United States Eventing Association

2024 RevitaVet USEA Young Rider of the Year Molly Duda Has Weathered the Ups and Downs of Top-Level Sport and Come Out Stronger

Molly Duda’s 2024 got off to a strong start as she completed her first Advanced event with Disco Traveler, her 2023 USEF Eventing Young Rider Championship gold-medal partner.

The pair won the Advanced division at Twin Rivers (Paso Robles, California) in February and followed it up with a second-place finish in their first CCI4*-S at Galway Downs (Temecula, California) in March. But it wasn’t totally smooth sailing on the way to their second consecutive RevitaVet USEA Young Rider of the Year award.

“It's definitely been a season of very high highs and very low lows,” she said.

In 2024, Duda and “Disco,” a 16-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding (Donatelli x Cadence) were chosen to be a part of the USEF European Development Tour, which aims to give up-and-coming riders experience in a team environment.

While the Defender Kentucky CCI4*-S wasn’t originally a goal for her, under the advice of her trainer, five-star winner Tamie Smith, Duda took Disco to get experience in a big atmosphere after they’d had such a successful spring season.

“His move up to Advanced went better than I ever could have imagined,” said Duda. “He exceeded all of our expectations. I didn't know if he would have the desire or the ability to go Advanced. Moving him up, we were very tentative, and he went out right out of the box and won his first Advanced, and then was second in his first four-star. While we were kind of riding that high, we put Kentucky on the list, because every challenge he had thrown at him, he answered all the questions.”

Duda, Menlo Park, California, knew Kentucky was one of the hardest four-stars in the country, and she hoped it would be a good preparation for their trip to Europe, but a rider fall on cross-country ended their weekend early.

“Unfortunately, I think it was a bit of a shock to both he and I when we arrived at Kentucky—just the atmosphere, the size of the fences, and the questions were a lot. They were on another level of technical difficulty than what we'd seen previously.”

Duda was also in the middle of a transition to training with Smith after working with her longtime trainer Mickalya Howard from the start of her eventing career.

“Tamie has been my idol since I started riding, and just to be taken under her wing like that was a huge honor, but also put a lot of pressure on me as well,” she admitted. “I think I really internalized a lot of the pressure. I was feeling a lot of the eyes on me being selected for my first team and my first trip to Europe. It was just all the pressure kind of got to me, and that led to my pretty bad mistake, falling into the coffin in front of a huge crowd of people broadcast on television. That was definitely a low point in my career, and I will say that was probably the biggest knock I've ever had to my confidence.”

Disco was no worse for wear, but Duda decided to call equestrian sports psychology coach Natalie Hummel to help work through her feelings following the fall. She called the experience a game changer.

“I'd never worked with a sports psychologist or any sort of therapist previously, because I never really thought that I needed it, but I definitely learned that everyone can benefit from sports psychology,” she said. “She's really the reason that I was able to come back from that confidence knock and still get out there in Europe and ride the way that I know how to ride.”

Duda, 20, admitted she felt a bit of “imposter syndrome” being chosen for the European tour. She looked up to the other riders chosen and felt intimidated.

“I felt like I really had to prove myself, and then to have [the fall] happen with so many eyes on me was very shocking,” she said. “And I also knew that the fall was completely my fault. I started to just really question my ability and whether I was good enough to be on the world stage.”

Duda shared that the biggest thing Hummel taught her is to accept all the parts of herself—"all of my emotions, accept the fear, accept the anxiety, embrace the nerves, rather than trying to shut them down. Because I do feel like I've naturally always had a strong head game, although I do have a tendency to shut down when I feel overwhelmed, and so having her talk me through that and how to just let myself feel the emotions and accept the emotions has led me to unlock a new state of calmness when I'm under pressure.”

She took her new mental tools to Europe and was excited to compete at Chatsworth (England), but heavy rain cancelled the event. The riders detoured to Bicton CCI4*-S (England), where Duda rode a planned combined test.

“It was good for me mentally to be able to have a little bit of time to process the fall in Kentucky and move past it and just be in Europe and experience it before I was under the pressure to compete, so getting to go to Chatsworth and walk the course and look at the questions and imagine myself riding through it and watch a lot of riders was absolutely incredible and just beyond educational,” she said.

Duda and Disco then went to Millstreet CCIO4*-S in Ireland but were not named to the team for the Nations Cup. Duda had hoped to be a part of her first team but understood the decision to have her ride as an individual after her fall at Kentucky. She was still able to shadow the team and gained a lot from the experience.

“I just needed to have a confidence-boosting round without the pressure of being on the team, but it still very much felt like a team,” she said. “All the riders and the grooms were very supportive of each other. We walked the courses together, we talked, we did everything together, and it was a really cool experience. I remember that feeling of coming through the finishe flags after that cross-country course and just giving Disco the biggest hug, because I know that he never had a doubt in me, and the fact that we were just able to get through that kind of rough patch and come out of the other side still confident—I was really proud of him and just our partnership.

“I do think that trip was life changing for me, just experiencing the sport out there,” she added. “It's like a different sport. I do feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to be out there, and even without the competing, just watching, experiencing the atmosphere, watching some of my idols riding and warming up and just learning from watching was so beneficial.”

Over the summer came another down though, when Duda had a bad fall at home schooling her three-star horse, Carlingfords He’s A Clover, over a show jump. The gelding had tripped and hung a leg, and Duda came off, breaking six bones in her face in the process. She had surgery to repair the damage and was out of the saddle for six weeks. She'd been named to the USEA Emerging Athletes Under 21 (EA21) regional program on the West Coast but was unable to attend.

“It was pretty rough, but actually that didn't scare me as much mentally, because I think I knew it was just a mistake—that he tripped, and it happens. It's part of the sport,” she said.

Duda and Disco began their fall campaign with an open Preliminary win at Shepherd Ranch Pony Club Horse Trials (Santa Ynez, California), but in their next start at the Twin Rivers CCI4*-S, they had a horse fall on cross-country at the last fence. It was another tough lesson, but both horse and rider were fine.

“I would have won the four-star if I had not tried to push for a long spot at that table,” Duda admitted. “We were right on the minutes, and that competitive part of my mind just said, ‘go for it,’ when I really just needed to sit up and be patient. I made a dumb decision at the last fence. We both just walked away with a couple bruises. I think, if anything, the fact that we would have won just made it that more impactful to have that happen, and it definitely taught me a lesson to never, ever sacrifice safety for sake of competition.”

They went on to win the CCI4*-S at Woodside (Woodside, California) with a strong run, and that momentum carried them to their biggest test yet—the Galway Downs CCI4*-L in November, which they won.

“[Woodside] was the perfect preparation for Galway, because then we were able to really go for the time at Galway, and he was just feeling super. His confidence is never shaken,” she said. “It was incredibly special, just because Galway is kind of my home venue. I did my first ever long format at Galway two years ago, so coming back and winning the four-star was really incredibly special, especially on Disco, surrounded by my whole family who came to watch me, and all my friends and all my past trainers were there. It was a really special moment.”

Besides Disco, Duda had a successful competition year at the three-star level with Carlingfords He’s A Clover, a 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding (Polanski x Four Leaf Clover) and purchased the 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare Jutopia (Caretino Gold x Bali-Utopia) who competed at the two-star level.

She’s been enjoying working with Smith and balances schoolwork as a sophomore at UCLA where she’s studying business economics.

“Tamie is really just the ultimate horse woman,” she said. “She's so incredibly empathetic towards the animals, and she has so much love for them, and she always does right by them. The biggest thing I've learned from her is just how to always do right by your horse. She knows how to design their schedule so that you get the most out of them, and you never push them too hard, and you always do right by them. Another thing that I've really learned from her is discipline—mental discipline—as well as just consistency in your riding and doing the hard stuff and being committed to practicing every day and just having the mental grit to get through the hard times.”

Now that she’s armed with a new sense of confidence and the tools to help her through the difficult times, Duda’s big goal for 2025 is to complete a five-star with Disco.

“That's definitely a lofty goal, and nothing certain. And of course, we're going to listen to Disco and just see if he's ready,” she said. “But hopefully if we can get our qualifications, I would love to do a five-star by the end of the year.”