Five years ago I found myself shopping for an event horse whose strength was dressage. I suspected I’d ease off of jumping as I neared age 60, and could graciously make the down transition to dressage.

I trusted that I’d know when the time had come to join the ranks of ex-eventers who moved on to dressage or driving. After three falls over fences last summer, I wondered if the Universe was giving me its signal. For the first time I remounted with a sense of caution— a strong desire not to come off again.

aving been a gung-ho, fearless jumper who thrived on the adrenalin rush, this was new and unsettling. Instead of flying fearlessly over fences, I found myself moving into my 60’s thinking of ways to make eventing as safe and harmonious as possible. Mortality was making itself felt. My eventing contemporaries had experienced similar sensations. I wondered if we might want to think through our next eventing “chapter” together.

Over several bottles of wine in Penny Leggott’s camper at the October ‘05 Equestrian Institute Horse Trials, together with Leslie Thurston and Todd Trewin, a get-together was planned to explore this matter further. Six weeks later, 10 like-minded, like-aged eventers met at my farm: Penny Leggott, Leslie Thurston, Chris Gianini, Mary Brumder, Maureen Martin, Clo Shapiro, Polly Kranick, Maggie Rickard, Caroline Bombar-Kaplan, myself Susan Miller and Todd Trewin as facilitator. Fran O’Reilly, Mary Decher and Andy Kellogg had wanted to attend but were unable to make it. Our ages ranged from 44 to 67, and averaged 56.

As we shared horse histories, patterns emerged. Getting dumped and/or feeling unsafe was happening with fair regularity. In some cases it signaled a need to change horses; and in others a need to change how the rider rode; for some, deciding not event was a difficult, but necessary choice.

Polly Kranick (57) is riding an off-the-track Thoroughbred that bucked and exploded at Adult Riders Camp, showing his naughty side. “At this point I feel I need stick to clinics and other training sessions until I build a better relationship and trust with this horse.” Polly does not feel the need to compete at this time. At times she feels she should be further along than she is, and said “What’s wrong with me? He’s a lovely jumper and enjoys galloping. It’s in-between the jumps that is the problem; he loses it and gets distracted. The horse has competed well at Training Level and his previous owner was getting ready to move up to Preliminary.”

Polly commended Todd as an instructor who can recognize a rider’s apprehension or sense of being overwhelmed. “I do need to be nudged a bit, but not overwhelmed,” she said. “Todd had me do several jumps in and out of the water to build my confidence and then I was able to do the exercise he’d asked of me earlier. I met one challenge this summer with the assistance of my instructor—that of taking my horse to the beach during low tide for a gallop.”

Leslie Thurston (55) imported an Irish Draft horse who began to stop, especially at Training Level. A series of rider falls scared horse as well as the rider. Leslie had a “voluntary dismount” at the Adult Rider Camp that broke her ankle. She felt discouraged and backtracked to the basics with her trainer, with a goal of just wanting to “ride this horse.” She realizes the horse is athletic (“more so than I am”) but not bold—which translates to a slim margin of error if she is to ride him correctly. Clearly the love of this horse is keeping this partnership going, even if it means not eventing for now.

Caroline Bombar-Kaplan (47) has had multiple eventing mounts. She discovered eventing on a Quarter Horse. She then started to focus on dressage with an instructor who found her a fairly green, 16.3 hand Thoroughbred with whom she learned the sport. (We all remember Friendly, with his distinctive clattering.) Yet Caroline found he was too much horse for her, with his need to treat cross-country as a return to the race track.

Caroline now partners with a 15 year-old Thoroughbred that “requires me to ride correctly and is a much better match.” However, due to a busy work schedule, she finds herself “not fit and not riding enough. I’m knackered!” (We had three Brits among us.) Conditioning issues caused her to drop back to Novice last summer. She acknowledges that she needs to get tighter in the saddle, and hopes doing so will enable her to go back to Training Level this year. Another challenge for Caroline is “my memory, my focus, which caused me to go off course at Whidbey.” She asks, “How do I bring on a younger horse so it’s ready when my current mount needs to retire?”

Maggie Rikard (49) has ridden most of her life, though confesses to never having a lot of confidence. She always wanted to ride Preliminary Level and was lucky to have the right horse for it in Taps, who carried her successfully at this level. Her next horse dumped her at Whidbey, and Todd told her, “You’re too old for this horse!” Maggie admits, “It was blunt, but he was right. Now my goal is just to have fun. I bought a three year-old at auction, perhaps not the smartest thing to do, but it has worked out, and I’m happy riding Beginner Novice. I am competitive, and want to event more— but only on a horse that I enjoy.” Maggie relies on various clinicians rather than a single trainer, always rides her own horse, and prefers not have a ”better” rider get on.

Chris Gianini (57) started jumping and eventing on her memorable Appaloosa whose career was stopped by arthritis. Amy Tryon then found her an off-the-track Thoroughbred, Woody, who turned out not to be a match for Chris but whom Amy was able to ride to Advanced Level. Chris went horse shopping again and found her current Appendix Quarter horse who jumps like a Cadillac. His one quirk is an occasional intolerance for horses approaching from behind. He has ejected her twice, making her watchful and a bit nervous in crowded warm up areas. Chris’ conclusive statement was, “I prefer a safe horse to a scopey horse”.

Mary Brumder (64) got hooked on eventing when she attended the Pan Am Games as a teenager—at that time only men could event. In 1990 her daughter, Kate, started Pony Club, which led Mary to resume riding. She started eventing on the East coast in 1988,brought her eventer with her to the Northwest, but he became navicular. Shen then bought a dressage horse, “Which was not a great idea,” Mary admits.

She took over her daughter’s feisty horse, who she competed at Novice and Training until he re-bowed a tendon. Her trainer found her a Preliminary horse that had been ridden only by professionals. His distinction was that he never refused a jump, “but with me he went through them. Once we fixed my position, we evented.” Mary rode her first Preliminary event the month before she was 60, did a three-day at Chase Creek in B.C., and another at Galway Downs. Mary also rides a green, imported New Zealand horse that is returning to work after a lay-up. She maintains an admirable “kick butt” attitude.

Penny Leggott (58) recollects the thrill she had riding her former mount at Whidbey three years ago at their first Training level competition, “Something I will remember till the day I die. Our cross country round felt really harmonious and we had a great partnership. He knew his job; I felt safe and had enormous confidence in him.” Her current five year-old Appendix Thoroughbred is scopey and moved beautifully during his first eventing season while ridden by her trainer. But now he is recovering from a suspensory and his high jinx (which includes being kicked and “coming off in a twizzle”) have rattled her during his light rehab rides.

Clo Shapiro (44) rode recreationally to the hounds in North Carolina, and after a fall nearly had her arm amputated. She has ridden her daughter Whitney’s large pony at Beginner Novice, but he dumped her at Freeman Farms and she ended up being carted off by ambulance. That experience instilled in her some fear even though she knows the pony is safe.

Maureen Martin (67) grew up in Ireland. She didn’t have her own pony, so had to content herself with riding lessons and the occasional opportunity to hunt a friend’s horse. It was never enough. (Seems Maureen and Penny attended the same English boarding school.) Maureen continued to dream, walk courses, and ride courses in her head. Five years ago she had an opportunity to ride seriously, take lessons, and take up eventing at Novice Level on Timone, the perfect Novice horse. She has just moved up to Training on Mighty Mouse, who she imported from New Zealand. Her trainers recognized she needed a horse with more scope in order to move up safely. Now, she is able to immerse herself in her passion, eventing at an age when most have had the sense to retire. She is having the time of her life.

Susan Miller (59) moved from fox hunting at Woodbrook to eventing 12 years ago with her appendix Quarter Horse, with a big heart for jumping. “It’s hard to believe that Training Level was once so effortless.” But with a different horse at a different age, the experience changes. “I’m not sure his legs will hold up, and his gift is dressage, even though my trainer rode him beautifully at Training Level in October.” [Can you hear the equivocating? Remember, I called this gathering…]

Mary Decher (65), after an early career of 100 Mileing (seven completed), became familiar with eventing while following her daughter, Meika, around for over 20 years. Five years ago she decided to learn a new sport and put her Fjord into driving training with the goal of competing in Combined Driving. Combined Driving is literally eventing in the driver’s seat—complete with marathon and cross-country obstacles. After three years of driving she had a wreck and broke her hip. Two years later, she’s back at it with a new hip and a new horse. Qualms? Yes. Stop riding and driving? No, not yet. Actually it’s more important than ever to get out there daily, so neither the horse nor older rider loses it. It’s hard to do that with a back yard horse and rainy weather, yet she persists.

Todd Trewin (47) listened to the group’s comments and observed, “I’m all for a healthy respect for the animal being ridden. We all have our demons; you don’t need to get burned out by your horse. Buy the best horse you can afford, and then add on the miles with schooling in hunter/jumper and dressage schooling shows, and still, somehow, balance this with your other life.”

As for trainers, Todd advised, “Stand up to a clinician when you feel nervous and be clear about your comfort zone. You absolutely need to have the ‘eye on the ground’ of a trainer who knows your horse and sees you through your issue with encouragement. If time is an issue, a trainer can tune up your horse and then you get on a more quickly tuned-up horse versus the ‘I’ll figure it out myself’ approach.”

Todd spoke for us all, in acknowledging that eventing is an addiction, giving us the childhood we maybe always wanted. “We can always go get a new pair of (horse) legs, and enjoy competing equally with men—because this sport is not about muscle, although we must keep generally fit. We need quickness, though can’t think too much about it. We need to be able to hold our position to the finish line, and aerobic workouts and elliptical machines are good to this end.”

As for the horse, “You need to figure out how to ride him correctly—as the horse can so quickly learn it incorrectly—and put the time in to do so. You need to find your horse’s purpose (and he may not have the legs for jumping…) and then develop the right partnership . . . versus develop the right horse. Know your limits, be honest, know what you are afraid of, and then you can work honestly with your trainer on these issues. Beware of over-analyzing, as riding is a feeling. Do more riding and jumping on the lunge line.” Todd was a vaulter in his youth and learned to tumble off a horse. He advised us not to grip when we start to fall, but let yourself fall off by rolling.

On the subject of fitness, Todd urged us to take responsibility for ourselves, and work at the degree of fitness needed for the level you want to ride. Mary Brumder does weights and elliptical training for Preliminary. Walk during lunch; get an aerobic machine in the house. Develop core strength by doing Pilates or yoga. Our mid-section is the union that makes upper and lower sections work together. Our legs become more useful the better we can sit, which gets us back to lunging, and core strength.

What are the common threads in our stories that might help us move forward in eventing with more intentionality and safety? Good instruction is key. As we age, we need to work with a trainer or clinician who can recognize our fears and reservations and help us master them through graduated repetition. Trainers riding our horses can help push the horse faster to his potential. Staying in shape is critical. A broken bone can be a major deterrent as we age, and core strength is our major support in staying in the saddle: Pilates, yoga, aerobic strengthening, walking.

The camaraderie of eventing is a powerful draw. Many of us have made wonderful friendships over the years, including those who met for our Fall gathering. There is already talk of a Second Gathering…which suggests that there truly is a need to help one another through not just the levels of eventing but the phases of our lives.

Susan Miller can be reached at (425) 222-0790. If you’d like to be included in a second meeting of like-minded, like-aged eventers, please get in touch.