Horse Stories

I started trail riding with my dad as a very young girl. I was instantly hooked! I began taking lessons at the age of 4, starting out Western. A move to Friendship Stables in Augusta, ME is where I had my first brush with jumping. Seeing a pair of jump standards in the middle of the ring prompted me to ask what they were. When I discovered that you could JUMP on horses I was quick to switch to English. I didn't do much jumping for the first few years however, but that didn't deter me. I took weekly lessons, every Saturday morning rain, snow, or shine! I did my first few shows when I was 6, riding a black pony mare named Ginger. We placed pretty well on the local show circuit placing 2nd in both Walk/Trot Equitation and Pleasure at our first show! My parents bought me my first horse, My Kinda Style (Muffin) when I was 7. He was a sorrel Quarter Horse gelding and a total doll. We had many successes on the local show circuit as well as in 4-H shows for the next few years. However, due to developing navicular Muffin was unable to jump. We made the very difficult decision to sell him to a family who would use him to trailride as I was deadset on being a jumper. I was heartbroken.

In the summer of 1998 my parents sent me to a horse day-camp in Gardiner, ME. I was very excited to do some REAL jumping as this camp was advertised as an eventing camp. I had rented the '96 Atlanta Olympics VHS tape from the local tack shop and became hooked on the sport of 3-Day Eventing. Karen O'Connor was my new idol. I couldn't get enough of it; I was so excited that I went out and made my own XC jumps in my yard and jumped them all myself! The first day of camp we were given horses that we would be responsible for and ride for the week. I was given Copper - who from afar looked much bigger than he actually was. I was thrilled to get a horse - being small I always prided myself on riding big horses (though big was VERY relative...). When I went out to get him for the first time, I was shocked to see Copper was actually a pony - a very short, very fat pony at that. He proved to be very lazy and HATED flatwork - but he was a thrill to jump! I fell in love with him by the end of the week. Every night I would tell my parents about him. At the end of the camp the farm owner, Mott Atherholt, offered to sell him to me. There was no way my parents could say no! I became the proud new owner of a fat, fiesty, chestnut w/lots of white, 12.3hand jumping machine! Under the show name of The Instigator, Copper and I joined Pony Club where we began our eventing career doing a couple D-Rallies and local MeCTA events. We also did many local shows, H/J shows, and 4-H shows. We had a great run together and he gave me my first taste of Eventing at the age of 11. In 2001 I leased him out to another local Pony Clubber who ended up doing Pony Club Games Championships with him. He was then sold to another PonyClubber who still owns him today, though now he is retired and lives his life as a fat happy pony!

Around the same time my parents bought me a 2 year old, green-broke Mustang/Paint. I named him Hillside's Autumn Breeze, Breezy for short. He was a red roan with a big blaze and a high hind sock. He was super sweet, smart, and easy to work with. The first few years he hung around with light riding. We started on the local show circuit and eventually some H/J shows. I was taking lessons at Hunter Hill Farm in Union, ME at this point and beginning to really get into eventing. As it turned out, Breezy was a natural at dressage! At his first USEA event he was 2nd after dressage!! An unfortunate green-mistake on XC dropped him out of the ribbons, but I knew that he was destined to be an eventer! His best USEA placing was at Senator Bell Farm in NH where he placed 4th at Novice! Breezy was sold in late 2001 to a girl who continued to event him successfully through Training-level USEA events!

For a short time I owned and competed an OTTB (off the track thoroughbred - rescued race horse) named Peppermint Charger, or Jerry as he was affectionately known. He was bright bay with a tiny little star and won the hearts of everyone, everywhere he went. Unfortunately, he HATED dressage and insisted on running around with his head in the air. He also was a freight-train on XC (cross country) and was petrified of water; so afraid that if he saw it anywhere on the course he refused to go near it. However, he was a fabulous show jumper and so I made the decision that he be sold to a h/j home. He found a great new home in Massachusetts where he was shown and loved.

After selling Breezy & Jerry I leased a horse for a short period of time. I needed a new horse and fast! The lease wasn't working out, but at that time I was informed of a horse in the barn who was essentially riderless. Sleepy was a tall, lanky chestnut OTTB who looked much older than his young 7 years. "Seefari" proved to know little but with a heart that knew no bounds. He was determined to go round, despite having no formal training and he could not canter to the right. Jumping was basically Sleepy landing and scooting off as though the rails would bite if he didn't get away fast enough. I spent months stuck in an indoor working on the basics. In the spring we learned that we had been accepted as one of a handful of riders to ride in the Mecta MEEP (Maine Event Education Program) series of clinics with Karen O'Connor. I almost died!! Karen had been my eventing idol, one of the biggest influences in my entire riding career.

Through the clinics Sleepy went from a green-bean, ditch hating, BN-eliminated horse to being voted Most Improved Horse at the 2002 MeCTA Banquet - a horse who won his first Novice event and 3 other events at Novice in his first year of competing. Sleepy showed me what hard work and determination were capable of producing. He showed me a new found love for dressage and a new drive to better myself and be a top level eventer. In the next few years Sleepy & I would make the move up to Training level with mixed results. We also discovered the world of the working student and worked for upper-level riders Adrienne Iorio, Yvonne Lucas, and Lauren & David O'Brien

In 2009 we made the move to Athens, GA to escape the harsh Maine winters and to be closer to some of our favorite events. We worked our butts off through the summer and competed at Paradise HT in September, competing at the Preliminary/Training level. He stunned me - winning the dressage with a score of 30.8 (scoring better (in a different division, same judge) than Wonderful Will who had recently been competing at the 4* level!!). He was brilliant in SJ with one unlucky rail, and also brilliant on XC despite a stop at the ditch. However, he tackled the rest of the hefty course with competence and we finished the event in 4th. I was on cloud nine!! I had a brilliant horse that I had worked with for the past 8 years. I had my first taste of what Prelim was like and couldn't wait to compete some more.

Unfortunately, life doesn't always follow the same path we lay out for ourselves. After Paradise I moved barns, started 2 new jobs, and unsuccessfully tried to sell a horse. When we finally moved to Wishing Tree Farm in January 2010, we knew we had found our new home! However, just as I was getting back into the swing of things, Sleepy had a near-fatal pasture accident that left him stall bound for 2 weeks followed by limited turnout for 3 more. By the time he was ready to be ridden he had lost all of his fitness and we had to start over from scratch. An unsuccessful 2-month lease by a young rider found Sleepy back at the farm in May. Having sorted out some shoeing issues, found a great glucosamine injectable, and starting from scratch with fitness work and light flats, Sleepy is back in action and prepping for a Novice HT this fall. Our long goal is currently a move back up to Training and a qualifying result that will land us at a Training-3Day next spring. There is always a silver lining to every seemingly bleak outcome - in this case Sleepy's being on the DL gave me ample time to work with my little grey, Jack.

Pepperjack was bought back in August of 2007 from the same dealer as Breezy. He was skinny, dirty, and had enormous platter feet, but he was as sweet as they come and seemingly uncomplicated to ride. I fell in love with his personality and the way he jumped - brave, quiet, and uneffected (unlike some previous horses). I soon learned that when faced with being ridden in the ring, he turned into a nervous wreck. I spent the first 2 months of our partnership ponying him off of Sleepy in the vast Maine wilderness I called home. Slowly but surely we got more ringwork in, and eventually some jumping. Jack proved to be very different to work with than other horses I'd owned. He was nervous, tense, and coupled with being green he provided me with many a humbling "training" experience. Thankfully my best friend Jess invited me and my boys to spend the summer of 2008 at her barn in Sidney, ME. We made a lot of progress while there; we learned how to canter with some semblence of balance, we worked on the beginning stages of lateral work, and got a lot of jump schooling in. I learned a lot about my little grey man - that he was sensitive to aids and praise, that he was super talented if you could get him to focus, and that he was going to be my next eventer!

When I made the move to North Carolina to work with the O'Briens I had to leave Jack behind. He spent the winter with a Pony Club barn teaching intercollegiate riding lessons for the Colby College Equestrain Team. Two months after moving on to Athens, GA Jack made the trek down. We made even more progress in Georgia, taking regular lessons with Beth Stelzleni and working on our dressage. Jack ventured out to some schooling shows where he placed 3rd twice. His dressage scores left a lot to be desired, especially following in Sleepy's hoofprints, but his jumping ability was everything I had ever wanted! We schooled some XC at our barn and he was fearless.

Since the move to Wishing Tree, Jack has been to 2 USEA events at Novice - placing 4th (1st in the Amateur placings!) and 11th respecitvely. He has finished on his dressage score at each. He also competed in a schooling 3-phase at Training and placed 3rd with his best dressage score to date; 40.5. While taking a break from competing he has schooled at Cedar Ridge Farm and Pine Top Farm and schooled up through Preliminary. While his dressage will always be his least favorite phase, I KNOW that he is a jumping, and more specifically, a cross-country MACHINE! His current goals are to participate in a Training 3-Day clinic with Doug Payne in September, followed up by his USEA Training level debut, most likely at Paradise HT in October. Ultimately we'd like to qualify for a Training 3-Day and try our hand at Preliminary. After that, who knows what this little man is capable of!

When not riding, I'm usually working. I'm currently the Assistant Manager at Pet Supplies "Plus" in Athens, GA. I'm also a part-time student through Argosy University Online pursuing a degree in Organizational Psychology. I'm planning on transferring to Mercer University or the University of Georgia to complete my studies, with plans of obtaining a Masters in Sport Psychology, applied to equestrians.

Aside from riding I LOVE to cook, read, take the dogs for walks/swimming, visit with friends, listen to music, or sleep.

I guess I'm just your average 22 year old girl, on a mission to live life to the fullest!