Hallo!
I’ll try to
summarize what the past few months have entailed for me and the life of an
almost-college-grad with zero desire to join the corporate workforce. In
December I realized that yes, I was actually graduating in the near future and
after a summer attempting to intern in fashion in NYC I found that I realllyyy
disliked most jobs associated with my major. Month’s prior to this realization I
had been lucky enough to delve back into horses and remind myself of the
challenges, frustrations, yet amazing rewards that come with the life of an
eventer.
I began
looking to get back into horses and knew this was the time to jump in head-first
if I wanted to really commit to this career. I also knew that an experience
competing and riding abroad can be just as valuable as a masters or PHD for the
scholarly inclined, so since my babies have a couple years until saddles are on
their backs the timing was too perfect. In December I flew to England for a
month to visit and lined up a couple interviews. I flew to Germany and met with
Bettina Hoy who had offered me to train under her once I acquired some horses,
until then she suggested I work out of Dirk Schrade’s yard since she has
limited horses and he has a surplus as well as nice young stock for sale. To
say this is an opportunity that I couldn’t turn down wouldn’t even begin to
describe it. The past 6 months have been an anticipation of something I’ve
wanted ever since I immersed myself into the world of eventing at the age of
13. So, on Friday I boarded a plane in Mobile, Alabama with an obscene amount
of luggage and a short 12 hours later was landing in Dusseldorf, Germany and it
still doesn’t seem real.
Upon
landing I received a message from Dirk’s head girl that she wasn’t able to pick
me up as she was competing but someone would meet me. After finding my bags a
text from the amazingly friendly Daiki let me know to look for “the Japanese
guy in beige riding pants, there shouldn’t be too many of us”, I told him to
look for the obvious American girl with too much luggage, this made finding
each other the most simple task of the day. I anticipated some time to settle
down after the flight and organize my new life, nope. I got about 10minutes to
change and then, less than 30minutes after arriving at the farm and a quick conversation
with Dirk I was on a horse, clearly the Germans have never heard of jet lag.
Dirk came and watched me ride which is nerve-wracking alone but when you
haven’t been able to ride in almost a month and haven’t had a proper lesson in
who knows how long you start questioning if you’re even posting on the right diagonal.
Thankfully I was, so I got a few quick instructions of how to work the horse
and he had to go but to just keep going but the next horses needed to be worked
a bit harder, “you know what to do”. Would it have been appropriate to tell him
that actually, I don’t? Somehow I managed to stay awake and on top of the
horses as they were pointed out for me to sit on one after another.
Each day
has ended with me in awe of my good fortune to be here and learning so much
each day and I try to think of what I’ve done to deserve this. This has also
been an exciting week for my cousin, who was selected to participate in a week
long horsemanship and riding clinic with Anne Kursinski. My cousin, Annie, is a
talented junior jumper with a mare she will one day let me take cross-country
;)… I have been talking with Annie and to say she’s been working her end off
all week would not do it justice, she told me she was out at midnight feather
dusting her horse’s stall and all I can tell her is that I promise it’s worth
it. And maybe I laugh at her just a bit… The reason it is all worth it, I would
like to think, is because detail oriented fundamentals like that are part of
the reason I’m able to be here in Germany. Because there are plenty of good
riders out there, several people can get on a horse and produce a good test or
jumping round, but it’s always that little extra that will secure the win. It’s
the little extra that is going to catch peoples eye and make them recognize you
as a competitor and a horseperson. I don’t believe it’s my riding that has been
the sole reason I’ve been lucky enough to ride talented horses or had wonderful
working opportunities. I really think it’s because I can ride decently (enough…)
but also being able to work just as hard in the barn as in the saddle and also
always being open to learning, no horse is ever fully trained and no ride is
ever perfect. Being able to push just as hard in the barn and in the ring is
what earns respect and makes people want to invest in your equestrian career,
and after all, it takes a village in this sport.
We all are
involved with this sport one way or another because we love horses. As an
aspiring professional I hope that my horse care will be equally as respected as
my riding and training. So maybe that’s why all the sleepless nights and hours
spent feather dusting, or sweeping, or shining tack are worth it. Because at
the end of the day, we are only actually riding at a show for maybe a couple hours
(unless your Buck Davidson) but you aren’t just twiddling your thumbs the next.
So here’s to long nights, early mornings, and not wanting it any other way.
Auf Wiedersehen!
