United States Eventing Association

Road to the Pan Am Games with Shannon Lilley (Part 1)

We’re thrilled to introduce our newest blogger to Eventing USA – recently named member of the Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team for the Pan American Games, Shannon Lilley. Shannon, along with her lovely horse Ballingowan Pizazz (‘Mango’), will be sharing their amazing journey with us – hope you enjoy the ride! And to learn more about Shannon, visit her blog and website.

To really understand the enormity of someone’s journey, I first think you have to know something about the person who is on the journey. My name is Shannon Lilley and I grew up in Portola Valle, CA, a small town in the Bay Area, not too far from the Stanford Campus. I started my riding career first as a vaulter. I vaulted for about a year, I didn’t last long, and realized I liked the riding part more that the vaulting part. I suffered through a really hot pony while doing hunters for awhile and then was introduced to the sport of Eventing. I was definitely sold on cross country and the adrenaline it brought with it!

I started riding with Dayna Lynd-Pugh and Flying Tail Farms in 1988 and have not looked back. In the beginning, I was riding and competitively swimming as well as ski racing. After falling off once or twice a day for the first few years I rode with her, Dayna politely suggested that maybe I stick with one of those other sports. I was determined to master this sport because it was the only one I really loved. Long story short, 23 years later I think I have gotten fairly good and she is no longer suggesting such things.

Starting off without much skill and very little natural talent had really made me appreciate success and how hard it is to attain. That being said, the hard work, dedication and determination put in on a daily basis is really only rewarded with the right horse. Having a difficult horse or heartbreaking horse, which we have all had, builds a lot of character and may make you a gutsy rider but doesn’t yield success.

Four years ago, Dayna and I went to Ireland to search for a horse for a client of ours and after 2.5 days, 35 horses tried, and a fantastic time, we found one horse out of Ann O’Grady’s barn named Ballingowan Pizazz. Dayna took a special interest in him immediately because of his attitude, conformation, and movement. I rode him and things seemed very easy for him in the arena but went we went outside into the field he blew me away with how brave he was. He basically dragged me over everything and the track took us to this stream which proved to be more of a river as we got up to it. He started to trot in and the water got higher and higher. Pretty soon I think we were swimming and this foreign horse I was on was dodging these HUGE boulders at the bottom of the creek bed. We came out the other side totally unscathed like that was an everyday occurrence.

Between Ballingowan Pizazz’s physical qualities and personality, we had to vet him for our client. He vetted great and we shipped him home with a few other horses for other clients. You cannot buy just one! The client we bought him for named him Mango because of his color and after almost a year, she decided to sell him because she had changed her mind. Dayna and I were determined to keep Mango in the barn so we sold him to a different client, Lindsay Connors. It was a great match because Lindsay’s strength was dressage and Mango’s strength was and is jumping. They grew well together through the Intermediate level and then it was time for Mango to move on as Lindsay was moving to Scotland to go to vet school in July of 2011.

Lindsay had told me last fall that she would be selling Mango. I knew then I had to buy him! He has been incredible since the first time I rode him in Ireland. I somehow put the deal together and by the end of May of this year, thanks to The Lilley Group, I have Mango.

We are a new partnership but getting to know each other fast. I feel like we are clicking as a team each time we compete. When I was putting the deal together to buy Mango, I cited the fact that I would apply for the Pan American Games this fall in Guadalajara, Mexico. Honestly, I really thought it was a long shot but here we are just having been selected to the team!!

The journey only gets better from here. Please join me every week to hear about everything that goes on leading up to and during a major team competition.

Thank you!

Shannon Lilley