The Waredaca Eventing Education Foundation is pleased to announce the first two winners of this year’s Jimmy Wofford Legacy Fund!
Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.
Courtney Calnan of Nicholasville, Kentucky has been awarded one entry to the 2024 Hagyard Lexington Classic Three-Day Event and a $1000 education stipend. Courtney, who is 35, has been eventing since 2000 and was first introduced to the classic three-day series in 2014 when she competed at the Indiana Eventing Association Classic with her pony. It was her final event with the pony she had been competing for 11 years. “I finished with a much better pony than I started with and I was sad that I had waited so long to take part [in a classic],” she said.
Courtney credits the lessons she learned at her first classic in training her current mount, Little Red Dragon, a 2016 Welsh-Thoroughbred gelding. The pair competed in the Park Equine Kentucky Classique in 2022 at the Beginner Novice level. “My proudest moment was proving that a 14.1 hand pony could win best conditioned against the bigger horses,” she stated. This year Courtney and Little Red Dragon have moved up to Novice with the goal of competing in the Novice division at Hagyard.
Courtney has been on the Board of Directors for Equestrian Events Inc. since 2014, giving back over 150 hours each year leading up to the Kentucky Three Day and the American Eventing Championships, which EEI has hosted for the past few years. She is also a MSEDA Board of Directors member since 2021, serving as Eventing Vice President for 2022 and 2023. Through that role, she has helped organize and host steeplechase clinics for members and non-members, allowing them to learn how to safely navigate steeplechase, the vet box, and how to prepare for long-format events.
When Courtney was informed of her scholarship, she said, “Wow… I’m speechless!” Courtney added, “I’m so grateful for this opportunity. Not only does it significantly help with the financial burden, it’s a huge honor as Jimmy [Wofford] was an idol of mine. My autographed copies of his books have pages practically falling out from how much they have been utilized.”
Photo by Cory Coulter.
Bonnie Coulter of Robinson, Illinois has loved the classic format since she learned what the A, B, C, and D phases were. Bonnie, who is 43, once hauled her retired Western Pleasure horse 13 hours to Southern Eights to compete in her first long format three-day at Beginner Novice. “I love making a conditioning plan, I love getting to know my horse better, I love gallop days and the aftercare, and I love planning jog outfits!” she said, adding, “It’s my Badminton, Olympics, and New York Fashion Week all rolled into one.”
Bonnie broke her back in 2017 after a bad fall and wasn’t sure she would ever be brave enough to jump again, and in 2020 she was diagnosed with cancer. “Three years ago, I completed the N3D at IEA about 45 days after completing active cancer treatment (16 rounds of chemo, surgery, and 25 rounds of radiation) and 4 years after breaking my back,” she explained. “I completed the Hagyard Training 3Day last fall, and to compete in the Training 3 Day at my “home” event of IEA would be a beyond a dream come true.”
Bonnie has been giving back to her home event for the past five years as IEA’s Leg Up schooling horse trials secretary. “I know how important those types of events are for our sport,” she said. She is retiring from this role this year but plans to continue as a volunteer.
Bonnie’s plan this year is to compete at Indiana Eventing Association’s Classic Three-Day, to which she receives a free entry as well as a $1000 education stipend, with her 2009 Thoroughbred gelding Network News. “Any proper schooling, instruction, or shows require hauling several hours and generally an overnight stay and time away from work. No close eventing activities also mean that medical care and oncologist appointments (I have 3 oncologists!) require time, travel, and funding (must meet that deductible!),” she said. “Juggling routine life, riding, and post-cancer care can be quite the challenge at times!” This is why Bonnie is “so excited and so very grateful” to be one of this year’s Wofford Scholarship winners. “It truly is an honor to be selected to carry on a very small part of the Wofford legacy,” she added.
