United States Eventing Association

Meet Popular Young Horse Trainer Melissa Hunsberger

The Young and Future Event Horse article series is being provided through a partnership between Mythic Landing Enterprises, LLC., and the USEA.

Melissa Hunsberger launched her eventing career when she arrived at Phyllis Dawson’s Windchase Farm in Purcellville, Virginia, where she worked for 13 years. She progressed through the levels and eventually completed her first CCI4* at Rolex Kentucky in 2007 with long-time mount, Just Fun Stuff. During her time at Windchase, she gained invaluable knowledge about what it takes to run a top training barn and produce upper-level event horses. Melissa struck out on her own in November 2013 and is now based out of Capstone Farm in Lovettsville, Virginia: a 14-stall facility where she can offer individualized attention to all of her talented up-and-comers.

Melissa has partnered up with Steplin Sport Horses, a small group of horsemen with a mission to find and develop talented, American-bred young horses for the sport. Melissa and Kaitlin Spurlock, a former student who now works for Phillip Dutton, travel all over the country to find the next young star to bring into the program. They have two exceptional rising 3-year olds named Cordially Yours (Coeur D’Amour - Tzarina) bred by Teresa Smith and Con Man (Contucci - Bint Baladeexx) bred by Linda Zang. Con Man won his first FEH competition at Loch Moy Farm this past summer with Cordially Yours finishing in 2nd place right behind him. Count Cadence (Grafenstolz - Trial Run) bred by Noel Aderer, and Cabin Continental (VDL Dakota - Cabin Lore) bred and partially owned by Steve Joyce, are two very promising yearlings with lovely builds and movement that both Melissa and her fiancée Jeff Speagle think show great promise.

Jeff mostly deals with the yearlings through three-year-olds that are aimed at the Future Event Horse program, and there is much more that goes into the training for them than one would think! It’s very important to teach the horses how to stand correctly to show their conformation, and for the youngsters to know where their space is versus their human's space. With Jeff standing at 6’4”, it is much easier for him to match the big striding horses when they jog for the judges, which in turn helps to show off the horse’s movement. Melissa stressed that having the young horses so well-adjusted at such a young age, and having them experience a variety of different environments, only benefits their overall training as they grow older.

Melissa typically takes over the training once they are ready to start under saddle. The current 4-year old Young Event Horse East Coast champion, Rule of Thumb (Royal Appearance X Nadia), is an example of a young horse that has come through Melissa and Jeff’s program. She describes “Roy” as a very confident-looking horse, even just standing in the barn. Every challenge that she has presented to him has been no big deal and he understands quickly, which has made him very easy to bring along. The difference in riding him at home and at a competition is night and day. He lights up just trotting around the dressage arena when he knows that it’s time to perform. His attitude and work ethic make him an exciting horse to watch for the future, and Melissa is thankful to his owner, Dawn Erdman, for trusting her with his training.

Melissa believes that the commentary from the judges in the Young and Future Event Horse competitions is extremely valuable. The commentary will guide riders, breeders and handlers to greater success in the competitions themselves, and will provide “homework” to take home between shows. It’s important to know what type of frame they judges are looking for from the 4- and 5-year-olds and what jumping ability they expect for the two age groups.

Judges Bea de Grazia and William Micklem have provided her with invaluable feedback over the years. One her favorite comments from Mr. Micklem was that he believes that a 4-year old doesn’t need to be doing a full-blown dressage test; he simply wants the rider to put the horse through the paces and ride in a light half seat. Horses will progress with their training in their own time. All that should be expected at this age is that they can walk, trot and canter obediently in the arena. He also mentioned that he personally enjoys seeing the horses throwing in a buck here and there when they go out on the jumping course. As young horses they should be having fun and enjoying their job without having too much pressure put on them.

Preparing horses for the next level in competition is what Melissa’s program is all about. Melissa comments on how important it is for these young horses to be able to behave for the in-hand work and then have a saddle put on their backs and behave in the arena and field. The horses that are a part of the program receive a well-rounded education as youngsters that shapes the trajectory of their futures as event horses.

For more information about Melissa and her training program, visit her website at www.melissahunsberger.com. We are looking forward to bringing you more news and training tips from Melissa as we progress through next year’s competition season.