United States Eventing Association

As a member of the United States Pony Club (USPC), William Coon has grown up understanding the importance of volunteerism in equestrian sports. This year, he got the chance to go behind the scenes of the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event to volunteer as a recipient of the USPC Ann Haller Media Internship.

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Coon is an H-B Horse Management and C-2 Eventing member of the Ariatti Equestrian Center Pony Club Riding Center in the MidSouth region.

Coon, 16, started getting serious about eventing when he was 10. He’s currently training with Angela Ariatti and is looking forward to a Training level debut this month on his horse Paulank Impish King, or “Wilson.”

In the past, he’s volunteered at Kentucky with Pony Club as a crossing guard, but was excited to receive the scholarship, which honors the late Ann Haller, who was an eventing official, press officer, coach, and lifelong Pony Club supporter, which enabled him to help the media team at the event.

“I event in Area VIII and have gone to the [Kentucky] Horse Park and done a bunch of shows, and I've seen the five-star, but this was my first time through the internship that I was able to really see the back side of it all,” he said.

“[The event is] a lot of fun,” he added. “It really shows how big the sport can go because at the local shows, if you're going cross country, and you’re jumping your fences, but you don't see how big and known the sport is and how many people come to watch and the level you can go. It's really fun to watch, and it's cool.”

Coon wrote an essay for the grant application explaining what he hoped to get out of the internship. During the event, he was able to sit in on press conferences and assist in shuttling riders and members of the media back to the media center. “You help the media team—it’s a real internship job. You do what they tell you to do; you help out,” he said. “I was able to get the riders from after their rounds and bring them over to the media people to interview them and ask them questions. It was a lot of fun. I got to talk to a bunch of them and get to know them a little bit and hear how their rides were from their perspective.”

One of the most exciting moments for Coon was when he got to meet five-time Kentucky winner Michael Jung.

“I got to talk to him about how his round went,” he said. “He's a great rider, and I just got to see how he handles things, not only while riding, but on the ground. He's very quiet, and he has a partnership with his horses that you can tell. When you look at him, that's the ideal way of riding, and that's like the goal everyone tries to get to.”

Coon is a member of the MidSouth Eventing and Dressage Association and also volunteers at local shows as a jump judge

He says it’s important for younger people to get involved as volunteers in the future of their sport.

“In this sport, there's a lot more you need to achieve it,” he said. “You’ve got to be able to have people to judge the jumps, help build the courses, take down the courses. Without volunteering, it would be very difficult to host events and continue the sport.

“I think it's important for people my age to volunteer because it helps them understand not only what it takes to allow them to go and show at the at shows, but what else is needed from the community as a whole to be able to do all events, because if you're able to get people to volunteer at the upper levels but not at the lower levels, how will it be continued going forward?” he added.

About the USEA Volunteer Incentive Program

Volunteers are the lifeblood of our sport—the unsung heroes, and the people who make it possible to keep eventing alive. In efforts to recognize the dedication, commitment, and hard work that volunteers put into eventing, the USEA formed the Volunteer Incentive Program (VIP) in 2015. In 2017, an online management portal was designed for volunteers, organizers, and volunteer coordinators at EventingVolunteers.com, which is also available as an app for iOS and Android.

Volunteer incentives include national and area recognition, year-end awards, a top-10 USEA Volunteer leaderboard, and a Volunteer of the Year award which is given to the volunteer who accumulates the most volunteer hours on EventingVolunteers.com at recognized events throughout the USEA competition year. Click here to learn more about the USEA Volunteer Incentive Program.

The USEA would like to thank Horse Illustrated for their support of the Volunteer Incentive Program.