United States Eventing Association

Alex Martini’s mother had more reason than most not to want Alex to jump a horse or do cross-country. Alex was born with hypoplastic right heart with two atrial septal defects and pulmonary atresia: life-threatening heart defects.

For five-star level event rider Ariel Grald, fitness is all about being as inconspicuous on the horse as possible. Grald’s fitness routine realistically consists of sitting on roughly 10 horses throughout any given day, but the top-level athlete says that one of her key incorporated fitness elements has become pilates and stretching.

Eventers are a different “breed” of equestrian. They are considered fearless by some and a little crazy by others, but for me, they are amazingly kind and generous. I was blessed to be a recipient of this unbelievable kindness and generosity when the incredible Orion’s Rosealene (“Rosie”) entered my life. Sustained through three generations, Rosie, a buckskin Connemara/Arabian, altered the riding careers of three young eventers. My name is Anyah Luke, and I am forever indebted to Maddie and Luann McElduff for sharing Rosie with me.

This week's guest Mellisa Warden is used to tackling challenges head-on. The Intermediate level eventer had to make her equestrian dreams a reality through unrelenting determination and perseverance before taking on a new task: becoming a licensed Technical Delegate. Little did Warden know that she would be facing one of her biggest obstacles to date after a freak accident on vacation resulted in the amputation of one of her legs.

Any equestrian trying to balance their passion for horses and normal work and life responsibilities, knows that time management and perseverance are necessary to succeed. Stephanie Sills certainly needed those traits over the last two years after she was accepted into Flight School for the U.S. Army, to become a Black Hawk Helicopter Pilot.

Meet Justforthehalibut aka “Fish." Fish is a 7-year-old OTTB out of On Z Run by Horse Greeley who was born and raced briefly in Ohio. This fun name is his registered Jockey Club name and I kept it because I love it. It completely embodies why I participate in this wonderful sport - just because it’s so much fun! While he didn’t seem to care much for racing, finishing in the back of the pack in all three of his races, he has excelled at eventing. His ears are up and he hunts for the flags.

USEA Official Podcast Host Nicole Brown catches up with Ryan Wood who has been crowned the king of cross-country consistency. In 2018 Wood had 114 cross-country runs and all 114 were clear. In 2018 he was 123 clears from 126 runs, in 2020 it was 76 from 77, and last year Wood made it a perfect 77/77.

We are celebrating Valentine's Day with a special episode in partnership with the EquiRatings Eventing Podcast! The podcast is pitting eventing power couples from around the world against each other in The Big Valentine's Quiz. Who will win? Doug and Jessica Payne from the U.S. and Canada, Jesse and Georgie Campbell from New Zealand and the UK, or Giovanni Ugolotti and Kathryn Robinson from Italy and Canada? Listen to hear their love stories, try to answer questions about their partner, and test their eventing trivia.

About two years ago I had just moved my mare to a new barn and started with a new trainer. The mare I was riding at the time really needed to go back to the basics and I was doing a lot of groundwork and flatwork on her. As an eventer, I obviously have a love for jumping and was missing my fix of flying. The barn owner was walking through one of the pastures with me and we were talking about our love of eventing and working with horses. She pointed over to a fat chestnut pony that was in one of the paddocks and said, "he needs a job, and none of my school kids can ride him. I think he would be a pretty cool event pony." That was enough to spark my interest.

Everyone in eventing knows the name Phillip Dutton - but, have you heard of the little pony that could named Phillip Buttons?