This is the ninth entry in the USEA’s Member Story Series. Help us reach our goal of over 300 stories – email your story to Leslie.
I started riding at eight-years-old, on an evil pony that was perfect during the lesson, but invariably dumped me on the way back to the barn. All was forgiven as he won me two blue ribbons at my first ever horse show. I was lucky enough to start riding with Margaret Spencer when I was ten-years-old. Margaret is a consummate horse-person and was incredibly generous, providing me with lessons, horses to ride, and even show clothes. She was a very early member of the USCTA and we eventually set up and ran an event (unrecognized) at her home farm. Riding with Margaret, I was able to ride many different horses across many disciplines, my favorite among them Radar (a QH/Arab/Morgan –we think – cross bought out of a field). I was able to work for Margaret and learn vast amounts from her from ages 10-18.
Then, off to the west coast for college, grad school, a start-up company, more grad school. I rode through most of it, although no eventing. Dressage lessons, jumping lessons, some show jumping, the Stanford team (when I was in grad school the second time), great lessons with Chris Bearden in Martinez and Hunter/Jumper lessons and shows at Spring Down EC in Portola Valley. Then, I took my first faculty job and moved back to Michigan in 1995. The first thing I did was find an eventing barn. I ended up riding with Cathy Henderson and was able to part lease two lovely OTTB mares she had. In 1997, I was off helping a teenager look for a horse, and I fell in love with a dark bay OTTB gelding (who didn’t seem to have a name). I bought him in the summer of 1997, named him On the Beat (aka Tempo) and evented him to the Training level, completing his first Training level event at Margaret Spencer’s farm. In December of 1998, he was sold to Dennis & Cynthia Claramunt for Jim Graham to ride. This started my hanging out a little in the upper level world. Jim was incredibly generous about including me in Tempo’s course walks and plans and Chimene Evans continued to keep in touch when she took over the ride.
I searched for four months after selling Tempo and ended up buying an OTTB from Houston, TX named Gizmo (I gave him the show name Special Device, because while I am a fan of Jockey Club names, I couldn’t deal with Jin’s Mad Money). On Gizmo, I moved up to the Preliminary level, dabbled at Intermediate, and completed two long format CCI One-Stars between 1999 and 2004. During the same time, I had horses with working students’ at Jim Graham’s and at Stuart Black’s and met a ton of very cool eventers in Areas II and III (I was still living in Michigan for much of it).
When I moved to Philadelphia in 2002, once again, I looked for an eventing barn and found Susie Beale close enough to make commuting from center city feasible. In 2004, Gizmo went on to a teenager in Susie’s barn and I moved on to two other horses (an OTTB, To Be Announced, then Keebler (the spotted menace)), did a lot of volunteering in Area II and decided to get my TD license, which I received in 2009. For those of you who don’t know, it takes a village to train a TD and I am incredibly grateful to everyone who helped: Hilda Donahue arranged for me to lease a horse to get my second horse at Preliminary credentials, Roger Haller, Sally Ike, Tremaine Cooper, Gretchen Butts, Cindy Deporter, Loris Henry, Brian Ross, Pat Mansfield, Wayne Quarles, Malcolm Hook, Cyndi Kurth, Marilyn Payne, and Cathy Tucker-Slaterbeck all participated in my training and apprenticing and they and many others wrote letters. At about the same time I officially became a TD, I bought another OTTB (Finn – a Fingerlakes Finest) and moved him to Blue Hill Farm to ride with Missy and Jessica Ransehousen. When Finn decided he didn’t want to be an eventer, I bought a lovely youngster (whom I renamed Meritage, aka Tag) from Sterling Graburn and have been working with him with lots of help from Missy and this winter from Sally Cousins in Aiken. I continue to love eventing and enjoy applying what I learn as a volunteer and as a TD to my riding and competing. Hopefully, in 2011 you will see me out and about with Tag as well as volunteering ringside in Area II and on the cross-country course wherever I am lucky enough to be invited to TD.
Keep up with Seema’s adventures on her blog: http://seema-thefloridachronicles.blogspot.com/
