United States Eventing Association

The Young and Future Event Horse article series is being provided through a partnership between Mythic Landing Enterprises, LLC., and the USEA.

Lynn Symansky is a well-known upper level event rider and trainer based out of Handlen Farm nestled in the heart of Middleburg, Virginia. Symansky holds many accolades as she is a successful United States Equestrian Team member and CCI4* rider. With over 27 years of experience as a competitor, trainer and coach, Symansky has achieved numerous accomplishments throughout the Young Event Horse (YEH) program, including her most recent win at the 2015 Young Event Horse 5-year-old Championships with one of her newer mounts, SpectraVET Cohiba.

Cohiba didn’t even arrive at Symansky’s farm until late winter last year, which goes to show how far she has come in just a few months. Symansky explains, “I bought her off of a video that I had seen of her; I never even sat on her. My good friend, Hannah Sue Burnett was on a horse-shopping trip in Germany at the time and thought she would be a good one for me. She seemed like a nice type and had done a few jumper shows but hadn’t done any Events yet. She’s still relatively green to the sport but she has such a great brain and is super rideable.”

Symansky began competing Cohiba in July and started their partnership off on a high-note as the pair won the Young Event Horse 5-year-old division at the Maryland Horse Trials. With only having competed in two other Novice Horse Trials before the championships, Symansky made sure to prepare Cohiba at home so she would be ready to take on the challenge. “I made sure to ask her some Training and Preliminary questions so that she was ready. I didn’t want to do too much though, she’s still young and I didn’t want her to feel over-faced.” Symansky continues, “The great part about this division is that it’s okay to have mistakes and green moments here and there. You won’t be penalized because the judges are looking at the overall picture. For the rider, you can really show off your horse instead of trying to get the possible score like you would at a regular horse trials.”

At the Championships, riders weren’t allowed to have a ring familiarization period but were permitted to walk around the jump course prior to the competition. “Even though we didn’t get to have a ring familiarization period, Cohiba handled the atmosphere well. It’s really nice to be able to do your dressage test in a standard arena because it’s a bit harder to show off their gaits in a small arena. She’s definitely an internalizer and can get nervous so I try channel that energy in a positive manner,” Symansky describes.

Symansky went on to explain that Cohiba was absolutely amazing around the jumping course. “The great part about this division is that I was able to give her a tour of the course and walk in and out of the water prior to competing. The purpose of this program is not to test the horses but rather to show them off to evaluate their potential and future in this sport. Cohiba handled everything in stride over a fairly technical course so I was super proud.

Symansky and Cohiba went on to win the Novice Championship division at the Virginia Horse Trials to close out their fall season later that month. Cohiba got a well-deserved mini vacation before spending the rest of November and December hacking out. Symansky plans to begin competing her at Training-level in Florida this winter but mentions that she’s very careful with the ones that take to Eventing quickly and won’t rush her training

To learn more about Lynn Symansky and her program, please visit http://www.symanskyequestrian.com/.