United States Eventing Association

If you’re at The Event at Rebecca Farm (Kalispell, Montana) this week, you may have noticed a little handwritten sign pasted on the door of some of the porta potties that displayed 10-year-old Elena McRae’s tack cleaning service.

“I’m saving up for Breyerfest!” shared the young eventer who is accompanying her mom, Dr. Crystal McRae, this week as she competes in the Beginner Novice division at Rebecca Farm. “We’ve worked it all out. My mom is going to pay for our hotel, rental car, and food, and I am going to pay for our flights, tickets, and all of my Breyers!”

Elena is no stranger to tagging along with mom. She's been along for the ride every step of the way since Crystal started eventing in 2022.

"Eventing was just something that I always wanted to do,” Crystal shared. “I grew up in Southern California, right next to Galway Downs and would always see the cross-country jumps. It was one of those things where I had the time, but I didn't have the money.”

After graduating from veterinary school, Crystal pursued a career in equine medicine and began looking for jobs around the country. After doing some research and finding a few eventing trainers in the area, she settled on the state of Washington where she now practices at Solas Equine Veterinary in Gig Harbor.

It's no surprise that Elena caught the eventing bug herself. She sat on her first horse at the age of 2, started taking lessons at Anni Grandia-Dodson's Grand Farms in Vaughn, Washington, when she was 4, and after years of helping mom out, she decided she wanted to give the sport a try.

"Anni has been guiding Elena on her journey with horses every step of the way," reflected Crystal. "She has provided incredible mentorship and guidance and she teaches in a very calm, assertive way that lays out wonderful leadership for the children, while also making it a lot of fun around her barn. She helps them grow and develop in a way where they pay attention to the little details, especially when taking care of their horses and ponies, and I am incredibly grateful to her for guiding my child and being a big part of her development."

Elena leased her first pony, Farrah, a few years ago, but when it came time to tackle the Starter level, she partnered with the 13.2-hand Connemara gelding RockOTaco.

“I wanted to start eventing him, so we trained him, and Anni rode him for a summer, and then I took him to Spokane Sporthorse in the fall, and we did really good in the dressage; I think we got a 28.8 dressage score, but the next day we had cross-country, and it was good, but the only fences he didn’t refuse were fences 6, 4, and 8!”

But Elena didn’t let that get her down. She’s kept at it with "Rocky," and they even brought home a third place at the Grasshopper level at Equestrians Institute (Kenmore, Washington).

“We’ve been doing a bunch of lessons and training him,” Elena shared. But when Crystal’s horse received an untimely injury this year, it was time for Rocky to step in and save the day.

“I really wanted to come to Montana,” Elena continued. “All my friends were coming, and I knew I was going to be bored at home and have to do my studies, and I hate math, so I told my mom she should ride Rocky! She said, ‘No way,’ but my trainer Anni said, ‘Sure let’s do it!' ”

Elena is hoping her mom will give Rocky a good confidence-building ride around Rebecca’s scenic Beginner Novice track to better prepare him for life as an event horse.

“She’s much more brave than I am,” Elena admitted. “She will kick him forward and tell him that he’s not going to refuse, so this will be a good experience for him!”

And while mom competes, Elena is working towards her goal of saving up $2,000 to go towards Breyerfest. She started her little business endeavor her second year traveling to horse shows with her mom.

“The first time I came to Rebecca with my mom, it was the first 10-day long horse show I’ve ever been too. Normally I would hang out and watch my mom ride, but I wasn’t earning any money then so when I started asking my mom for her credit card to go to the shops, she suggested I start cleaning tack or stalls for people to make money. So the next year, I took one of my mom’s business cards, and I wrote down Elena McRae’s tack cleaning service and all the tack I would clean and the prices on it, and I taped them up!”

What started as a handful of dollars has grown into a legitimate little business. This week alone, Elena had already earned more than $150 in just the first two days at Rebecca Farm. She enjoys the work, but running her own business has required her to pick up a whole new set of skills that most 10-year-olds don’t get the chance to experience.

“I have a phone, but my parents won't let me have cell phone service until I am 13, so my mom’s phone number is on the card, and they call or text her, and she tells me their barn, stall number and their name, and I bike over there and look at what they want me to do. Then I find out what time their ride times are, and I write everything down in my notes app in my phone, and I write down what day and time I am going to go clean their tack or stall. It’s really fun!”

She even offers stall stripping, which was a lucrative business endeavor at a local venue that requires competitors to strip their own stall before leaving the property or pay a $50 fee.

“So I advertised that I would do it for $20, and I made $120 that weekend! My arms hurt after that. I was exhausted after riding two dressage tests, caring for a pony, and stripping all the stall— plus stripping my mom's and mine for free.”

Elena splits all the money she makes with part of her proceeds going into her bank account to save up for Breyerfest, while the other part is earmarked for buying new Breyers when she is at horse shows.

For Crystal, it has been so rewarding seeing her daughter work so hard towards a goal.

“It's fun to see Elena work through putting together a schedule and problem solving. I think it's great developmentally," she said. "Because she is homeschooled, we have some free time during the year where she’s had that mental space to think about this business and put together her little flyers and come up with new ideas. So to see it come together for her and all that hard work paying off is really special.”

But the support of the eventing community has been just as special, she noted. “I love the support that the community is giving her because 50% of people that contact her are clients or people that I've had a lot of interaction with, and then 50% are just unknown people. I love that they see a kid has put that sign up there, and that they think, ‘I'm gonna give this child an opportunity.’ ”