Walking a cross-country or show-jumping course can feel like a quiet test before the real test begins. The arena is empty, the fences are standing, and there…
Posts
The Art Of Walking A Course Without Overthinking
Why I Switched to a Different Type of Girth
For a long time, I treated the girth as one of those pieces of tack that deserved attention only when something was obviously wrong. I cared about saddle fit,…
How to Recover from a Cross-Country Runout
A cross-country runout can feel enormous in the moment. The horse has left the line, the rider is suddenly outside the planned route, and every second seems to…
What My Grand Prix Rider Friend Taught Me About Basics
There is a particular kind of magic in watching a Grand Prix rider school a horse. The movements look polished, the decisions seem immediate, and every…
The day my horse knew better than I did
There are moments in eventing when a horse teaches you something so clearly that you cannot explain it away as luck, instinct, or a conveniently good result.…
The Friend I Found Between the Dressage Arena and Start Box
Horse trials are usually described through their visible milestones: the score in dressage, the rails in show jumping, the time on cross-country, and the final…
Why the smell of cross-country ribbons stays with me
There are plenty of smells that belong to eventing: damp saddle leather, freshly turned arena footing, liniment warming beneath a horse’s coat, and the sweet,…
How I Prepare for a Dressage Test with Music
A dressage test set to music begins long before I enter the arena. The final soundtrack may be what spectators notice, but the real preparation is a mixture of…
The Blue Ribbon I Carried Home
The first blue ribbon I won felt impossibly important. It was light in my hand, a little wrinkled from being handled too often, and attached to a result I had…
The moment I knew eventing would be my lifelong sport
There was no single cinematic instant when I decided eventing would become part of my identity. No brass band, no perfect round watched from the rail, and no…