United States Eventing Association

Worth the Trust: Where Are They Now? Adult Amateur Edition

There are just two weeks left until applications are due for the 2018 Worth the Trust Educational and Sports Psychology Scholarships. Past recipients of the Educational Scholarship have used the funds to further their riding education and expand their opportunities to work with instructors in lessons and clinics.

We’ve collected stories from past recipients about their experiences since they received the scholarship and how it affected their riding. Before you fill out your application, take some time to read their stories! Stay tuned for the Young Adult edition, coming next week.

Lorraine Barrows, 2014 Worth the Trust Adult Amateur recipient

“[2017] is my first year back to competing since the year [I received the Worth the Trust Educational Scholarship]. The horse I was riding that year has had some lameness issues. My young horse, Ned, has just started Beginner Novice and is doing well.

A portion of the scholarship was used for lessons on Ned during his first year under saddle. Establishing a strong foundation and traveling to lessons and other educational opportunities in his early years has helped Ned accept this new and exciting world of competition. The scholarship was instrumental for travel and lessons and I am very grateful to have had the opportunity.”

Click here to read Lorraine Barrows' winning essay.

Carla VanEffen, 2013 Worth the Trust Adult Amateur recipient

2013 Worth the Trust Adult Amateur Scholarship recipient, Carla VanEffen. USEA/Leslie Threlkeld Photo.

“The Worth the Trust Educational Scholarship changed my life! I achieved competing with my horse, Remastered, at the Preliminary level and have moved to Julie Richards barn in Newnan. The scholarship money allowed me to finally take a lesson with Julie and consequently my daughter and I moved to her barn.

I sold my beloved Remastered to an upcoming young rider to support her dreams, and I am currently riding a friend’s 5-year-old mare and have begun to compete her at the Chattahoochee Hills schooling shows, were we volunteer in exchange for vouchers to use toward the cost.”

Rohena Armstrong, 2009 Worth the Trust Adult Amateur recipient

Rohen Armstrong, recipient of the 2009 Worth the Trust Adult Amateur Scholarship. WNC Photography Photo.

“I divided [the Worth the Trust Educational Scholarship funds] between two trainers, Lellie Ward in Aiken and Jennifer Ohmes in Alabama. [Our farm is] 2.5 hours from Aiken, near Charleston, and at that time, we only had two horses. I took both with me to Aiken to Lellie Ward’s [Paradise Farm], and then I left one horse with her and took one horse to Alabama, and ended up competing at River Glen as my final outing for that summer. I was able to take two or three weeks off [from my job on our farm.] I hadn’t competed for three years at that point, and [the Scholarship] got me back into competing. I try to compete at least four of five times a year now . . . I try to volunteer and I try to do two or three clinics a year.

I had competed through Training level with my first event horse. Jennifer was great. She is ICP [certified] and [so is Lellie]. [Lellie] at Paradise Farm in Aiken, [which is] an incredibly facility. She’s kind of a one-man show trying to keep all her balls in the air. She has a lot to offer her students. Jennifer was having a week-long camp that ended up at River Glen, that’s why I went with her. It’s seldom that I get to have a coach with me at the event. The particular horse that I took had incredible separation anxiety, and she really was a game-changer with him as far as simple things like bridging my reins, riding in a rhythm. My stadium round on him was awesome just from spending two or three days with her. During that time I also took my first Lucinda Green clinic at Lellie’s. Shout out to the ICPs I do think that that creates some really good instruction.”

I love [working with green horses]. I love to introduce horses to cross-country, I think it can be so much fun. For me the feeling that you have when you come off cross-country, you can’t explain it to anyone else. If it’s been successful, the strength of your partnership, the gratitude you have for your horse when it happens, no other sport can do that.

[Our farm is] on 21 acres with cross-country schooling and I would love to do a grassroots schooling show but it hasn’t quite come to fruition . . . We have a really good environment to do Novice and below. I’d just really love to [create some educational opportunities on our property.]”

The 2018 Worth the Trust Educational and Sports Psychology Scholarships

The Worth the Trust Educational Scholarships, one for Adult Amateurs and one for Young Adults, aim to reward up-and-coming amateur eventers by helping to fund training opportunities like clinics, working student positions and private or group instruction. The $3,000 Amateur Young Adult Scholarship is available for riders aged 16-25, while the $2,000 Adult Amateur Scholarship is available for eventers 26 and up.

The Worth the Trust Sports Psychology Scholarships are new for 2018 and were created to provide event riders with the opportunity to work with a qualified sports psychologist/therapist to develop insight and desire to identify and implement more productive attitudes and behaviors in a process that can illuminate and enhance the eventer both as a person and as a rider. The Scholarships include a $500 fund to be awarded annually to Adult Amateur aged 26 and up and a $700 fun to be awarded annually to a Young Adult Amateur aged 16-25.

The Worth the Trust Educational and Sports Psychology Scholarship will be awarded at the 2017 USEA Annual Meeting and Convention, December 5-10, 2017 in Long Beach, Calif. The deadline for applications for the scholarships for Young Adults and Adult Amateurs is October 2, 2017.

Educational Scholarship Applications: Young Adult Amateur | Adult Amateur

Sports Psychology Scholarship Applications: Young Adult Amateur | Adult Amateur

About the Worth the Trust Scholarship

Now in its 17th year, the Worth the Trust Scholarship continues to provide financial assistance for young adult amateurs and adult amateurs for the purpose of pursuing continued education in eventing. This scholarship is provided by Joan Iversen Goswell in honor of her horse, Worth the Trust, a 15.3 hand Thoroughbred gelding (Wind and Wuthering x Stop Over Station), who competed successfully for many years, including winning the Kentucky Three-Day Event in 1997 with Karen O'Connor.

Worth the Trust and Karen O'Connor at the 1997 Kentucky Three-Day Event. USEA Archives Photo.