Lila and Theatre Royal July Huntington HT 2014
I will never forget the day. I was about fourteen years old and experiencing Groton House Farm Horse Trials for the first time ever, located in Hamilton MA. I wasn’t riding, but tagged along with the Hitching Post crew as we cheered on our friend.
Day three was show jumping and David O’Connor and Custom Made were running the Advanced, back when Groton House ran through the upper levels. I sat there in utter amazement. They jumped a clear round to win the Advanced division.
I had never witnessed this level of expertise ridden right before my eyes. I had never seen a horse as stunning as Custom Made. I was like a child in a candy store with wide eyes and an unwavering expression that screamed this is my dream!
That event had really sealed the deal for me. At the time, I thought why would anyone not want to make this their goal? Going Advanced became a fixation of mine and reaching that goal was of tremendous importance to me. I had all the posters in my room. I watched and re-watched every Badminton and Rolex video I could get my hands on. I was completely enamored with the thought of becoming an upper level rider someday.
So here I am. Twenty eight years old and just went Preliminary for the first time ever this year. I ride a few horses a day and teach riding lessons mostly to kids in the area. I love my life and wouldn’t change any of it for anything. One important lesson (of many) that Denny has drilled is that riders need to be realistic in all facets of our lives.
We need to be realistic about what we really want to accomplish with our riding. We need to be realistic about what we feel comfortable doing with horses. We need to be realistic about the horse we are sitting on. We need to be realistic about our goals. While it’s perfectly acceptable to dream, it’s extremely important to be a realistic individual by making attainable short term goals and realistic long term goals.
Quite honestly my goals have changed immensely since sitting there outside of the show jumping ring at Groton House. Would I love to do one Advanced horse trials someday? Of course I would. Am I going to be the next Jennie Brannigan or Allison Springer? Absolutely not.
I am not the girl with six sponsors and four horses from Ireland waiting to be imported. Would I want that life? Perhaps…but that life is so far removed from my real life that imagining that world almost seems unfathomable. For now, my goal is to become the best rider I can become and to gain experience and mileage at the Preliminary level next summer. I also want to teach more lessons, and become a better dressage and show jumper.
Skybreaker clearing the five foot standards this fall, 2014!
Another dimension to this puzzle revolves around the professionals. How does someone like me, or someone with one horse competing at Prelim or above have a chance at succeeding at the upper levels in this sport? I know there are countless riders campaigning one horse that absolutely can play the game. I know that you don’t have to have a string of nine or ten horses all competing at the one star level and above to play this game. But if you ARE one of these individuals I am describing…how do you do it?
However, I am curious how one makes it to the top of the sport of eventing when you’re not one of the “big guys?” I have to preface this by saying, I am NOT arguing that the one girl and her one horse can’t make it to Rolex. I am not putting this sport down. I have no hidden agendas here, but rather would like to start an open dialogue.
I would specifically love to hear from that one individual who has their one superstar horse and ask them how they have been able to manage and handle the pressures and difficulties that the upper levels present them with?
I have even more questions, if you can imagine? How does someone who has only ever gone Preliminary, but would love to move up the levels compete with the riders who have seven horses in the OI divisions as an example? How does someone with limited experience at the upper levels, but who is interesting in competing at that level handle the truth about how many riders made it around Fair Hill last weekend in the CCI3* division, for example?
How can we fathom making it around a two-star or three-star course someday on our ONE horse, if professionals who have been at this for fifteen years and compete sometimes five or more horses in one division can’t make it around some of these courses? Is it unrealistic to think that you can go to Rolex someday on your one horse that you started from scratch and actually survive and complete the event?
With everything we know about modern day eventing, is there a place for riders who have limited experience at the upper levels, who don’t have the sponsors, the imported horses, and the tremendous funds to support their goals, but who still have ambitions of competing at the upper levels with their one or two horses?
Obviously these riders do exist….and I’d love to hear from them about how they got there, what their horse is like, if they have non horse related jobs, what their goals are, and how they feel about competing against the “big boys?”
