United States Eventing Association

Ateasha Baltodano is your typical adult amateur rider. She's a mother of three plus a bonus son, works a full-time job as an operations manager, and is just trying to enjoy eventing when she can.

“I started out riding as a kid in 4-H,” shared Baltodano. “I had my little Quarter Horse on the farm at home on our little homestead, and my mom, a hot walker on the racetrack at one time, kind of gave me that love of horses. That was our bonding time together.”

She competed through 4-H into her early teens, but life took her away from horses for a while until about nine years ago, when her youngest daughter asked to go on a trail ride at a local venue.

“And then she wanted a pony, and now we have five horses,” Baltodano said with a laugh.

Her daughters joined a local Pony Club, and Baltodano decided it was time for her to give riding in English tack a try. That is when she discovered eventing.

“I thought to myself, ‘Oh my god—this is amazing! Nobody did this where I was from when I was a kid.’ ”

As her girls got a bit older, their interests went in different directions, but Baltodano found herself looking at her field of horses at home and decided she was going to start taking lessons herself.

“And now it’s three years later, and it’s so much fun!”

She’s had her current eventing partner, Hold My Tiara (Andover Hall x Muscle My Way), aka Tia, since the mare was just shy of 4 years old.

“I had already had a Standardbred for about three years before I got her,” she recalled. “He was just awesome. He’s just so chill; anybody can get on him, so I really liked that about them. A friend of mine that does cart racing actually started a rescue, and Tia was the second horse she ever took in. She never raced; she was hooked up to a cart twice, but she never really was the racing type, so they decided not to move forward with her. As soon as I saw her online, I told my friend I was coming to pick her up.”

Now 8, the pair are known as “Tee and Tia,” and have literally learned the sport together. But it hasn’t always been easy.

“It was trial and tribulation the entire year last year,” she noted. “It was really hard to stay motivated, but my husband—he isn’t super horsey himself, but he is so into it with me—has really kept pushing me. I had these huge goals for myself, and I want to go to the AEC. I’ve trained Tia for everything, so teaching her how to hold her canter and not trot all over the place has been quite a journey.”

Tia loves jumping, but doesn’t always move the way a typical event horse might move. It’s been a journey they have been on together, but one that has been really rewarding.

“We have a huge community behind us, which is always so nice. We had to really work on the consistency of her gaits and then teaching her how to set herself up for each jump. Every step, we have just had to slow down for her, and then she gets it. When she gets out there and starts focusing, that is when you really see her shine. The dressage is our biggest struggle, but when you see her jumping, it’s clear how much she loves it.”

And while her kids don’t compete, horse showing has become a family affair.

“They’re right there with me,” she said of her family. All three of her teenage children often sign up for volunteer shifts at the horse shows where she competes. “We try to keep it as a family thing!”

This year, Baltodano is looking ahead to improving on last season and hopefully working toward one of her biggest goals.

“I want to go to the AEC; that is my ultimate, ultimate goal,” she said. “But for this year, I want to go to the Area II Championships. And maybe we will do Waredaca [Laytonsville, Maryland] again this year. Our very first season, we went thanks to their Jimmy Wofford Scholarship—we were actually the first recipients of the award—and we went and completed the whole three days!”

But another goal, perhaps even bigger than her competition goals, is to focus on enjoying every moment.

“One of the things I’ve really started concentrating on is finding the good in every moment," she said. "Like if we have a clear show jumping round or improve my dressage score. I am going to just keep showing up and plugging away. Rather than looking at the overall picture and maybe feeling like I was constantly failing because I am not meeting my big goals, I am going to stay focused and steadfast, and everything else will work itself out in the end.”

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