A double-clear show jumping round solidifies their 2nd place finish at The Ark.
In this series, Cassidy Sitton chronicles her experiences as she and her OTTB, Subway Prophet, prepare for the FENCE SmartPak/USEA Training 3-Day in the beginning of April.
After spending the winter months doing trot sets, playing in the sandbox (dressage arena), and trotting over what seems like a million gymnastics, we now have the first event of the season behind us, and we are careening full speed ahead towards the Training 3-Day at FENCE Horse Trials. The T3D plan for my horse (Subway Prophet, aka P-Diddy) and I actually began last year when I received an entry to the Ocala T3D for Christmas from my parents — but when real life got in the way (found myself unemployed, had a brief scare with what I was for sure going to be a long-rehabbed injury to Diddy, etc…), I put the Ocala goal on the back burner. Diddy and I had a very up-and-down 2009 season, with his poultry lineage and my blond-ness both making inopportune appearances during several events.
It’s amazing how everything can change in a year (or even in a winter).
Diddy puts on his big boy pants, and proved his maturity during cross-country.
Like everyone else on the East Coast, I’ve been dogged by gloomy weather this spring–I thought I’d left all this snow behind me in the Midwest, but I guess I was sadly mistaken. Convinced not to let sleet, nor rain, nor snow (I’ve taken up the persona of a postman) get in my way, Diddy and I have found ourselves doing 6:30am trot sets in 25 degree weather–often enduring 40 mph wind gusts, dodging wet footing and sometime becoming confined to the length of our driveway.
We prevailed over Mother Nature, and last weekend we made our first stop along the way to the T3D–The Ark Horse Trials in Monroe, NC.
I think you really never know what kind of horse you have until you get there and ‘get it done’ — especially for the first event of the season. Having not stepped foot on a cross-country course since November, hearing that 10…9…8…7…. definitely left my head full of what-ifs: “What if I’m not prepared?” “What if Prophet doesn’t want to play eventing anymore?” “What if he’s not fit enough?” “What if I fall in the water?” “What if I forget to turn down the path after fence 12?” “WHAT AM I DOING HERE? AH!” Luckily, my brain doesn’t work fast enough to process each question, and by the time I heard “Have a nice ride!” I was off galloping to Fence 1 with not a worry in the world.
Cassidy felt that Diddy’s dressage performance left the door open for improvement, but were nevertheless thrilled to be seated in second. Apparently, my horse grew up over the winter. All weekend he acted like a mature boy–so much so that I just knew he must not have been feeling well. Dressage could have been better, but considering the frozen footing, I was very happy with our 31.8 and second place standing. He rocked the show jump course–lessons with our local jumper rider have really been paying off and the jumps are seeming very small–what a good thing! Cross-country was quite possibly the best “AH-HA!” moment I’ve ever felt my horse have… EVER. You know that feeling where a horse just ‘gets it’? Well, Prophet got it.
Now we are back to doing trot sets, jump lessons and playing in the sandbox until the next stop at Southern Pines I Horse Trials. Guess we’ll soon find out if Diddy’s new found maturity was just a fluke!
Cassidy Sitton, 25, bases her C-Horse Eventing business out of Raleigh, North Carolina where she enjoys teaching and training, and is also a marketing professional for an equine-related business.
Did you know that the USEA Foundation awards over 150 grants each year to deserving individuals who are involved in the sport of eventing? With grants that assist riders with accomplishing their competition goals, grants geared toward licensed officials, grants that are specific to continuing education for coaches, grants that assist competitions with obtaining frangible technology, and so much more, there really is a grant opportunity available to almost anyone!
With the start of the New Year just days away, now is the time to consider how your actions can have a positive impact on the sport of eventing in 2025. Each and every member of the eventing community has an important role to play in ensuring the sport continues to grow and thrive. From fostering educational opportunities to supporting grassroots initiatives and participating at all levels of the sport, there are so many ways to get involved.
Ride iQ’s popular “Ask An Expert” series features professional advice and tips from all areas of the horse industry. One of the most-downloaded episodes is an expert session with Peter Gray, an accomplished dressage judge and Olympic eventer. He has recently judged at events like the five-star at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, and he served on the ground jury at the 2022 FEI World Eventing Championships in Pratoni, Italy. His background as a competitor in the Olympic Games riding for Bermuda and as a coach and selector for the Canadian eventing team adds depth to his understanding of the sport.
With a total of 382 volunteer hours in 2024, Catherine “Cathy” Hale not only topped the USEA Area III VIP Volunteer leaderboard, but she also ranked fourth out of all eventing volunteers across the country. Hale (The Villages, Florida) has worked as a travel agent for over 30 years, a career that suits her love of travel nicely. At the time of being interviewed for this article, Hale was passing the equator on a cruise to Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia.
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