight out of high school.

“It’s definitely, I think, worth going and taking that year or two or three or however many years you want it to be because you’re not going to be 18, 19, or 20 forever,” she says. “A lot of people that I know, I do think that it’s something they wish they would have done when they were younger because it’s harder to do once you have a family or have a nine to five office job; you can’t just sneak away. I definitely think that school is always going to be there; I think that school is very important and I think that you definitely should go.”

Conner Ann’s advice to any young rider hoping to pick up a working student position?  “Be a sponge,” she says,  and absorb anything you can from the people you work with.

Go Conner Ann and Go Eventing!

#supergroom Madelyn Gibbs Got Her Start with Tennessee Walking Horses

By on Jun 22, 2022 11:45 am -

Madelyn and Scout. Photo courtesy of Mustafa Photography.

Madelyn Gibbs grew up driving from Chattanooga, TN to Atlanta, GA two weekends out of every month with her parents. It was there in Atlanta where family friend Roger Brown let Madelyn spend the weekend riding at his barn. As a typical kid infatuated with horses, she took that opportunity.

“I would ride Friday night and then I’d spend the night and ride all day Saturday, and then ride Sunday morning, and then I would come home,” Madelyn said.

Madelyn got her start with horses when she was around nine years old when a woman her mom knew taught Madelyn the basics of riding on her Tennessee Walking Horses.

“It kind of started because I was never really good at other sports and riding was always something that was super interesting to me,” she said.

Since Chattanooga is not a very horsey area, Madelyn and her family made the commute to Atlanta for her to gain more riding experience with Roger. When riding every few weekends wasn’t enough for her anymore, Madelyn met Caitlin Randolph at Mystery Dog Ranch in Ringgold, GA.

“I basically became a total barn rat and I grew up there, made all my childhood friends there, and that’s where I got introduced to the sport of eventing,” she recalled.

During her time at Mystery Dog, Madelyn leased Caitlin’s horse, Scout, a Quarter Horse. “He always gave me the best feeling and I couldn’t wait every day to get home from school and go to the barn and ride Scout and he really became my heart horse and my best friend,” Madelyn said.

Out of high school, Madelyn got her first working student gig, and although she said it was not the greatest experience, she learned a lot from it. When Madelyn came home from her working student position, her first horse, Yaya, was retired. She was at a point where she didn’t know exactly where to go next. It was then that her current horse, King’s Ransom, aka Arthur, came into her life.

Madelyn and Yaya. Photo courtesy of Pamela Hammonds.

“He is such a genuine and kind-hearted horse and he was exactly what I needed when my mare retired because I just felt a little bit lost,” she said. While Madelyn and Arthur were building their new partnership, she also began grooming for the hunter jumpers. “A local rated horse show hunter jumper barn was looking for someone to muck stalls on Saturdays and I reached out and one thing led to another and I became a show groom.”

When Madelyn wanted a change of pace, she encountered a post from Courtney Cooper of Excel Star Sporthorses / C Square Farm in Nottingham, PA seeking an event groom. “It had been a while since I’d been on the eventing scene, but I’ve always loved it and knew I would somehow find a way back to it,” she said.

So she reached out and less than a month later, she moved to Pennsylvania to start her job with Courtney. “I’ve been here since August of last year and it’s a dream come true.”

Madelyn and King’s Ransom, aka Arthur. Photo by Amy Dragoo.

Madelyn works with around 30 horses at the farm, including “a bunch of babies that are coming up the ranks.” She enjoys helping with bringing the babies along especially since it’s something she’s never done before, as the hunter jumper horses she’s had experience with were already made.

“I’ve gotten to watch two of our horses – David and Griffin – both win their first Intermediates and I got to see them go to their first three-stars,” she recalled fondly.

Working with Courtney is unlike any job Madelyn has ever worked before. “Courtney is always right there in the barn, right beside you working just as hard. She really cares about the horses in a way that I have not seen anyone else care,” she said.

Courtney encourages Madelyn and pushes her to learn more and try harder. “Everyone we meet says that I am Courtney’s ‘mini me.’ Basically, we’re really similar in the fact that we are strong willed and we have ways we like to do things.”

Madelyn and Briarhill Excel Star Take 2 aka Maeve, one of Courtney’s horses. Photo courtesy of Madelyn Gibbs.

Madelyn thrives off of the constant energy that her job has. “There is never a day that goes by without something interesting or funny or totally random happening here. We always have something to do whether it’s cross country schooling or showing horses for sale or getting new horses off of a trailer at 3 a.m.”

Some people would be intimidated by that unpredictability, but Madelyn feels just the opposite. “It’s always an exciting day; you never know what’s going to happen when you wake up in the morning,” she said. Her process as a groom has shifted as she transitioned from working in the hunter jumper world to the eventing world.

“I was very used to going somewhere for a whole week and setting up the barn at the horse show,” she explained. “It took me a little while to get used to working off of a trailer at one days.”

Madelyn also had to transfer her focus from working with clients, making sure that kids and horses got to the ring on time, the horses were ready on time, and everything else you’d expect in a mixed training and sales program. “It’s a lot of the same stuff especially with us working with sport horses and imports,” she explained. “It’s kind of the same routine just done a little bit differently, which I really love.”

Madelyn leading the Midsouth Region at Pony Club Championships. Photo courtesy of Pamela Hammonds.

She finds value in being part of Pony Club for the past eight years, which has greatly helped her in her position now and recognizes the importance of becoming involved in the like to be prepared for the inner workings of the equine industry. “I think whether it’s finding IEA or 4-H or Pony Club, anything like that where you can get involved and you can be hands on with animals and with people, it’s really important to have good people skills,” she said.

Madelyn said that many people think that as a groom, you just deal with horses all day, but in her experience, that’s far from the truth. “We have clients in and out of the barn three or four times a week; this week we have horses being shown for sale every single day. I have to be able to put on my customer service voice and cater to them.”

When her former boss first approached her about coming to a show and grooming, Madelyn was nervous to do it, but took the opportunity anyway. “Never turning down an opportunity is a really big proponent of it,” she said. To make the most of every opportunity you don’t turn down, Madelyn’s advice is to take bits and pieces from each opportunity and keep those tools in your toolbox.

Madelyn grooming in the hunter jumper ring. Photo courtesy of Madelyn Gibbs.

It is because of her support system that Madelyn is able to put all her effort into her work. “I have a huge support group back home in Chattanooga who are always checking in on me through my mom and asking me how I’m doing and I just wouldn’t be able to do the job I’m doing without them.”

Most of all, she understands the importance of giving the job your all. “If you take the time to learn and you take the time to care for every single horse as if it’s your own, people start to notice and people want you to work for them.”

Go Madelyn and Go Eventing.

“It Gives You a Really Great Community”: Get to Know Auburn Eventing

By on Jun 6, 2022 11:30 am -

Auburn University. Photo by Shelby Allen.

As the Auburn Eventing Team is fresh off their win at the USEA Intercollegiate Championships, we wanted to get to know the team and how it started. Auburn’s team is just one of 28 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Teams in the country. The intercollegiate program is continuing to grow and it’s a wonderful way to continue eventing in college and experience the sport in a team-oriented sense.

In 2013, Mary Atkins Hunt founded Auburn’s eventing team, which started with just a few childhood riding buddies. Along with Mary, Carley Whetstone, Claire Robinson, Betsy Kaywood, Kyndal White, Lucia Menozi, Sally Colbert, Meagan Baker, and Casey Driscoll were the founding members of the team.

Fun fact: Auburn was actually one of the founding teams in the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program, which officially started in 2015 after Leslie Threlkeld and Claire Kelley brought their ideas to life. In May of 2016, Auburn earned third place at the inaugural USEA Intercollegiate Championships at Virginia H.T. where eight other schools were competing.

Photo courtesy of Auburn Eventing.

“We are really fortunate in that the area we are in at Auburn is surrounded by a lot of big events and venues, so there were already several girls at the school who were eventing,” this past year’s president, Gabrielle Yashinsky said.

The team really began to grow as the intercollegiate program in general is becoming more popular within the U.S. “We have girls visiting Auburn and looking at the school specifically because of the program, so it’s really cool how it’s developed from just a few members to now we have 41 girls on the team,” Gabrielle said.

As the team continued to grow, they became more well-known within Auburn, garnering more of the school’s support. Aubie the Tiger, their mascot even showed up to cheer the team on at championships this year!

Auburn University’s mascot “Aubie” was out cheering on the team at Intercollegiate Championships last month. Photo by Shelby Allen.

The team meets once a month and the executive members talk about upcoming events and they host clinics once or twice a month. Outside of horses, the team comes together for events like football watch parties, tailgates, and team dinners.

“We also do team workouts twice a week where we are fortunate enough to have personal trainers within the Auburn Rec Center that we get to work with who have helped us focus on specifically what will help with our riding skills,” Gabrielle said.

Most members board at H&G Horse Quarters, Silver Lining Equestrian, Bright Farms, or Flint Hill Farm. “Everyone gets to choose what they want, where they want to put their horse depending on their needs, at various distances from campus, and different coaches and stuff like that,” Gabrielle said.

Lindsey Lanier, owner of Flint Hill Farms, is generous enough to allow the team to host their clinics at her property. “It has nice cross country and a dressage arena, so we all come together for that at this one specific barn whenever we’re bringing someone in or hosting a clinic,” she said.

Photo courtesy of Auburn Eventing.

Even if students don’t have their own horse, they can still participate in team activities. Members who aren’t able to bring their horse to school with them, their horse is injured, or they don’t have a horse can be part of the team as non-competing members.

“They’ll do things like audit clinics, cheer us on at all the team challenges, do all the social events, and meetings so it allows them to still participate even if they don’t have a horse at the current moment,” Gabrielle said.

Since the team doesn’t receive funding from Auburn, they put a lot of effort into fundraising. They focus on funding championships, clinics, and shows. Fundraisers like selling t-shirts and sweatshirts, hosting an auction, or opening their clinics to the public helps bring in more funds. “We’re always adding new things to help us raise money so that we can support the team even more,” Gabrielle said.

Photo by Shelby Allen.

Auburn’s eventing team has been fortunate enough to be sponsored by Fairfax & Favor and they recently started a new partnership with Lululemon. “It’s really cool that some of these brands are starting to see what we’re doing and want to be a part of it and we get great deals out of it.”

Gabrielle has enjoyed being part of the team throughout her time at Auburn, even though she was worried about having enough time for it at first. “I think most of our girls say that having a horse at school has been very therapeutic for them in a way because it’s a way to escape off campus to hang with other people who have the same love for horses that we all do,” she said.

Photo by Shelby Allen.

“It just gives you a really great community and especially at a school like Auburn where it’s really big and intimidating, it’s super nice because you’re meeting all these people with similar interests right away,” Gabrielle continued.

The team has worked hard all season to bring home the win at championships this year. “To bring home the national championship and the spirit award was just a really amazing feeling I think that everyone will remember for a long time,” Gabrielle said.

Having a team-like atmosphere in eventing is becoming increasingly valued, thanks to the founding of the intercollegiate program. “Everyone’s always there to support each other and help out, so it’s just a super close-knit group of girls who all share the same passion,” Gabrielle said.

“I’ve loved my four years on the team and wouldn’t change anything about it,” Gabrielle said.

War Eagle and Go Eventing.

Check out more scenes from Auburn’s eventing team and follow them on Instagram to keep up with more: