United States Eventing Association

I bought my 12-year-old Canadian Warmblood mare two years ago and named her Queen LaTeePhah because of her power and beauty, playing with phonetic spelling just for fun. She didn't have much experience and absolutely no show experience, so under the guidance of my wonderful trainer, Terri Buzan Kemp, we worked on the basics like controlling her big movements for the first year.

Until then, I had spent time only in the Hunter/Jumper circuit and dressage was completely new to me. So I focused on dressage competitions - both schooling and recognized - to get more comfortable with competing in the ring. I made a lot of mistakes (like the time we jumped out of the dressage ring!) and received our fair share of not-so-pleasant comments from the judge. But we have also had some nice moments of personal bests and relished the times when the Eventer wins the class - all in fun and the spirit of competition!

We started Eventing competitions mid-year in 2014. Three of our four first events were sub-par, but we always learned something new and worked to build from those lessons. We completed four events in 2014, finally getting some consistency at the end of the year. Area X has some great Events and the Southwest offers a variety of beautiful terrain to test your skills!

2015 has been a good year for us! In July we won the Coconino Challenge, a culmination of four Area X shows, so it was a pretty big win. Last weekend we completed our fifth show and third win this year at The Event at Santa Fe. We also had the opportunity to clinic with Jim Graham after the show. Beautiful rolling terrain and fabulous New Mexican food - you can't beat that !

Sometimes it feels like two steps forward, one step back, particularly in dressage, but when I look back, the trajectory of improvement is huge. I attribute that to a great trainer, wonderful teammates (GO FIVE STAR FARM!), hard work and persistency. You have to take the lumps and keep looking forward.

Along the way, I've met such fabulous people - Eventers are the best combination of sportsmanship, self-sufficiency and teamwork. I've galloped over beautiful terrain in three states and look forward to adding Texas to the list.

All of the miles travelled, crappy little motels, using port-a-potties for days on end and missing my husband and dogs . . .It's all worth it to achieve these personal milestones with my equine partner.

Good luck to all competitors!