PrintTwelve years after his first team experience, our columnist thanks the individuals who made that medal bid and every one since then possible.
Here we are again, getting ready for a team trip to Mexico; the Pan American Games are right around the corner.
I rode on my first team at the 1999 Pan Ams in Winnipeg with Pajama Game, and wow, how the times have changed since then! Twelve years ago, I was “the young guy”—only 22—and I had absolutely no clue that I was going to represent my country until the day before we left for Canada.
There were no conference calls and no emails. And there were certainly no riding clothes that were my own. (Thanks, Dad.) In fact, I was still riding in rubber boots. My “call up” came from Capt. Mark Phillips, and it was something along the lines of, “So, you don’t plan on representing your country in rubber boots, do you?” Given that early admonishment, I hardly thought twice about getting my new pinque coat on short notice. I needed new footwear, pronto! But I was going to ride for my country (even though I rode as an individual that time).
It’s a strange feeling knowing that now I’m “the old guy.” I’ve ridden around plenty of four-stars since then, gone head-to-head with the world’s toughest competition at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games and worn out several coats. I even have a collection of leather boots at this point.
But one thing I still need is a medal. My fellow athletes—Hannah Sue Burnett, Jon Holling, Shannon Lilley and Michael Pollard—and I are coming together as your 2011 Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team, and hopefully that medal will come in Guadalajara. I know it would be no less exciting for me, “the old guy,” than for my four teammates, who will all be sporting their pinques for the very first time.
No “I” In Team
This whole process of going from “young guy” to “old guy” has made me appreciate everything a lot more this time around. The initial shock and laughs that came with acknowledging how much has changed since my formative years soon gave way to surprise at how much hasn’t.
While the clothes we wear may be different today, horses and riders still get to the top level the exact same way—with hard work, luck and supportive teams building firm foundations behind the scenes. The thing I think makes our sport stand out the most are the volunteers who give countless hours from the ground up to make eventing better.
Without the volunteers who set up the dressage rings, decorate the cross-country or rake the show jumping rings, we don’t have a sport. For instance, in my entire career, I’ve never once gone into the ring without a volunteer first telling me it’s time to go. It’s the small, simple things like these that we can so easily take for granted in our sport. So to everyone who’s ever volunteered—to all those people who’ve wrangled busy riders at in-gates from Florida to Quebec to Montana to California—we can’t thank you enough.
Without these unbelievable people, events literally couldn’t happen, and therefore the U.S. Team would never happen either. The wind, rain, and unbelievable heat doesn’t stop these guys, and they all have a smile on their faces.
There are also volunteers who work at a different level to make the sport better—they’re the ones putting on clinics in their areas to step up the level of riding. Without these people, we simply wouldn’t have the ability to draw team members from all across the country.
