United States Eventing Association

Ah, college. The glory years often consist of sleeping well into the afternoon, leading a hyperactive social life, and wearing things to class that would, in any other chapter in your life, get you featured on “People of Walmart."

Unless, of course, you’re a CIC3* rider, training and maintaining an Advanced horse that is an hour away from school, while also entering your Junior year of college chasing a four-year degree in finance.

Then, none of the above applies to you. Sleep is a luxury, you see parties in movies and wonder what it’s like to attend them, and you sit alone in the back corner of your classroom in your breeches because either: You were late to class because your jump school ran over or because frankly, you smell like a horse.

Meet Avery Klunick, the youngest competitor in this year’s Gold Cup final at the Nutrena USEA American Eventing Championships.

“It’s like I’m living a double life sometimes,” the impossibly energetic 20-year-old laughed. “I go to school, then go to the barn and spend 5-6 hours with my horse, and then sometimes spend the night at the barn and do my homework there. I feel like I’m like running around like a chicken with my head cut off.”

Klunick is currently preparing her 12-year-old New Zealand Thoroughbred, In It to Win It, for their next Advanced run, this time at the 2013 AEC.

“I leave [school] for the barn around 7 pm, and ride under the lights, sometimes at 9:30-10 at night. Right now for Texas we’re working on flatwork mostly. He’s really bold on cross-country but he tends to get tense, and then I get tense with him. He was extremely fit at Rebecca Farm from all of the hillwork we did in California, and so he got a little tense."

She qualified for the AEC by completing the CIC3* at The Event at Rebecca Farm in Kalispell, MT, after enjoying a California summer working with Derek and Bea di Grazia. She is also a full-time student at Texas Christian University and it working her way through business school toward a degree in finance.

“I would really like to ride full time for a while after school, but I’ll have to figure out how to do that,” she said. “I don’t know whether or not it’s in the cards for me to be a full time professional. That’s one of the reasons I’m getting a business degree; if I did want to run my own business then a degree would help me to do that well.”

Klunick will have one of the shortest commutes to the Texas Rose Horse Park as she is from Midland, TX.“I’m excited to be welcoming all of the friends I made during my time in California to MY area now!”

She is on the USEF 2013 Developing Riders/ Eventing 25 List with In It to Win It, so she is frequently travelling west for training sessions and competitions held in California. However, for Championships this year, the tables are turned. “So often, I’m driving toward [my California friends] for the big competitions, and I’m excited that they get to see what eventing is like on my home turf.”

Klunick is no stranger to the Texas Rose Horse Park, having laid down a winning run around the Intermediate track there last summer.

“I love Texas Rose, and so does my horse,” said Klunick, who was, at the time preparing to take ‘Winston’ to Feather Creek Horse Trials (Norman, OK) for an Intermediate warm up run. “The footing there is really, really good. It’s all grass, which is a change from being in California where there is no grass. Every time I go, it’s even better.”

While Klunick maintains a schedule that few would envy, she has to laugh about how hectic her life is. "My friend Zachary Brandt, who also rides, always kind of makes fun of me: 'You're a three-star rider...and you're in a sorority?'"

But the vivacious rider said that one of the biggest challenges lies ahead. "We haven't had our first test yet," she said. "I might not be laughing then!"