United States Eventing Association

My journey to the USEA American Eventing Championships presented by Nutrena Feeds wasn’t really in my plans this year. After giving birth to my daughter in November 2024 I had just started showing again in the last months. My plan was to get out showing at Novice and have fun. Well, maybe it was my delusional postpartum brain that made me think I could pick up where I had left off in August 2023 (my last show), but my body was not the same.

After a sleepless night with my daughter I decided that I didn’t want to lose my entry fee from a schooling show at Twin Rivers, so with two hours sleep and a cup of coffee I was on the road to Paso Robles, but disaster struck. I was exhausted and had a fall show jumping (first time off my horse of 11 years) and my nerves were shaken. My poor, wonderful horse was a saint and even when I came off, completely by my own mistake, stood there and waited for me. Thankfully I was physically unscathed but emotionally that was a hard blow.

Who is my wonderful steed? None other than Captain Coe's Justice, or "Henry." He is a 15.3-hand 14-year-old Welsh Cob I have owned since 2014. He was bred in England in 2011, and I purchased him for £500 as a 3-year-old to produce as my all-round best friend. We have had the most wonderful journey together, and not just the 5,000 mile move from the UK to California.

I couldn’t be more proud of the wonderful horse he is today, and when I reminisce on the feral unhandled 3-year-old to the cross-country machine he has become, it's hard to believe he is the same horse.

So back to our present season, I decided that I needed to move back down to Beginner Novice. At the Shepherd Ranch in June we did well, but I was terrified in the stadium and froze mentally but we placed third, qualifying us for the AEC. Now my goals had changed; I would try to make it to the AEC and represent the West Coast and Area VI.

The August show at Shepherd placed us third again, and my confidence was slowly coming back but the stadium still scared me. However, a week later I packed up my horse, hound, trailer and headed to Woodside. After a wonderful ride in the dressage court (we scored our personal best) I felt strong and proud. Cross-country he flew round like a freight train but our stadium was a mess. I was still scared; three poles went flying which put us in a eighth place, but we had done it, and we were on our way to Galway Downs!

So glad to be back on track, we had to tidy up our stadium. With only two weeks before the AEC, I worked hard on creating a better quality canter, rode hours with no stirrups (ok, maybe for about 20 minutes but it felt like an eternity), and took lessons to refocus my mind on being in the present and not allowing the fall to take over my body.

Heading south to Galway Downs, I called a good friend and told her I was scared of messing up, and the fall was still hanging around in my mind. Whether she knew it or not she changed my trajectory. “Rachel, it was a moment in time, a blip; you can move on now and forget it,” which was just the motivation I didn’t realize I needed.

Once at Galway Downs we unpacked, settled in and waited for the summer spat of rain to pass. Then Henry and I went for a hack to explore the show ground. Wow! What a place, it was beautiful and the atmosphere was exciting but also calming. I felt so honored to be there with my wonderful horse.

Friday morning came, and it was dressage time! It is not unusual for Henry to be distracted at times, but this particular warm-up he was focused more on the cute buckskin riding near us than me. Our warm-up felt more tense than relaxed, and that was reflected in our dressage scores. One judge gave us a whooping 71% while the other gave us 63% leaving us with a 32.8; not our worst score but certainly not our best either. OK, don’t dwell on it and move forward, we have cross-country tomorrow!

I walked the course and felt excited. It looked inviting and fun. Later that day Gina Economou was giving a course-walk, and I clearly had to go and have her professional opinion on how to ride and approach the course. Her words echoed in my mind, “Keep rhythm and approach each fence with determination!”

Saturday arrived and I was excited. We warmed up, and Henry felt fantastic. “Have a great ride,” I heard as we left the start box, and we were off. Fence 1 we flew, 2, 3, done, and we were moving out. We were too fast. I heard Gina in my head, “keep a rhythm.” I know I have a tendency of going too fast (the fox hunter in me) and a quick check of my watch, and I found we were 30 seconds faster than the first minute marker.

I slowed down and as we approached our first water, he sailed through. Our second minute marker, and we were on point. Henry was eager and looking for the next fence. Before I knew it we were flying over the last fence, and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. What an incredible ride and performance; I was bursting with pride for my wonderful Welsh Cob, and was grinning ear-to-ear the rest of the day.

Sunday morning I was at the arena to walk my stadium course, again it looked fun and inviting! After walking it twice my objective was to keep riding in a rhythm and to focus my energy on a quality canter. Again, our warm-up was flawless, and he felt willing and confident. We headed to the ring, and hearing our names announced made me smile. I was riding my £500 imported horse in California at the American Eventing Championships, whatever happens now was up to me and him.

Henry smashed my goals out of the park! He was keen, forward, relaxed and looking back at the video of our round, there was a 95% improvement from our last show. With my 5% error costing us two rails because I didn’t get him together enough before a jump. I won't lie and say I wasn’t disappointed by that, but I was so proud of the progress we made, and most importantly I didn’t feel an ounce of fear. My confidence in us was repaired!

I remained outside the ring the rest of the morning and watched old friends and new ride their rounds. I cheered with joy and excitement as one by one they finished the course. The electric atmosphere was incredible and one I will remember for all my days. It is an honor to be a part of a community of fellow competitors who support one another with such passion for our sport. So although we didn’t come home with a frilly ribbon, placing 18th in a division of such incredible horses was a huge achievement. But the real award I took home was this: Henry and I got our mojo back!