United States Eventing Association

USEA Member Story #29

This is the 29th entry in the USEA’s Member Story Series. Help us reach our goal of over 300 stories – email your story to Leslie.

Hi, my name is Gretchen Koenen. At the young age of two, my mom took me out to a trail ride boarding facility, and to this day she tells the story of how I would throw a fit when we would leave the barn. My mom knew that my love for horses had just begun. Once I was three, my mom plopped me on a dead-broke Shetland pony named Buster. I was led around by Buster for a few years. Once I turned six, I went to a children’s riding school. I rode many different horses there and learned all the basics. However, I was a thrill seeking child and wanted to jump. The horses at the learner’s barn couldn’t jump due to their age, so I moved to a bigger barn where I could learn to jump.

I moved to an Eventing barn and learned how to jump on an amazing Arabian pony named Pentrick. I was training with an awesome trainer, Deborah Ravinsky. Shortly after, I joined Pony Club and competed in my first schooling show at the age of six. I began to then rate up through the Pony Club levels and achieved my D1, D2, and D3 ratings on Pentrick. The day of my D3 rating was a day that I will never forget; I fell off and failed my rating. Through that, I met the greatest trainer in the world, Ann Byron. It is sometimes funny how things work.

A few weeks later, I re-tested that section of the rating and Ann Byron passed me this time. At this point, I was starting to outgrow Pentrick in ability. I began training with Ann in the fall of 2006, yes; she is the examiner that failed me. Ann and my parents discussed my goals and we decided that it was time to buy me a pony that I could learn the ropes of Eventing with.

I was at a Dressage rally with Pentrick when we came across an experience that would change my life forever. My mom was talking to another mom about looking for a new pony when a lady walked up and said “I think I have the perfect pony.” She was selling her 14.1, 13-year-old Quarter Pony mare named Happy. My mom grabbed a flyer from her and we read it on the way home. She didn’t have a show name for Eventing so my mom and I experimented and came up with a name, “Happy She’s Mine.” We were just a little ahead of ourselves! A week later, I got a call saying that the girl who took care of Happy was interested in buying her! However, this girl had to wait for another two weeks until her dad got back from his trip to Europe. Needless to say, we figured we would never hear back. We looked at five other ponies and none of them were a fit. Just when we were starting to become frantic, we got a call. That girl’s dad came back from Europe, and he wasn’t going to buy her the pony. A week later, I walked into their barn and laid eyes on the prettiest pony I had ever seen. She was perfect. Two weeks later, we vetted her and on Thanksgiving Day of 2006, my parents had purchased my first pony. Happy took me to my first event at Beginner Novice level, and we won. That year she earned third placed pony of the year for Area VI. With Happy, I have fallen off countless times, cried from sadness, but most importantly cried out of joy. Happy is my best friend and has been there for me through the hardest and best of times.

In 2008, Happy popped an abscess. We thought it would be a typical abscess and that she would be back before we know it. The abscess healed, or so we had thought, and I brought her back to work. A week after she was put back to work, she trotted out dead lame. The vet came out immediately and we took x-rays. The x-rays came back with very bad news and by bad, I mean bad. The x ray showed a severally dramatic change in the angle of her bone structure of her left front. This meant that the supporting ligaments and tendons gave way, or stretched out. We faced the sad news that Happy Pony’s career as a competition horse was over. Her foot was elevated with a huge wedge pad and supportive shoeing and put on stall rest for two months. After the two months were up, we drove her down south and she got an MRI. The MRI showed a significant improvement in the angle of her foot. This was good news. Happy came home and she was rehabbed slowly over the course of two years and is now my mom’s trail pony. Happy lives at a friend’s house 30 minutes away in a green grassy pasture. I will never forget the great times that I have had with her and she will always be my best friend.

Like I said, Happy’s career was over. In the mean time, I catch rode and helped people exercise their horses. I needed a horse and I came across the perfect opportunity! I leased a former Advanced/3* horse named Roxy, “The Mistress II” for over a year, 2009-2010. She developed my riding and I enjoyed every minute of it! Roxy and I competed in numerous Novice and Training level events together. While I was competing Roxy at an event in September of 2010, my trainer Ann Byron came across a horse of interest. Now this wasn’t just any horse. This horse would be my hopeful young rider’s horse. I was competing Roxy at this time so I was obviously not emotionally prepared to look at a horse. Ann had been keeping her eyes open for some time and she was confident that this would be the perfect match. She saw the potential in Carasi and was hopeful that together we could meet my ambitious goals. After an awesome show with Roxy we decided to go try the mare. I saw her and she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen! She is a seven-year-old Oldenburg mare and the love of my life. I rode her and knew she was the one. As I heard the news that my mare passed her vetting, I was overcome with so many emotions. I was not ready to say goodbye to Roxy, but at the same time I was ready to say hello to a new mare that I could have of my own.

Carasi came home that night and is the love of my life. We have competed at a few Trainings together, and I feel like we are a team. I am overjoyed to say that we are hoping to move up to Preliminary at the next show! I don’t know where I would be without my horses and USEA! Here’s to a fabulous show season! Good luck everyone!

All Photos Courtesy of Gretchen Koenen