United States Eventing Association

This article was originally published in the March/April 2020 issue of Eventing USA magazine.

In 2002, at the age of 15, I was at my Aunt and Uncle’s farm in Maine while Tremaine Cooper was there building some cross-country jumps. I helped him build a trakehner, not realizing that this day would set the course for my future. A few weeks later he called asking if I could help him at Millbrook Horse Trials. From there I helped Tremaine during most of my school vacations and throughout the summers. After graduating high school I kept at it never looking back. I lived the gypsy lifestyle for about six years going from coast to coast and event to event. In 2013 my wife Kathryn and I settled down in Lexington, Kentucky. These days I spend roughly 60-75 percent of my time on the road preparing events or building private schooling areas. I’ve had the privilege of being involved with some really great events around the states and have cultivated many friendships all over the country. In 2019 I was asked to be a part of Team Evans Olympic cross-country building crew. As I write this I am on my third trip to Tokyo. Here’s a day in Tokyo . . .

7:00 a.m.

Breakfast of champions

Walk across the road from my hotel and grab some coffee, snacks, and something for lunch. Not super fancy, but the 7-Eleven has some good grub. There’s a pretty solid language barrier and not much English writing on the food, so buying things can be a bit of an adventure.

8:04 a.m.
At the office

We’ve gotten to the office, made another cup of coffee, and loaded up our buggies with tools for the day.

9:32 a.m.
Hand signals for the win

One of five containers with jumps arrives from Team Evans’ homebase in England. We aren’t allowed to use any equipment on the site, so we have Japanese operators. The language barrier can be an issue at times, but hand signals seem to be pretty universal.

12:11 p.m.
Lunch break

A boring lunch today, usually a crispy salad is my go-to here, but supply chains seem to be a bit unpredictable with the coronavirus going on.

1:47 p.m.
It’s all in the details

At this point most of the jump construction is done, so now it’s focusing on decorations, lots of decorations!

3:43 p.m.
The view

Take a moment to look at Tokyo from the cross-country site. I’m really fortunate to be here and be a part of this crew.

6:30 p.m.
Quitting time

We’ve finished work around 5:30, headed to the hotel for quick showers, and walked to the train station to go explore Tokyo and find a dinner spot.

7:02 p.m.
Tokyo dinner

Looking for a dinner spot. Our normal criteria for a restaurant is no English writing on the sign, on a side street, and seating for less than 20. With approximately half a million restaurants in Tokyo, there are plenty to choose from. Ramen for the win tonight. For most jobs that I do, we stay in and cook the bulk of our meals. But here we typically go out for dinner.

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