Name: Cyrena
Age: 28
Location: Brighton, Colorado, USA
Relationship to Eventing: novice eventer with my OTTB Red Avenue
Favorite eventing moment/story: I think my favorite eventing moment has been when my horse Red completed his first XC course. I don’t have the ability to expose him to much, so I spent weeks prepping him for the unusual things he could see. I flooded part of the pasture so he knew it was ok to go through standing water. I dug a ditch in my back yard for us to school over. I removed the top 2 rails of my 4-board fence and had him jump that. We had a few stops, but considering it was his first time, he did amazing. He is very brave and willing.
If you had to pick one reason why you love Eventing, what would it be? A big part of what got me interested in eventing was all the years I spent volunteering as a jump judge growing up. I didn’t event as a teenager, I spent my time fox hunting, but I loved when the horse and rider made it through a tough obstacle and the rider shouted, “good boy/girl!” or gave the horse lots of praise. It really brought out the true spirit of the sport and made me realize what a rewarding team effort it is and how fun it is.
Overall Goals in the sport: My overall goal is to keep moving up the ranks. My OTTB Red and I went to a few events and clinics last year simply for exposure. This year I’m looking to compete at the Beginner Novice level seriously, Novice next, taking it step by step as we are ready. If someday we were competing as a team at the Prelim level, I would be extremely proud of him!
Biggest Role model: I have to admit I love the greats of our time: Phillip Dutton, The O’Connors, William Fox-Pitt, Buck Davidson… we all know the list. But my biggest role model would have to be Velvet Brown and the Pie. That story inspired me to ride and compete and most of all, follow your heart and have fun.
Link to blog or website, if applicable: I have a blog (http://redottb.blogspot.com/) but it hasn’t been updated much this year because not much has happened yet. Updates should come as the weather improves and I ride more, but there is a lot of info on how I got Red and documentation of our first year together and updates of all his milestones.
Photo(s) or videos: The photo above is from a clinic Phillip taught in Colorado last year, and that was a dream come true for me. I have a video of our work at the clinic. My horse Red was just full of himself at the start, but he came around nicely and didn’t completely embarrass me in front of Phillip by the end. It can be found here.
