United States Eventing Association

Now On Course: Scarlett Peinado

My daughter, Scarlett Peinado, has always loved horses. As a young child, she was drawn to them, and mesmerized by them. Growing up Frisco, Texas, horses were common to see, but not everyone in Texas actually owns a horse, as many people believe. They were a thing of wonder and interest to Scarlett. Something fascinating and mysterious, but only seen at a distance. Scarlett looked forward to any and every chance she got to ride a horse: pony rides at the Texas State Fair, summer camp, birthday parties, and weekend family vacations.

In 2018, for her 13th birthday, Scarlett asked if she could take real riding lessons. Her dad found a nearby dressage barn and signed her up for riding lessons at Whispering Farms Equestrian Center in Prosper, Texas. From that day, she was hooked on horses. However, being an adrenaline junkie (even at a young age), Scarlett wasn’t content doing dressage, and was drawn to the thrill of eventing.

She did her first horse trial at Feather Creek Farm in Oklahoma in June 2020 and fell in love with the sport. I was surprised to see how much fun she had while being exhausted from the Oklahoma heat in June. Since then, she has competed in dozens of horse trials all across the country, and has no intention of stopping. Scarlett has steadily moved up the divisions, recently successfully competing in the Modified Rider division at Texas Rose Horse Park.

She also had the thrill in April of winning first place at the Ocala International Festival on not just one, but two of her horses. She finished with her horse, Shadow Inspector, on their dressage score on a remarkable 19.7, the lowest score at a recognized show in the country that weekend.

While most teenage girls look forward to sleeping late during the summer, Scarlett is up early and at the barn to beat the Texas heat. She will be busy this summer as a working student for her trainer, Lauren Lambert with Fantastique Equestrian in Bartonville, Texas.

While most teenage girls are thinking about boys, Scarlett is thinking about her horses, a sweet mare named 50 Shades of Envy (Envy), a 17.2-hand Dutch Harness Horse with a big heart, Second Amendment (Gunny), and a sweet Irish Sport Horse gentleman, Shadow Inspector (Chief). These amazing horses are Scarlett’s best friends.

While most teenage girls are making plans to go to the beach this summer and take selfies, Scarlett is looking forward to going to Holly Hill for the EA21 Clinic, Chattahoochee Hills to do another Modified, the Kentucky Horse Park for the USEA American Eventing Championships, and hopefully Galway Downs for the Young Rider Championships.

Scarlett’s hard work has paid-off. In 2022 she won the Area V Young Rider champion in the Training division and won the end of year high-point award in the Junior Training division. In 2021, she won Junior Novice Champion and won the end of year high-point champion in the Junior Novice division in Area V. Additionally, she was awarded the Area V 2021 Helen Ingmire Award (most points in more than one division).

She has also enjoyed great success while competing at the national level. In September of 2022 at the American Eventing Championships in Kalispell, Montana, she and her horse Envy won fourth place in the Junior Novice Division. Additionally, In 2021 she and Envy won 10th place in the Junior Beginner Novice Division at the American Eventing Championships in Lexington. Scarlett was fortunate to have been selected to participate in the USEA EA21 program in 2022 and 2023. She has loved training and learning from such amazing trainers including Boyd Martin, Liz Halliday-Sharp, Buck Davidson, Karen O’Connor, Mike Huber, Becky Brown, Bec Braitling, and Jimmie Schramm, just to name a few.

Scarlett is a responsible, independent, and resilient young lady, and I believe the sport of eventing is responsible for bringing out those qualities in her. Her confidence has soared since she began eventing. Her grades have even improved since deciding to do online school, to allow herself more time to ride and travel extensively to shows. Scarlett has also founded the Blue Ribbon Food Drive, which collects unopened, non-perishable food people have left over at horse shows to be donated to a local food bank in her hometown of Aubrey, Texas.

Scarlett loves all the friends she has met through riding and eventing who are like-minded, dedicated, hard-working young riders. Scarlett will be a senior in high school in the fall of 2023. After graduating from high school in 2024, she hopes to attend college at a university with an active eventing team. While eventing is a lot of work and requires a lot of dedication from Scarlett and our family, we wouldn’t have it any other way. If you see Scarlett at a show, go over and say hello. She would love to meet you!