United States Eventing Association

2014 Worth the Trust Scholarship Young Adult Winner: Heidi Siegmund

After severe injuries from a freak accident left Heidi Siegmund in the hospital and out of the saddle for a few months, she made an unlikely recovery and returned to eventing quickly, moving her mare Sierra up to the Preliminary level. As the 2014 Worth the Trust Young Adult Scholarship winner, Siegmund will receive $3,000 to put towards training in hopes of upper level success. Read her winning essay:

My love for eventing began several years ago when, thanks to several Intro level eliminations on a disagreeable little pony named Buster, my parents finally caved and allowed me to buy my first horse. We competed through the Novice level together, but he and I unfortunately had very different aspirations when it came to eventing, so three years ago, I was lucky enough to find him a perfect home and almost simultaneously find my current horse, Sierra, as a newly started four-year-old. Since then she has been everything I could hope for in an event horse. After two summers of hard work as a working student for Laine Ashker, Sierra and I handily finished in the ribbons at all of our Training level events in the summer and fall of 2012 and made the move up to Preliminary last November. However, our plans for 2013 were interrupted early when I was kicked in the face by one of Sierra’s pasture-mates in March, shattering much of my face and rupturing my left eye. After weeks in the hospital, multiple reconstructive surgeries, and a brief recuperation at home, sporting wired jaws and an eye patch, tracheostomy, and feeding tube, I went back to Charlottesville to finish my first year of law school.

The second my doctors gave me permission, much to the surprise of my non-horsey friends, I was back out at the barn and began taking Sierra for hacks almost two months to the day after my accident, gradually building up the strength that I had lost during my hospital stay. Another two months later, with the help, support, and generosity of Laine and many others, Sierra and I successfully returned to the Preliminary level, finishing on our dressage score at the Maryland Horse Trials. Receiving this scholarship will not only help me financially by allowing me to save money for my substantial law school loans, competitions, and other expenses, it will be the culmination of my return to the sport against extreme odds.

Should I receive this scholarship, I plan to take advantage of the wealth of experienced competitors within easy reach in Area II. I will continue to take lessons with Laine, who has been a tremendous help to Sierra and me since our first recognized event together, and I would also like to gain new perspectives from clinicians whom I have previously only dreamed of riding with, such as Boyd Martin, Kim Severson, and Sinead Halpin.

My ultimate goal is to progress as far with Sierra as we are able to go together. My immediate goals are to finish up our 1* qualifications this fall and successfully complete the CCI* at Virginia Horse Trials at the end of the season. Hopefully next year, with the help of the education I will receive through this grant, I can improve our performance in all three phases and make the transition up to Intermediate. I also hope that this grant will be a stepping stone for Sierra and me to gain the experience and recognition that we need to be eligible for other training grants in the future. Now that Sierra’s training (although not her ability) is reaching the limit of my experience, I need more help than ever so that both of us can continue to work towards reaching our full potential.