United States Eventing Association

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Day 31 – To the victor goes the gold!

I don’t know where to begin; the last week has been the most amazing experience. I could not have dreamt it up to be any better. It is one thing to ride for your country but it is an entirely different thing to win a gold medal with a team for which you have so much respect. As soon as we came together as a group, we were a team in every sense of the word led by our Captain, Buck Davidson (aka Lance.) He set the positive mood for the team and we all followed creating one cohesive unit. Every person was in the competition for each of the four other riders on the team instead of him or herself. Buck said at the press conference, “we came here with one goal in mind, to win team gold!” Each team member definitely played a role and was crucial to the outcome for the weekend.

Dressage day:

Buck went first for our team and put in a lovely test. Libby, a mare owned by Sharon Will, was very obedient while Buck rode a very steady, accurate test stealing as many points from the judges as possible. Hannah was next up and her horse William is a very classic looking Irish horse with uphill carriage and rhythmic movement. Hannah rode every inch out of him and scored quite well. Lynn followed and had a challenging warm up as her horse, Donner, is very noise sensitive and the crowd noise was electric. I cannot believe how incredibly Lynn rode in the ring to not only keep Donner composed but to ride accurate, obedient test. You could use the phrase, “poetry in motion” to describe Hanni and Michael’s test. It was beautiful. I think it helps to be grey, ”I’m just saying…”

Mango and I brought up the rear. Our warm-up started off great and then part way through, I started to lose his head a little. I made some adjustments and he went in the ring and was stellar. This was the best test we have had in our short time together although the judges didn’t quite agree and scored us quite a bit higher than any of us were expecting. Regardless of the score, the performance was right on par with our progression.

Cross Country:

The course was designed by John Williams who had a very tough task in designing a two star course from scratch with limited time and materials for a wide array of competency among the competitors. None of us envied his position; however, he completed the task successfully, nonetheless. The logistics of getting horses to the venue, Santa Sofia, which was different than that of dressage and stadium; turned out to be much better than expected. The horses arrived in trailers, one per team, on time and in good condition. The day started off to a great start!

Buck went our first and had a flawless round to set the tone of the day. He made everything look easy and the mare came in full of running. That same performance seemed to be the case with all of our riders. Hannah and Lynn went out and also made it look very easy both coming in with time to spare and horse to spare. Michael followed those two and made the course look like a hunter round, which is not something normally said about a cross-country round. I was anchor rider, which has intrinsic honor, but because everyone had gone so well, all I could think was, “you got this, but you better be smart.” We had a fantastic trip around finishing the clean sweep of five double clear rounds.

Stadium Jumping:

We began Sunday morning with the jog, on Mexican time, at ten o’clock. All the horses from the USA jogged great leaving us all ready to jump high. The course was set by the time the jog was over so we got into full dress to go walk the course. I put on my pinque coat for the first time and looked in the mirror. The site nearly took my breath away. “This is real,” I thought. The course flowed really well. We had five rails in hand going into show jumping but we have such strong jumping horses and good riders that, if everyone rode as they normally did, we wouldn’t need the cushion.

We were right! Everyone on the team jumped clean and finished on their dressage score. All five members of the team finished on their dressage score, which is the first time that has ever happened in the history of championships. Each of us really put out our personal best and I have to attribute it to us riding for something greater than ourselves; it was for the team. Once Michael, our last rider, jumped the final flawless round of the group, the joy overwhelmed all of us. We won the GOLD!!! I think I was in a slight state of shock for a bit because Steve Teachman said to me, “this is huge! You should be dancing or jumping around or something.” He was right but I think I was a little numb for the first few minutes while the enormity of the situation soaked in.

The medal ceremony was so special! The feeling is hard to put into words but when the flag was raised while the National Anthem played; I was overwhelmed with emotion. To think back on the whole journey and all the people involved is incredible. I am so grateful to all the people who text and emailed their support while I was in Mexico. I am so appreciative to Dayna, my parents, and Ryan who made the trek down to support me in person and had an adventure of their very own. And Dayna for always being just an earshot away. The grooms worked so well as a unit this week, which is very important, they really are a team within themselves taking care of basically everything. I know all the riders, including myself, are so appreciative of all the grooms’ hard work and we couldn’t do it without them.

I arrived home today and quickly realized that it is time to go back to reality. This whole trip has been a dream come true and I often find I have to pinch myself to make sure this is really happening. The magnitude of what it means to compete for your country is second to none. The shield on your chest and the red coat on your back has great significance and each time I put it on, I will wear that honor proudly. Equally significant is the new family/friends I found in my teammates, grooms, and support staff. To each his/her very own and embraces his/her role on the team making us all work cohesively thus yielding success. Go USA!!!