Since the mid-’80s, lifelong horsewoman and professional artist Debra Sue Waters has devoted countless hours to the sport of eventing, and last year topped the rankings of the USEA Volunteer Incentive Program in Area V. Assisting behind the scenes at an event just comes naturally to the Millsap, Texas, resident.
Bec Braitling was 23 when she tackled her first four-star, now five-star, level competition at Adelaide in East Park Lands, Australia.
Kelly O’Brien has her eye on a prize. “Pretty much the rest of this season will be targeted towards getting fired up for the AEC,” says O’Brien, 54. She and B E Never Say Never, a 19-year-old Dutch Warmblood, have qualified for the 2024 USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC) presented by Nutrena Feeds already, thanks to decisively winning all three of their 2024 outings thus far.
Gretchen Butts grew up in the long-format era of eventing in the 1970s, completing the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event in 2003 and 2004 and finishing one of the last long-format Burghley Horse Trials (England) in 2004 on her beloved Zydeco.
While many spousal partners may choose to keep business and family separate, such is not the case for the duo behind Alliston Equestrian. From riding and coaching to winning the American Eventing Championships, husband and wife James and Helen Alliston do everything together, every day.
Dear Benji, this is one of those notes I wish I wasn't writing. But if I didn't get my thoughts to you in some (albeit cheesy) way, I might go crazier than the situation is already making me.
When Alexa Thompson (née Ehlers) looks back at her eventing career, she can without a doubt trace where she is now back to a little Thoroughbred mare she got when she was just 10 years old named Crystal Clear (Far Out Wadleigh x Rollem Katrina).
Ava Chase wasn’t quite sure what to think as she was handed the lead rope of Kingston, a 21-year-old New Zealand Thoroughbred, in 2021. The gelding’s owner had heard of Chase, who runs a boarding barn in San Marcos, California, and knew she provided good care.
Macyn Wolpert and her pony 18-year-old Sport Pony Hallelujah were set to attend the Pine Top Intermediate Horse Trials (Thomson, Georgia) on Feb. 11 with cross-county day happily occurring on Wolpert’s 12th birthday.
There aren’t many riders who can say they competed at five of the world’s seven five-star events in 2023, but the 2023 World Equestrian Brands USEA Rider of the Year Boyd Martin can. With nine starts across the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event, Longines Luhmühlen Horse Trials (Germany), Defender Burghley Horse Trials (England), MARS Maryland 5 Star, and Pau (France), Martin earned five top-5 finishes.
Marley Bridges lived and breathed gymnastics. “I started at the age of 5,” said Bridges. “You always had to have the time and the mindset for gymnastics. You had to allow yourself to commit to it. You had to commit to working out four hours a day, five days a week, doing cardio every single day, train every single day. You had to stay committed to yourself, the team, and the sport.”