United States Eventing Association

Allison Springer has always known that No May Moon was a special horse, but she didn’t quite expect the 2024 season they ended up having. With a big win in the MARS Bromont CCI4*-L (Quebec, Canada), a third-place finish at the Morven Park CCI4*-L (Leesburg, Virginia), and several top 5 placings at the Advanced level, “Mayzie” earned the 2024 Standlee USEA Horse of the Year award, as well as the Bates USEA Mare of the Year award. She also topped the 2024 Advanced Horse of the Year standings.

Bribery can get you far, but for young Allison Springer, it led to a lifetime of horse-crazy pursuits at the highest level of the eventing sport. Raised in the outskirts of Chicago in Barrington, Illinois, Allison and her city-grown parents were enjoying their new life in the country when she had the opportunity to ride a neighbor’s pony one day after school—and, as she describes it, “that’s how the disease begins for a little girl.”

Allison Springer and No May Moon may have taken the eventing world by storm with their recent victory at the MARS Bromont CCI4*-L (Quebec, Canada), but the journey began with a dream decades ago. Owned and bred by longtime eventing supporter, Nancy Hamill Winter, the 10-year-old Connemara Sport Horse mare had only just stepped up to the Advanced level this spring.

Allison Springer has been a constant presence on the international eventing circuit for decades, as a rider, trainer, coach and trailblazer. She was the first competitor to don an approved riding helmet instead of a top hat in the dressage phase of an eventing competition at the Kentucky Three-Day Event. She has multiple CCI4*-S wins to her credit, but until today, she had yet to add CCI4*-L winner to her resume.