United States Eventing Association

USEA Announces Mary King as 2012 Annual Meeting Keynote Speaker

The USEA is delighted to announce that Mary King will be the Keynote speaker at this year’s Annual Meeting which is scheduled for December 5-9 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, CO. Mary is an Eventing Legend and the USEA is excited that she has agreed to share her experiences with our members.

Mary began riding at the age of six and first watched the Badminton Horse Trials at age 11 when she decided then and there that she wanted to be a three-day event rider. After school Mary went to work for Sheila Wilcox and then converted a couple of cow sheds into horse stalls and gave lessons and bought and sold horses. While Mary was starting out in the horse business she performed a variety of odd jobs to supplement her income including cleaning houses, cooking, and delivering meat for the local butcher.

Mary competed at her first Badminton in 1985 and finished in seventh place. She then won Badminton in 1992 aboard King William and again in 2000 with Star Appeal. In 2001 Mary broke her neck in a fall, but bounced back within a year. Mary has been a member of six gold medal teams at the World Equestrian Games and European Championships, and has been British Champion four times. She has also represented Britain at six Olympic Games – most recently as a part of the Silver Medal team in London where she finished fifth individually riding Imperial Cavalier.

In addition to her own wildly successful eventing career, Mary has had a successful breeding program and several of her homebreds have competed at the upper levels with both herself and other eventers.

Mary married David King in 1995 and they have two children, Freddie and Emily. Emily is a successful eventer in her own right and represented Great Britain at the Junior European Championships in 2011 and 2012.

Mary will share with us how she manages to juggle her responsibilities to her family, her horses, her business and still keep hearth and home together. She is participating in seminars both Friday and Saturday and speaking during the Annual Meeting on Saturday afternoon, December 8 at 12:30 PM. If you are interested in attending the Annual Meeting and Convention registration opens October 1 on https://services.useventing.com or by downloading the registration form from http://useventing.com/programs/convention.