United States Eventing Association

When Kyle Carter headed to breeder Andras Szieberth’s farm in Ocala, Florida, six years ago to look at a promising mare, he wasn’t expecting to come home with a breeding stallion.

But thanks to his wife Jennifer Carter’s keen eye, a 2-year-old FR’s Citadel headed home with them to their Five Ring Stable in Citra, Florida.

“This was that mare’s full brother,” said Kyle. “We went up to look, and we got videos of him. My wife liked the mare, but she loved him. And I have gotten to the point where I know better than to not respect her opinion when it comes to buying horses!”

“Conroy” has proven to be a great partner for Kyle, who typically trains and sells young horses once they reach Preliminary as part of his business. He says the stallion has never put a foot wrong.

“I really don't need a stallion, but he is the easiest, most laidback horse that you could possibly have,” he said. “He travels the breeding shed on the trailer with the mare’s he’s gonna breed. He's a bit indifferent to breeding, and he's just got this incredible attitude.”

Kyle decided to keep Conroy, an 8-year-old Holsteiner (Caligula II—Elena T), with support from his owner, Mikki Johansen, to develop, and their consistent results at Preliminary and Intermediate in 2025 earned them the SmartEquine USEA Stallion of the Year title.

Kyle says he tends to miss out on USEA year-end awards at particular levels because his horses move up a level mid-year or they get sold, so to win this award was particularly meaningful and provided a goal for him to work towards throughout the year.

“This is perfect, because then I can get points at Prelim, and I get points at Intermediate,” he said. “Last year, I was like, I'd like to win high-point of the year on him. That was my goal for him, as well as getting up to Intermediate. And he just found it all quite easy. My next goal is, I'm hoping he wins it multiple years in a row. It means a lot.”

As Kyle brought along Conroy, it was always in the back of his mind to geld him, but he said there was never any reason to, despite the typical teenage phase as a 3- and 4-year-old.

“But alongside of that, the priority for me was that I got that a nice horse to compete, and to see how far he could go and enjoy the process of actually training a horse from the beginning and being able to keep him, which never happens here.”

He competed Conroy in the USEA Young Event Horse program, qualifying for and participating in the East Coast Championships as a 4- and 5-year-old.

Kyle is thrilled to be able to keep Conroy in the barn for Johansen, who’s a longtime supporter, but who hasn’t owned a horse that’s made it to the top of the sport yet.

“When we bought him, there was always this underlying [feeling of] this could be the one,” Kyle said. “I'm not one of those people that marries myself to them. I can fall in love with them, but I don't marry myself to them. As 4-year-olds, thinking they're going to be everything they should be—I think they have to be given a chance to develop into what they're going to be, and then you decide. But he's done nothing but show me that he's going down the road of the type of horse that [Johansen] wanted.”

Conroy has done some breeding, and the Carter’s have frozen semen from him. He has a handful of foals on the ground now.

“We limit his book because it's hard, physically, to compete him and breed him,” he said. “[At the breeding shed] he is very fertile, but he'll get on top of the dummy, see a butterfly, and be like, ‘Oh, butterfly!’ He’s got some bookings this spring, and we're going to continue to breed him, but until we really discover the balance, I'm happy if he gets 10-15 mares a year.

“I think if you bred to him, and you get anything like him, you're going to be happy with the performance. You're going to be happy with the horse you have because he's the most pleasant animal you can have around,” he added.

Kyle, 57, is a Canadian Olympian, and says the group of young horses he has now is his “last run up the ladder,” as he looks towards the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. He’s hoping Conroy will be one of his options, but first, he’d like to complete a CCI3*-L with him this season.

“I'm well aware of what [horses] I've got and what I'm doing and that there's an expiration date on me and not them,” he said. “I'm not really interested in taking them to the five-star level, because I think I'm going to have more fun keeping up the four-star level. But you know, if everything went the right direction, I might go back and give [a five-star] a shot. But it's not the biggest priority.”