United States Eventing Association

2017 Worth the Trust Scholarship Adult Amateur Scholarship Winner: Allison Murphy

The Worth the Trust Educational Scholarships are awarded annually to one Adult Amateur and one Young Adult Amateur with the purpose of helping to fund training opportunities like clinics, working student positions and private instruction. Below is the winning essay of the 2017 Worth the Trust Adult Amateur scholarship. Congratulations to Allison Murphy and best of luck in the future!

My name is Allison Murphy, I am an Adult Amateur and member of USEA, also member in good standing of Area IX and the Mountain States Eventing Association. I do also belong to the Windy Wyoming Chapter of the MSEA and the Central Colorado Chapter of the MSEA. I currently ride two “off the track” Thoroughbred horses who compete under their Jockey Club names, Sendero, at Training level and Weatherbee who completed his last Novice and will move up to Training level in Salt Lake City, at The Event at Skyline.

I have been deeply embedded within the United States Pony Club (USPC) for the past ten years. First as a parent, then Regional Secretary (Rocky Mountain Region Pony Clubs) District Commissioner for Great Plains Pony Club, Regional Supervisor Rocky Mountain Region, Board of Governors United States Pony Club and back to District Commissioner Great Plains Pony Club and Vice Regional Supervisor Rocky Mountain Region. I have been a part of the wonderful organization of USPC for my kids, who were and are still, active in USPC. Darby is a HB working towards her C3 she attends college at Laramie County Community College and is working towards her Equine Business Management Degree. Delaney has given up riding for the hardwood court of basketball.

This year, as I retire from Pony Club, I felt that I needed to help our local eventing Area IX and MSEA. Under outside request I have put my name in to run for the Mountain States Eventing Association President, and I was installed October 15, 2016. Our regions leadership has been sadly decimated over the past couple of years while people are just too busy to volunteer. I feel that I can use my leadership skills to promote eventing in our area.

I also have just begun a monumental task to move the Windy Wyoming Horse Trials from Laramie, Wyoming to Cheyenne, Wyoming. I have begun to contract with James Atkinson, course designer for the Colorado Horse Park and The Event at Skyline in Utah to design the new course, move all the cross country fences 50 miles, put a budget together for us to work around and begin to create a new destination event in Wyoming.

I am hoping to be awarded the Worth the Trust Scholarship in order to work side by side with this course designer in building a workable sustainable public cross-country course in Cheyenne, Wyo. I am very excited to go to Salt Lake City this weekend because that course is also brand new and built with donations and fundraising. I hope to bring home a lot of great information, ideas and implement them in creating this new course.

Not only will the Worth the Trust Scholarship benefit me, but I believe that it will help sustain the sport of eventing in Wyoming and Area IX. When I began eventing many years ago, there were many wonderful events in the state: Jackson, Casper, Sheridan, Gillette, Worland and Laramie all in Wyoming, now I am concerned that Wyoming will lose its last event, and I am working diligently to keep Wyoming Eventing!

I have been working very closely with the Laramie County Commissioners and the new Laramie County Fairgrounds at Archer to sign a long term lease to include about 50 acres of lovely rolling prairie and galloping terrain deemed “too rough” to develop into commercial property use for our cross country course. The Laramie County Commissioners are very excited and thrilled to bring a new equestrian event to the Southeast Corner of the State and to the new county Fairgrounds at Archer.

I believe that this Worth the Trust Scholarship will be incredibly useful for me, in learning from very knowledgeable people like Wayne Quarles Deeda Randle, Laura Backus ,Vicki Baker, as well as James Atkinson and Greg Schlappi. The monies will be incredibly useful in learning how I will need to:

1. Organize and run a three-day event
2. Since we are moving all of the cross-country fences from one venue to another, I hope to create one of the first Modified courses in Area IX for the 2017 year.
3. Learn how course designers read terrain, build courses and fences.
4. Learn how to create a budget for a 5/10/15+ years of course building, design and improvements in order to sustain and grow one of the few public courses in Area IX/MSEA.
5. I do hope to improve my personal riding while attending clinic offerings from several ICP instructors in Area IX. Including Frederic Bouland, Laura Backus, Brain Sabo, John Staples and Lynn Symansky. Several of which I have attended clinics with in the past and look forward to attending again in Area IX.
6. I have big hope to move up to Modified/Preliminary in 2017.

Thank you so very much for the opportunity to apply for the Worth the Trust Scholarship. I can’t believe that such a wonderful opportunity is available for Adult Amateurs, and I know that I will be a great candidate and choice for the available monies. Because they won’t just benefit ME although the knowledge gained will be indispensable for me, but I feel that the Worth the Trust Scholarship will also benefit so many eventers in Area IX.

About The Worth The Trust Scholarships

Approaching its 17th year, the Worth the Trust Scholarship continues to provide financial assistance for young adult amateurs and adult amateurs for the purpose of pursuing continued education in Eventing. This scholarship is provided by Joan Iverson Goswell in honor of her horse, Worth the Trust, a 15.3 Thoroughbred gelding (Wind and Wuthering x Stop Over Station), who competed successfully for many years with Karen O'Connor.