This week’s Welcome to Eventing profile tells the story of a relationship between horse and rider seen so often in so many facets of the sport. How often do you walk by the warm up of the Beginner Novice division at a local event to see kindly old Cob or Draft cross adjusting it’s stride before a fence to take care of the amateur lady sitting on top of him, or an ex-Advanced campaigner softening his jump as not to jump loose his twelve year old pilot. It’s these kinds of horses that make the journey through Eventing so fun and rewarding for so many riders, and here’s the story of another one. Thanks to Alexandra for submitting her story, and as always, thank you for reading. If you’d like to submit the story of your first event, please send it to: [email protected].
From Alexandra:
Hello Eventing Nation,
I wanted to tell my story of my very first 3-Phase with my horse Mikey Likes It, or just Mikey. It was at Apple Knoll Farm in Millis, MA. I had owned Mikey 2 years at that time and we were ready to compete at the Pre-elementary level.
Mikey is a 16 y/o Perch/TB cross who was owned by an eventer before me who had competed him at Beginner Novice level. He ended up as a “schoolie” at the barn where my daughter and I took lessons. I began to take lessons on him and do weekly practice rides. We clicked and soon fell in love. It was the best way to find a partner in this journey.
Lots of hard work, some misunderstandings and tons grace has been the consistent theme for us. I am 44 and the mother of 3, and I like to think he knows this. More than once he has picked up the slack for me when I wasn’t even aware that there was slack. He is a safe guy who tends to stay put when spooked. He has a great way of keeping me honest with my position and my intentions.
At this first event my dressage test was a little tense but he didn’t overreact to me holding him. I know he knew I was nervous and he pulled it out for me. Our Stadium was good, but because of my nerves I didn’t quite ride him forward enough asking him for proper balance. Even so he jumped well and we finished with no run outs or rails down. The XC was fantastic although our jumps were just small logs. My goal for this part of the 3-Phase was to control our speed and make it over all our jumps. Most of the course we just walked and then trotted over our fences. We accomplished our goals and ended up third.
At the end of the day I was over the moon with joy and gratitude. Joy for completing the event and the process leading up to it, and gratitude for the partnership and trust that Mikey and I had built to get us to that point.
We have done another event since then but none will ever be as special to me. He is an amazing horse who has taught me so much, and will continue to be my greatest instructor in this process called eventing.
