United States Eventing Association

Wilton Fair Fund Recipient Jenny Caras Steps Up with Sommersby to Win Burgham CCI3*-S

American rider Jenny Caras is holding her own on British soil. On July 24, she and Sommersby, who she owns with Jerry Hollis, won the Hambro Sport Horses CCI3*-S at Burgham Horse Trials in Northumberland, England. The pair finished on their dressage score of 28.2, their best finishing score yet. It hasn’t always been easy for this pair, but Caras feels as though Sommersby really stepped up to the plate.

“He’s turning into a little professional in the arena,” Caras said. “We were in second after dressage, and I was quite happy with that. I knew that the ground was fairly good, so I thought, let’s go in, show jump, and see. He’s a good jumper; he had a good clear round, and then the ground on the cross-country was as good as it's ever gonna get. I didn't want to rush him off his feet, but I thought, let’s just keep moving and be efficient. And let's see if we can get this because if we’re close to the time, the game is over. I was just really excited. He feels great. I couldn't be happier with him.”

Sommersby had been competing at the CCI4* level for the last several years and will be stepping back up later on this summer. Burgham was the perfect opportunity to get in a good schooling round for the 12-year-old Mecklenburg gelding (Sergeant Pepper x D’Mademoiselle).

“Nothing was tricky, but all the questions were good,” said Caras, 28. “The questions were definitely three-star questions, but you could quite easily just beef them up a little bit more, and then they'd be a four-star question.”

Burgham was particularly useful for Caras and Sommersby as they’re planning to run in the CCI4*-S at the NAF Five Star International Hartpury Horse Trials (Gloucestershire, England) on Aug. 7-11.

According to Caras, Burgham was the perfect steppingstone as they move back up to the Advanced level after a short vacation following the FEI Eventing Nations Cup Ireland CCIO4*-NC-S at the Millstreet International Horse Trials in the spring. “[Hartpury] will just be a bit bigger and a bit harder and a bit more technical. So, it was good to have some of those questions on an easier level,” she said.

Developing a working relationship with Sommersby hasn’t been particularly easy for Caras. While the gelding is talented, he may also be best described as a bit quirky, a fact that Caras doesn’t shy away from. “He had a reputation for being a little bit naughty when we got him,” Caras said. “I just thought, well he’s a nice horse. Let’s just see if we can get him on our side and see what we can do. Then it turned out, he’s not naughty at all. He’s just a little bit of a spooky horse. He can be a little bit insecure.”

In order to build Sommersby’s confidence, Caras would treat his spooks as though they were nothing more than a small blip in their rides. “If he spooks at something you just give him a pat,” Caras said. “Tell him it's OK. Then he started to take that in, and he really started to enjoy his job. And I still feel that coming through even this many years later. For example, going into the dressage arena at Burgham, there was a lot of atmosphere. He was right by the trade tents, and there was everything for him to spook at, and you could feel him almost look at it, think about it, and then just decide, ‘No, I'm working now.’ ”

It may appear to be a small win to the casual viewer, but riders who have worked with spooky horses know just how big of a victory it is to feel these horses think first and react second. Caras says that despite the ups and downs they’ve faced in the past, her partnership with Sommersby is stronger than ever.

“I think we're on the right side of all that now, and he really is wanting to do his job,” she said. “It’s just about making sure that he's confident and feeling good about himself. Once that’s done, then it's all actually very, very easy for us. It’s all about reminding myself to keep riding the horse I have in the moment, not the horse he used to be.”

While Caras has traveled to the United Kingdom a few times before, this is shaping up to be her longest trip yet. She originally came over for the U.S. Eventing European Development Tour, which was funded by the Karen E. Stives Grant. Her fellow teammates included Emily Hamel, Caroline Pamukcu, Alyssa Phillips, and Cassie Sanger. Under the tutelage of Chef d’Equipe Leslie Law, the team competed in the FEI Eventing Nations Cup Ireland CCIO4*-NC-S at the Millstreet International Horse Trials, finishing in second place.

While her teammates went home, Caras stayed behind thanks to a grant from the Wilton Fair Fund. Established by David and Cheryl Lenaburg in 2017, the Wilton Fair Fund offers up to $100,000 in grants to riders under 29 years old who have not yet competed on a senior team.

Now that Millstreet has passed and they’re aiming for Hartpury next, Caras is taking her time to find the right program for herself and Sommersby. “The first two months that we were here, we were with all the other Americans. We traveled around with Leslie Law, and then after we did the Millstreet Nations Cup and Sommersby wasn't doing a CCI4* this spring, I gave him a little break. Now he’s back into work.”

While Sommersby was on break, Caras took advantage of the extra time to get to know the local professionals. “I've just been going to every event that I can to watch all the top professionals,” Caras said. “I didn’t want to jump into a program that I didn’t know because he is a little bit of a special horse. I wasn't sure if he would fit into everyone's program. So, I’m just watching everybody right now, and I’m piecing together people that I think can help Sommersby progress along the way.”

Caras says that her hesitancy to dive right into an unfamiliar program is out of an abundance of caution for Sommersby’s physical and mental health. “I didn't want to come over here and completely change everything that we have been doing because I think that's the quickest way to injure a horse,” Caras said. “If they're used to one program, and then all of a sudden you change everything, then I think you're risking an injury. I hope to be overseas for a while, so I just want to make sure that we get into the right place and the right routine.”

In the meantime, she’s still learning new ways to help her horse and her career. “I've already learned a ton just by watching everybody and being around all the top riders all the time, and seeing how they do things,” she said. “I'm very lucky that I'm quite close with a couple of riders that I can learn from. This opportunity to be over here and be picking the brains of the best riders in the world and people that have multiple five-star horses every year—it's just an unbelievable experience, and I feel very, very fortunate and lucky to have the grant to help make it possible.”

To any young rider who would like to follow in her footsteps, Caras advises a cautious approach. “I think you have to be ready for it. I've sort of [gotten established in the U.K.] in stages over my career,” Caras said. “It was definitely helpful to go home, establish a business, really establish myself as a rider, and get quite confident in what I'm doing, and then now I feel quite comfortable [being alone in a different country].

“When you’re a young rider, you need a support system, right?” she continued. “But when you're in a different country, and you don't know that many people, it can be quite daunting. So, I think it’s very important to be with people that can support and help you. People really have to be ready for it when they leave the United States. So, do your homework before you come, but it's definitely worth being here.”

Based on her experience, she would also recommend working towards earning a grant, like the Wilton Fair Grant. Caras says that having a grant helped her to get established in a new country, as well as make it possible for her to seek new learning opportunities. “When you're at home, you've got your truck and trailer, you've got your car, you've got your house, you're all sorted. But then when you come to a different country, it's quite a lot to get sorted to be stable and able to perform well and do your job well. It really wouldn't be possible without the Wilton Fair Grant. I am just so grateful that they believed in me enough, and I was the recipient.”

To learn more about 2024 available grants through the USEA Foundation, please visit https://useafoundation.org/

About the USEA Foundation

The fundamental mission of the USEA Foundation is to protect and preserve the sport of eventing for future generations and to provide support for the core educational, safety, and equine welfare programs of the USEA. In addition, the Foundation administers educational grants for riders with the intent of preparing them to reach their goals. Learn more about the USEA Foundation at www.useafoundation.org.