Classic Eventing Nation

Friday Video from World Equestrian Brands: A Trip to Welly World

By on Jan 5, 2018 5:30 pm -

Boyd Martin and Trading Aces at the $15,000 Wellington Eventing Showcase. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Wellington is one of those places that doesn’t really require any further description in order for equestrians to be able to pinpoint it on a map. It’s like Cher, but with states instead of surnames, and speed classes instead of power ballads. Sometimes, when I’m doing fitness work in 15 inches of mud and sideways ice rain I ponder how different life could be if I just sacked it all in and went to Welly World to play in the sunshine. But then I remember that the last time I went near the hunter-jumper crowd, monogrammed lavender collars were still in fashion, and that’s just wrong on so many levels (mostly because it was 12 years ago and I still have no intention of getting with the times).

Jennie Brannigan at the Wellington Eventing Showcase. Photo by Jenni Autry.

But the brilliant thing is that the Big W offered us mad and muddy types a generous hand of friendship, which we let Boyd Martin shake for three years in a row. That hand of friendship was the Wellington Eventers Showcase, a fast, furious, and well-heeled ode to the sport, packaged up in a golf-buggy friendly version for the Vineyard Vines and Napa Valley Riesling crowd. And it was GREAT, not least because it involved jumping into a marquee full of people who had possibly never seen mud in real life before.

It wouldn’t be eventing in Wellington without a selfie! Photo courtesy of Laine Ashker.

Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflict with the Winter Equestrian Festival’s showjumping calendar, the Showcase won’t be running this year. We look forward to cheering on our hardy brethren in the sunshine next year, but, in the meantime, here’s an in-depth look back at 2017’s competition, courtesy of Elisa Wallace.

Go eventing, and go sunshine! (No, I don’t mean that, please come back, sunshine, I beg of you…!)

Best of HN: Too Cold To Ride? Using Common Sense & Science

By on Jan 5, 2018 1:00 pm -

Photo by Kristen Kovatch.

A recent Facebook posting from Yates Equine Veterinary Services has been going viral around equestrian social media concerning what temperatures could be considered too cold to work a horse. The post has sparked plenty of lively discussion, with plenty of equestrians on both sides of the issue cherry-picking a few key facts to back up their own theories. We’ll establish the facts, combined with common sense, to help readers decide for themselves in the middle of the United States’ intense cold snap (not to mention this coming “bomb cyclone,” whatever on earth that might be…).

The post that launched a thousand comments:

I am frequently asked, and I wondered myself, about working horses in extremely frigid weather like what we are…

Posted by Yates Equine Veterinary Services on Friday, December 29, 2017

Thanks, Dr. Yates, for digging into the research!

The tl;dr version in bullet facts:

  • The horse’s respiratory tract is designed to warm and humidify air by the time air reaches his lungs. Intense exercise (anything more than a walk) speeds up and deepens breaths so that air is not as warm or humid when it reaches the lungs
  • Scientists discovered in three studies that respiratory tracts in horses can become damaged by breathing cold air (23 degrees Fahrenheit)
  • Damage to lower respiratory tracts was found 48 hours after exercise, including elevated white blood cell counts and inflammatory proteins as well as narrowing of the tracts
  • While full text was not available for two of the three studies, the third study was performed on nine horses on a treadmill in a climate-controlled facility. No further information is given on the horses
  • Dr. Yates observes that there are no studies done in natural environments (outside) and no studies done in relation to horses’ acclimatization — are horses who live outside in cold environments better acclimated to working in cold temperatures?

Dr. Yates’ conclusion is that she will likely avoid exercise (trotting, cantering and jumping) when temperatures are under 20 degrees F.

Interpreting the results

Some riders are taking these studies as evidence that all riding should cease when temperatures are below 25-20 degrees F, while others are reading this post as justification to just bundle up and keep on training. As with lots of discussions in the horse world, the best path may lie somewhere in the middle — and with the unknown factor of how acclimatization might affect a horse’s ability to work in the cold, common sense should continue to dictate the ride.

Here are a few considerations when deciding to ride in the cold:

How is your footing? Frozen hard-packed bare ground at 25 degrees is a far different riding surface from a snow-covered pasture at 25 degrees. No matter how warm it is, icy conditions should be a no-go for any rider.

Where does your horse live? Again, while acclimatization did not come into play with the above referenced studies, I believe you can make a case that a horse coming from a heated barn to a cold outdoor arena would likely have a harder time both breathing cold air and physically/mentally settling in to work, while a horse living out 24/7 working in the same environment should feasibly be more likely to be ready to go.

What’s your horse’s level of fitness? Going hand-in-hand with considerations of acclimatization, cold weather is not a good time to decide to bring a horse back into work if he’s going to be breathing that cold air into his out-of-shape body as you make him trot and canter. It may take some creative management to exercise a fit horse in extreme cold; hand walking and ground work are good strategies that will protect his respiratory system while keeping him mentally and physically engaged, especially if he’s not the sort of horse who can go out for a snowy trail ride around the property.

Take your time in warm-up. Regardless of your horse’s acclimatization, both his muscles and his respiratory tract need plenty of time to warm up in this weather. The golden rule from multiple sources seems to be a 10-15 minute walking warm-up if you’re planning a regular work in colder weather. If it’s under 20-23 degrees, it’s advisable to walk only to avoid damaging your horse’s respiratory tract.

Cooling down is equally vital. Even if your horse is clipped to allow him to work without sweating up a long, shaggy coat, an appropriate cool-down is essential. For unclipped horses who have worked up a sweat, cool-down is critical to allow the horse’s coat to dry before it freezes, giving the horse a chill.

Discretion is the better part of valor. Seriously, very few of us are in true life-or-death scenarios where we MUST work a horse hard in extreme cold. (And those of us who are — I’m thinking of ranchers with livestock to tend — may have horses who are acclimated to working in the cold and therefore may not be as prone to respiratory damage — again, we’ll need another study to look into this). While it’s frustrating in the immediate moment to be “grounded” due to weather, in the long run our horses and we ourselves may ultimately be happier and healthier if we skip a training ride and instead slow things down for this period of intense cold.

Take a look at your own conditions, your horse and your weather forecast to make decisions in your riding life. And if you can — go riding!

Further reading

SmartPak: Ask the Vet: Too Cold to Ride?

Certified Horsemanship Association: Exercising Your Horse During Winter

Study: “Cold air-induced late-phase bronchoconstriction in horses” (subscription needed for full article)

Study: “Influx of neutrophils and persistence of cytokine expression in airways of horses after performing exercise while breathing cold air” (subscription needed for full article)

Ah-ha! Moment of the Week from Attwood: Boyd Martin’s Horse of a Lifetime

By on Jan 5, 2018 11:00 am -

Many eventers have encountered a special horse, had a breakthrough competition, or experienced a revelation during training that changed … well … everything. In a new weekly series presented by Attwood Equestrian Surfaces, eventers share their ah-ha! moments. In the premier edition Boyd Martin, whose Windurra USA in Cochranville, PA, features Pinnacle and Sand Blend arenas from Attwood, recollects the story of the eventer he calls his “horse of a lifetime.” 

Boyd Martin galloping SBS Cortez at home on his Attwood Equestrian Surfaces track at Windurra USA.  Photo by Lisa Thomas/Mid-Atlantic Equestrian.

When I was growing up in Australia my first 13.2-hand pony was called Will He Do It; later I moved up to 15.1-hand Lenny, but when I was about 15 years old and getting taller, I needed a bigger horse. We found an 11-year-old, 16.2-hand off-the-track Thoroughbred called Flying Doctor for $1,200. He’d had a bit of basic training but had never been to a show, and at the time my parents didn’t know much about horses. I decided to try him over a few fences and at the first oxer I pointed him at, he stopped dead in his tracks and I fell off. My dad said, “I think we should buy him because he didn’t run away!”

In hindsight Flying Doctor wasn’t actually that talented, but he had a heart of gold and the toughness of a gladiator. Being an off-the-track Australian Thoroughbred, he also had no “quit” in him. Neither of us knew too much but he took me to my first one-, two- and three-stars and eventually my first four-star in the year 2000.

At our first four-star at Adelaide, he did a great dressage, roared around cross country and had one rail down for a 5th place finish. At this point he was starting to get a bit old and a bit creaky in his joints so I planned to give him six months off after the event. I decided I’d like to take him to one more four-star before he retired, at the same event the following year.

Boyd Martin and Flying Doctor. Photo courtesy of Boyd Martin.

These days my horses receive lots of pampering to keep them at the top of their game, but things were a bit different back then. During our preparation for his final four-star I was riding around in Heath Ryan’s indoor, which had a mixture of wood chips and horse manure for footing. I didn’t realize he was limping a bit while I was doing dressage. Heath had a great old vet named Shanksy who I’d never seen without a cigarette in his mouth. He told me to wait right there and headed over to his truck. He came back with a big needle and syringe, still with the cigarette hanging out of his mouth, pulled off the boot and shoved the needle into the horse’s ankle. Then he put the boot back on and told me tomorrow the horse would feel like new. Old Shanksy was right, and Flying Doctor was sound as could be the next day.

I figured because he was such a seasoned campaigner I’d just give him one CIC3* in preparation for the four-star. I chose Golbourn CIC3*, which was about three weeks before Adelaide, and I couldn’t believe it when I got there and pulled him off the truck: he was three degrees lame with a foot abscess. He was in absolutely no condition to do his only preparation event for the big one. So off we went to our second four-star, having not competed at all since our previous four-star a year before.

Boyd Martin and Flying Doctor. Photo courtesy of Boyd Martin.

It was bit daunting not to have any lead-up events but to his credit, he was such a legend that he dug deep and gritted his teeth and went clear around the big, tough cross country track in the long-format CCI4* at Adelaide. I still remember the thrill that it gave me: He may not have been a world champion, but he was a good, tough old horse and really powered around the massive, solid course.

There was one particularly dramatic moment on the steeplechase course. It was a four and a half-minute steeplechase, and we were galloping as fast as we could at the big brush fences to make the time. I had the miss of all misses as we took off over one fence and Flying Doctor skidded through the jump. There was brush flying everywhere and I nearly got pitched off, but he somehow found his feet as he landed on his nose, picked himself up and kept on galloping. Unfortunately the fence was next to roads and tracks course, so a number of my friends were witness to that moment and were ribbing me before I headed out on cross country!

As a competitor Flying Doctor was heroic, achieving far more than I ever imagined, and he really inspired me by giving me a taste for the four-star level, an addiction I’ve never been able to kick. These days I would never consider buying an untried, 11-year-old horse off the track, but he really helped launch my career as an event rider.

After Adelaide I felt he was getting a bit too old to keep running him over big cross country tracks so I sold him to a kid for a couple grand and he did Pony Club for a few years. He was a legendary wind-sucker and towards the end of his time with me, his front teeth had almost worn away. After his stint in Pony Club, he retired to live out his days. Unfortunately he was bitten by a poisonous snake and died under a tree in his paddock. In a way it was a fitting and dramatic end for a horse that exceeded everyone’s expectations.

How Montana Eventers Do Winter: Rebecca Farm’s Inaugural Skijoring Competition

By on Jan 5, 2018 9:00 am -

Jen Johnson in the tack and Sarah Broussard skiing in the Skijoring at Rebecca Farm costume class. Photo by Tommy Diegel Photography.

Sarah Broussard is a woman of many talents, among them mom, rider, event organizer, firefighter and cancer-fighting superhero. And she’s also quite the skijorer, apparently!

Derived from the Norwegian word skikjøring meaning “ski driving,” skijoring is a winter sport that combines skiing and horseback riding. The sport consists of a horse pulling a skier through an obstacle course, all while hitting jumps that range in size from three feet to nine feet high. Competitors are judged based on how long it takes for them to run the track, which stretches approximately 850 feet from start to finish.

On the final weekend of 2017 Sarah handed the reins over to a mustachioed sea captain, Jen Johnson, and laced up her ski boots to celebrate Rebecca Farm’s inaugural skijoring competition.

Photo by Tommy Diegel Photography.

Rebecca Farm vs. Mother Nature

Sarah made the course look easy, but Rebecca Farm’s path to hosting the event wasn’t without its challenges. Snow, of course, is critical to the sport — and there wasn’t a snowflake in sight throughout the month of December. With barren ground and no snow in the forecast, Sarah and her team feared their foray into skijoring might be over before it even began.

Fortunately, snow started to fall shortly before Christmas. Sarah drew a celebratory breath of relief and she and her team set to work prepping the facility. But their relief turned to concern as ominous weather reports circulated; record snowfall and low temperatures were predicted for the New Year’s Eve weekend.

“After a dry December, the irony that there could, in fact, be too MUCH snow or temperatures too cold for the horses? Well, that was a heavy weight. We wanted to have a great event but safety is the top priority. We were fighting for a way to have both,” Sarah says.

As the predicted winter storm barreled down on the Flathead Valley, Broussard’s team soldiered up. Throughout the frigid post-Christmas week, they were determined to make the inaugural run of Skijoring at Rebecca Farm a reality.

Photo by Green Kat Photography.

‘Come Hell, Heavy Snow or Detours, We’ll Be There’ 

Simultaneously, Skijoring America board member and open division competitor, Richard Weber and his longtime teammate and travel partner, Tyler Smedsrud, were loading up five horses. The pair was preparing to make the 18-hour, 1,200-mile trek from their home base in Ridgway, Colorado to Rebecca Farm, where they would lead preparations for the course. Richard and Tyler are some of the sport’s most visible and committed competitors; in addition to contending in the top division, the duo volunteers most of winter weekends building courses for events sanctioned by Skijoring America.

Richard believes that ensuring the appropriate blend of safety and challenge for sanctioned courses is an important part of skijoring’s future. It is that devotion, along with the adrenaline rush, that have had him trucking through winter storms, power outages, and significant detours over the last two years.

“After six years of skijoring locally, I decided to get serious,” he explains. “For three years, I’ve been on the circuit. I put 15,000 miles on last season; it was worth it. Those people out there on the skijoring road, they’re family. I’ve also learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t, and I want to help others.”

Sarah, Richard, Tyler and the scores of other hardy event volunteers would need all of that determination and more to face down the challenges headed their way: The evening of Friday, Dec. 29, just one day prior to opening ceremonies, snow and high winds belted the Flathead Valley. As highway crews struggled to keep major roadways open, the newly created skijoring course, parking area and roadways at Rebecca Farm were buried in layers and drifts of snow. And while most of the Flathead Valley battened down the hatches, skijoring crews fired up equipment and started working in the early hours of Saturday to make a way for the event.

Photo by Green Kat Photography.

It Takes a Valley

“For me, Saturday was very challenging but there was a real sense of camaraderie with the crew. We had 10 rigs out moving snow,” Sarah says. “Earlier, on Thursday and Friday, we needed water to reinforce the jumps, and our West Valley volunteer firefighters brought the fire trucks over and jumped in to help. It was crazy but that whole weekend really had a community feel to it. People helped out any way they could.”

In the end, the snow was cleared, and though festivities kicked off an hour late, happy spectators would say the event itself was a small miracle. Considering the “can-do” attitude of the participants and crew, though, the success of Skijoring at Rebecca Farm might well have been predictable.

“I love to see the sport growing with people just as stubborn as I am, that don’t let obstacles get in their way,” Richard laughs. “Come hell, heavy snow, or a 400 mile detour, we’re getting there.”

Richard was not alone. Both out-of-state and Montana horse trailers began to roll into Rebecca Farm early Saturday morning. In the end, despite the weather, approximately 80 teams ponied up and thousands of spectators braved the cold to partake in the fun.

“When it comes to these kinds of events, I always say that ‘it takes a valley.’ Skijoring at Rebecca is certainly no exception,” emphasizes Sarah. “The community, the sponsors, the local volunteers, the folks from Skijoring America – they were all incredible. They pulled together and made this event — which felt impossible at moments — possible.”

And Richard couldn’t agree more. “I’ve been to a lot of great events, but Rebecca Farm had an amazing group of volunteers – maybe the best I’ve ever seen.”

Photo courtesy of Rebecca Farm.

Race Results

Local racers scooped up several weekend honors and landed at the top of Skijoring America’s 2018 leader board for the Open and Sport Divisions. Scott Ping, the Whitefish resident affectionately called “The Grandaddy of Skijoring,” rode to first place in the open division rider standings, finishing with a total of 90 points. Ping’s trusty steed, Kona Koffee, led the field for open division horses with an overall score of 90 points. Open division skier, Toby MacIntosh of Columbia Falls, jumped his way to the top of Skijoring America’s rankings with a perfect score of 100 points.

In the sport division, Kalispell native Kali Kitchen headed the rider leaderboard with a total score of 48 points. Longtime skijoring competitor Bart Slaney matched Kitchen with 48 points of his own, landing the lead for skiers in sport.  Topping sport scoring honors for horses with 24 points was Royaleigh, ridden by the Flathead Valley’s Jennifer Butler.

Eric Christianson, a Columbia Falls resident, aboard his mounts Charger and Cowboy, dominated the novice division, holding down the top three times. Christianson and Charger, partnered with skier Dane Ockerland, took first in novice with an overall time of 33.5 seconds. Christianson and Ockerland also teamed up for a second round with Christianson’s horse, Cowboy, securing a 36.01, second place finish in novice. Skier Matthew Stickney also teamed up with Christianson and Cowboy, to take third at 36.71. (Novice races, although fully incorporated into Skijoring at Rebecca Farm, are not used in Skijoring America’s national ranking system.)

While held the last weekend of 2017, Skijoring at Rebecca Farm in fact served as the opening event for Skijoring America’s 2018 season. Learn more about the sport of skijoring here.

Watch videos from the event here.

This story is edited from a press release.

Friday News & Notes from SmartPak

By on Jan 5, 2018 12:03 am -

I feel ya, bruh. Photo by Libby Head.

Anyone from Vermont, please tune out now, because I’m about to complain about the cold. Look, I’m from Virginia, where it gets pretty cold but not like, I’M DYING level cold. This whole week it’s been hovering around 1* at night, which is just out of control. I mean, how do people live like this? WHY do people live in places where it’s like this in the winter?? What kind of penance are you serving from a past life? Good god, I can’t even.

National Holiday: National Whipped Cream Day

News From Around the Globe:

“The question of whether or not to blanket your horse at arises frequently this time of year. The temperature is prone to unexpected dives, and many horses are sporting some sort of body clip. You may have seen the wonderful When-to-Blanket flowchart posted on the Facebook page of The Equine Program at Auburn University that’s been making the rounds of social media. The intentionally convoluted diagram illustrates the volume of information that horse people must consider when making the blanketing decision. The answer is less black-and-white than it is furry shades of grey.” [COTH To Blanket or Not To Blanket?]

Oh, New Year’s resolutions. These are just a pile of rules that are made to be broken, right? We all attempt to make them, and some of them are about our horsey habits. Mine is always to start writing down what each of my horses does every day in greater detail, but that never happens after a few months. Sometimes you also want to clean your tack every day, but who has time for that unless you have slaves working students? [6 Horsey New Years Resolutions That You’ll Definitely Break]

FBF: Yesterday, I didn’t Know About Equine Jock Straps

Hot on Horse Nation: Trip Review: Riding Mules in the Grand Canyon

Interested in participating in the ICP Symposium in Ocala mid-February? The USEA is looking for demo riders and horses to ride with Leslie Law and Kai-Steffen Meier at Longwood Farm this spring. You can apply here to be considered for a rider position, or fill out an application for your young horse to be used as well. [USEA Wants You]

 

 

Thursday Video: Bored? Here’s How to Turn a Tangerine Peel into a Horse. You’re Welcome.

By on Jan 4, 2018 4:30 pm -

Are you snowed in from this bombo-whatever-it-is blizzard that’s whalloping the east coast today? Well, citizens of EN, you’re in luck because here’s a real boredom buster that will test your knife skills and artistic capabilities.

All you need to start are three simple materials:

  1. A round citrus fruit.
  2. An Exacto knife or other sharp implement.
  3. Literally nothing better to do.

Hidden Artwork

Wait for the reveal!Please say something about this video with one word <3

Posted by Miracles of nature on Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Ya’ll, I cann’t believe that all this time I’ve just been throwing peels away when I could have been doing this. Did you try it? Post a pic in the comments and show us how you did!

Go … citrus peeling?

Wellington Eventing Showcase Will Not Run in 2018

By on Jan 4, 2018 2:46 pm -

Boyd Martin and Blackfoot Mystery at the 2016 Wellington Eventing Showcase. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Equestrian Sport Productions confirmed to EN that the Wellington Eventing Showcase, held during the Winter Equestrian Festival at Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, Florida for the past three years, will not run in 2018.

“Schedule and location changes to show jumping classes at the Winter Equestrian Festival will prevent the Wellington Eventing Showcase from running this year at PBIEC. The management team is looking forward to adding the Wellington Eventing Showcase back to the calendar for the 2019 season.”

First held in 2015, the showcase is an unrecognized three-phase competition that has offered one of the largest prize pots on the North American eventing circuit, with $100,000 awarded in 2017. In addition to the top riders in North America, the showcase attracted big names like William Fox-Pitt, Mark Todd, Tim Price and Dan Jocelyn from across the pond.

Boyd Martin has won the showcase each year since it began — 2015 with Trading Aces, owned by the Trading Aces Syndicate; 2016 with his Rio Olympic mount Blackfoot Mystery, owned by the Blackfoot Mystery Syndicate; and 2017 with Welcome Shadow, owned by Craig and Gloria Callen.

Click here for more information about the Winter Equestrian Festival.

Dutton Top U.S. Rider in FEI Rankings for Third Consecutive Year

By on Jan 4, 2018 1:00 pm -

Phillip Dutton and Z at the 2017 Ocala Jockey Club CIC3*. Photo by Jenni Autry.

With results for all FEI eventing competitions in 2017 now accounted for, Michael Jung has officially ended his third consecutive season as the FEI World #1. Michael took the top spot in the FEI World Eventing Athlete Rankings starting in 2015 and never looked back, setting a record high of 711 points in September 2016.

This year Michael ended the season with 463 points, with Tim Price and Gemma Tattersall in equal second place on 450 points each.

Despite breaking his collarbone in September and missing out on all major CCI competitions in the autumn, Phillip Dutton is the highest ranked U.S. rider for the third consecutive year. Phillip concluded the 2017 season in the fourth slot with 435 points.

Four U.S. riders ended the year in the top 25. In addition to Phillip in fourth, we also have Boyd Martin in 17th with 334 points, Hannah Sue Burnett in 19th with 323 points, and Buck Davidson in 25th with 291 points.

An additional five U.S. riders cracked the top 50: Will Coleman in 31st with 283 points, Jennie Brannigan in 33rd with 269 points, Lauren Kieffer in 41st with 251 points, Erin Sylvester in 45th with 243 points, and Kylie Lyman in 50th with 237 points.

Selena O’Hanlon is the only Canadian rider inside the top 100, concluding the season in equal 59th place on 211 points. Jessica Phoenix and Waylon Roberts are both ranked inside the top 200, in 115th and 155th places, respectively.

Click here to view the final FEI rankings for the 2017 season.

Love Nation: Congrats to Newly Engaged EN Publisher John & Fiancé Jess!

By on Jan 4, 2018 10:30 am -

J+J Romance Factory! Photo used without permission from John’s FB page.

Join us in issuing a great big unauthorized congrats to Eventing Nation founder and publisher John on his engagement to Jessica Fink! John got down on one knee just before the holidays and Jessica, a very sweet and pretty girl who seems OK with John’s myriad neuroticisms, took the bait. Changed light bulbs for life, Jess! No step-stools needed on that wedding gift registry!

At risk of getting all of us fired for revealing any details about John’s shadowy existence, I can confirm that John is doing A-OK in the game of life. In addition to running like seven successful businesses, he is currently on scholarship at an unnamed university working on his MBA, crunching numbers and learning corporate jargon like “action plan” and “leadership deliverables” that he uses to torment and bewilder his employees here at Nation Media. Get that paper, John! In his leisure time he enjoys being in love, traversing vast distances between business meetings in his car, participating in grueling physical activities and hanging out with his lovely mom. Hi, John’s mom!

The EN staff hasn’t met Jess in person, yet, but we have interrogated John at length about her and in our professional opinion they are a totally perfect match. Sounds like they’re aiming for a summer wedding, and don’t worry, I already put in a request that it be scheduled around all major three-day events.

All ribbing aside, on behalf of the entire Eventing Nation we couldn’t be happier for you two! Congrats and here’s wishing John and Jess a happily ever after!

Go Love. Go Eventing.

Awwwww, you two!

Eventing 25 Emerging Athlete Amanda Beale Clement is a Student of the Sport

By on Jan 4, 2018 9:00 am -

Amanda Beale Clement and Get Ready at Fair Hill International 2017. Photo by Cindy Lawler.

Amanda Beale Clement officially became a three-star rider at the Ocala Jockey Club International in November, where she was the youngest competitor in the division. That wasn’t the only big thing to happen to her last fall — she also became a freshman at West Chester University in Pennsylvania.

Eventing is all in the family for Amanda. Her mother, Susie Beale, is an accomplished four-star rider who owns and operates the bustling Cairn O’Mount Stables in Malvern, Pennsylvania. In addition to Susie’s long list of competitive accomplishments, her student’s many achievements speak to her passion for training and teaching which her daughter shares. The 18-year-old piloted her mother’s 11-year-old Holsteiner gelding Get Ready to a 17th place finish in the star-studded CIC3* at Ocala, adding only time to their dressage score.

But even with a four-star rider as a mother, Amanda wasn’t interested in eventing from the get-go. Up until the age of 11, she wanted to try all kinds of other activities and sports instead. “My mom was completely supportive and I think kept secretly hoping I wouldn’t want to ride,” said Amanda. “All the other sports were much cheaper!” 

“I know how proud she is of me though; we have both worked hard to get me to this level. She is my biggest supporter, but I also have some amazing owners and sponsors who have come on board this year.”

2017 would be a big year for Amanda and it was kickstarted by being named to the USEF Emerging Athlete Eventing 18 list participating in the winter training session last January, which she says was a turning point in her riding thanks to the newfound confidence it gave her. At that time, she had only recently begun her partnership with Get Ready, known as “Brooklyn” around the barn, and rode her previous mount, Peter Pan, whom she piloted to team gold for Area II in the CH-J1* at the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships in 2015 and later competed through the CCI2* level.

“Peter Pan taught me so much and I left the January E18 session ready to take on the new partnership with Brooklyn,” Amanda reflected. She sings the praises of the lectures and demonstrations from top equine industry professionals, the group of other riders with whom she made strong friendships during the camp, and last but certainly not least, the “phenomenal teaching styles and techniques” of Emerging Athlete Coach Leslie Law.

“Leslie’s way of teaching immediately made sense to me and I felt completely at ease with him and his style. He is a superb instructor with an innate ability to help the rider understand the concepts that he is teaching. He is an excellent coach — he focuses on the training scale which is the basis of good riding. His dressage lessons and jump lessons are extremely helpful and positive.”

Amanda Beale Clement and Peter Pan, March 2016. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.

The boost of confidence that the E18 training camp provided helped Amanda to make her (and Brooklyn’s) debut at the Advanced level at Fair Hill in April, which would set them up for a very successful rest of the 2017 season. Before turning their attention to qualifying for a CCI2*, they ran Advanced again at the Horse Park of New Jersey in June and managed to knock four marks of their dressage score and 20 seconds off their cross country time from their debut at the level.

Amanda was also able to train with Leslie on a few other occasions throughout the competition season. First, at a two-day E18 training session at Phillip Dutton’s True Prospect Farm before they contested the CCI2* at Fair Hill International, and then again during a four-day intensive training session in Florida prior to the Ocala Jockey Club International. The extra preparation with Leslie was instrumental in helping her and Brooklyn jump clean around both events, says Amanda.

Having had such success due in part to the opportunities provided through the E18 program, it was a no-brainer for Amanda to apply to Eventing 25.

“With all this under my belt I knew that I had to apply for E25. I thought it was a bit of a long shot as I am only 18 and there are so many great riders already named to the E25,” she said, “but I am so excited to be given this opportunity by the USEF.”  

As a first-year college student, Amanda also had to learn how to balance school with riding once the school year started. She admits it has been a challenge, but the feat has thankfully been made a little easier by the help and support of the people around her.

“There were days when I would be asking myself, ‘How is this going to work?’ I would have four horses to ride, a paper to write, a test and quiz due. I crammed all my classes into Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday which made those days long, but having Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to ride and compete was amazing.”

“There was some resistance to that schedule from the school and my advisor; they kept insisting that a freshman couldn’t do that schedule and classes had to be over all five days. I could not have done it without the help of the staff at the stable and my mom, but the schedule that I picked did work. Without that schedule and some really nice Wednesday professors the fall FEI events would have been out of the question.”

Amanda plans to ride and teach professionally after college and she hopes her major in psychology will help her along her path. Throughout the rest of her education, she’ll continue to work alongside her mom at Cairn O’Mount Stables by teaching, going to shows and coaching, and training the young horses.

Amanda Beale Clement and Get Ready at Fair Hill International 2017. Photo by Cindy Lawler.

Moving forward into 2018 with a semester of college under her belt, Amanda has plans to continue her eventing education as well, starting with participating in next week’s the Emerging Athlete winter training session.

“I know it will be another great experience and I am really looking forward to it,” she said. “I am really hoping to polish up on my flying changes! Now that I am going Advanced and three-star they are rather important — that’s where Leslie comes in!”

Amanda will then start the 2018 competition season by bringing four young horses to the new Grand Oaks Horse Trials in Florida to run in Novice through Preliminary levels. She and her mom have recently started a new venture bringing horses over from Ireland.

“I am really excited to get the new horses out competing,” she said. “This spring I will help my mom ride and compete at most of the events while also coaching our students. We have a great partnership, I am very lucky that I have an opportunity to work under her as I get my name out in the eventing world.”

Brooklyn will make his season debut the following month and will warm up with a run at Prelim before gearing up and aiming for Jersey Fresh later in the spring. Overall, Amanda wants to focus on technique and improving her skills at the upper-levels throughout the spring.

Long-term, Amanda has three concrete goals: Graduate from college, ride at the Kentucky CCI4*, and one day, represent the United States on a team.

“I love to compete, the nerves and the adrenaline of the sport is something that keeps one coming back for more. I love the challenges and the knowledge that I will always be learning something new from every horse I ride.”

Go Amanda. Go Eventing.