Not only is Suzie Harrison a local Advanced event rider, she’s also an Elementary School Teacher, a wife and teaches pony club, and having been friends with her on facebook, and a fan of her blog for some time I was intrigued and delighted to finally meet her in person last weekend at May-Daze. Yes, she is as energetic and positive as I’d imagined, and with as much as she fits into her days she needs to be! Yes, she is one determined individual – against the advice of her coach,mother, husband and just about everyone else, she bought Frankie (above), at the time, a just turned five year old OTTB hot chestnut mare with uveitis and impaired vision in her left eye.
Fast forward seven years and Lets Be Frank (the mare’s show name) has taken Suzie round her first CCI*, CCI** and Advanced tracks, and she’s making plans for some summer training with Jan Byyny, Richland CIC Horse Trials, and the Fair Hill CCI*** this autumn. Their journey is by no means without it’s bumps in the road, but Suzie has learnt from her mistakes and continues to steadily improve, and most importantly to enjoy her eventing, and luckily for us, chronicle the ups and downs so we can ride along with her. Honest and funny, she’s the perfect teacher turned pupil, analysing her competitions and then putting them behind her and moving on.
Suzie keeps her horse at the breathtaking Donamire Farm (if you’ve seen Dreamer or Sympatico you’ll know how lucky she is!) and trains alongside fellow eventer Maggie Sharp who attends UK. With an all- weather and a turf track, an arena and full set of jumps, miles of hacking, a hill gallop as well as access to a pool, small wonder that Suzie told me with a laugh that she arrived at her first CCI** last year with almost too much horse, “She got a 79 in the dressage, and it was that moment where I really felt like she was about to jump out! That’s the fittest I’d ever had her, and I feel like at that point in time she didn’t really know what to do with herself. We let her down in the winter a little and then re-conditioned her again for Pine Top, and she’s been much easier to manage this time around.” For the record they were one of only five double clears cross country in the CCI**, and Suzie told me with a wry smile that Frankie felt and jumped great on Sunday too.
The back of the Team Frankie T-Shirts
Frankie, who was sold as a yearling at Keeneland and raced until she turned four, started about 17 times and even won a couple of races before finding her niche with Suzie. To help fund her summer and autumn campaign Suzie has designed and is selling these Team Frankie T-shirts (above), and we have four to give away in a competition. Suzie will pick the funniest of your captions submitted after the closing date, next Monday,4th June at midnight – we have one small, two mediums and one large, please state which size you would prefer if you win.
*********UPDATE!*********
To win one of the T-Shirts, please submit, in the comments section below, your own “Let’s Be Frank” Rule or Saying, similar in style to the ten on the back of the t-shirt above, or one applicable to any horse, or horse that you have loved! Sorry not to have made that clearer initially, Go Frankie and Go Eventing!
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“She definitely has been the horse of a lifetime”
You can hear my interview with Suzie on this week’s episode of the Eventing Radio Show. Many thanks to Suzie for her time, and wishing her the very best of luck during the rest of the season. Go Team Frankie and Go Eventing!
