We hear all the time about horses at the top of the sport, but what about the next generation of equine talent? EN’s Got Talent introduces the future superstars of the sport, interviewing riders about how they’re tackling training with these youngsters. Have you spotted a spectacular young horse at an event you think should be highlighted in this column? Tip me at [email protected].
Carrie Meehan and Cavalier in their training level debut at Longview Farm. Photo by Merrick Studios.
Last week we met Carrie Meehan and Cavalier, a 5-year-old buckskin Appendix Quarter Horse gelding she bought as a scrawny 3-year-old with the hopes of making him her next eventing prospect. “Rusty” proved to be a natural at eventing, placing fifth in a large beginner novice division at last year’s American Eventing Championships in just the fifth event of his career. Carrie and Rusty made the move up to novice at the Pine Top Winter Horse Trials this past February, and Rusty placed second. By the second week in May — and the week after his fifth birthday — Carrie had moved Rusty up to training level, where he placed sixth in his first start at the Mill Creek Pony Club Horse Trials at Longview Farm.
“He went clean around a pretty tough course at Mill Creek — max size tables, a half coffin, corner, banks up and down, and drops into water,” Carrie said. “Basically, it had everything a max training course could have, and it was super easy for Rusty.” In their next training level outing at Queeny Park one month later, Rusty encountered a large, blind drop into water early on course that snuck up on him too fast. “He stopped and spun around so fast that I ended up hanging sideways on his neck while still galloping, and I had to just let go,” Carrie said. “That was the first time I’d ever fallen off of him. My Point Two air vest went off right in his face, and the whole experience was just system overload for him.”
Carrie and Rusty after their comeback win at Catalpa Corner.
Carrie took some solace in knowing that the blind drop had also caused problems for the vast majority of the other training level competitors, but she knew the had some damage to repair with Rusty’s training. “Experiences like that are things the Quarter Horse brain holds onto for a long time,” Carrie said. “You have to take one step back to be sure the hole gets filled in before moving forward.” Carrie and Rusty went to another training level event a couple weeks later at Fox River Valley Pony Club and had a slow, confidence-building run around the cross-country course, but Carrie knew she needed to take more drastic measures to help Rusty conquer the monsters he faced at Queeny Park.
“I think it shook up both of our confidence more than I had realized, and I just wasn’t as trusting and gutsy as I usually am; he could sense that,” Carrie said. “I decided to drop him back down to novice for a couple of events to get our confidence back up.” Carrie and Rusty made the drop back to novice at the Catalpa Corner Charity Horse Trials earlier this month and won the division. “Because Rusty has such a good brain, it’s so important to lay the ground work for him at this stage in his life, because once he understands the more complicated questions, there is no telling how far he can go. He literally gets better every time out. I know he loves what he’s doing, and as long as it stays that way, we will just keep trucking up the levels.”
Next week on EN’s Got Talent: We’ll meet Maya Black and Doesn’t Play Fair, an 8-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by Jon and Dawn Dofelmier and campaigned by Maya Black. “Cody” has never incurred a cross-country jump penalty since beginning his eventing career two years ago in novice. He moved up to intermediate in April and has been extremely competitive, placing fourth in his first start at the level at Twin Rivers and most recently winning his division at Whidbey Island last month. Taryn McKee tipped me about this very talented gelding, saying he “oozes talent.” Thanks for the tip, Taryn! Go West Coast eventing!
