PrintAlisa Berry and her partner overcome extreme adversity to return to the show ring as champions.
There’s an old proverb that says it’s the journey, not the destination that’s important. And sometimes, as Alisa Cline Berry has discovered, the journey can change a person’s perspective about what constitutes success.
It’s been a rough road for Berry and her 12-year old Thoroughbred-Hanoverian, Wallstreet Week. Eight months ago, “Wally” was clinging to life by the slimmest thread when he suffered devastating injuries in a freak stall accident.
But the pair’s determination was rewarded when Berry and Wally earned the amateur-owner, 18-35, division championship at the Lexington National Horse Show, Aug. 13-17 at the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington.
The difficulties that she and her horse have encountered over the past three years have left Berry reflective and philosophical about her achievement.
“We’re just happy to take each show for what it brings and just live one day at a time,” said Alisa as she and her husband Jason packed for the trip home to Verona, Va. “I never take anything for granted anymore. I’ve come to look at things very differently over the past year.”
The Roller Coaster Begins
As a junior rider, Alisa never had the opportunity to own an equitation horse. So just having the chance to acquire a horse like Wally—for two years straight the gelding was named best young horse at Devon (Pa.)— was the opportunity of a lifetime for Alisa.
“He was so fancy it was unbelievable,” she recalled. “Normally, I couldn’t afford to even sit on a horse like that.”
Alisa purchased Wally (by Wallstreet Kid) from Cismont Manor Farm when it became clear the horse wasn’t going to be a four-foot horse.
“He was mentally tough,” Alisa recalled, “just a hard horse to show and to manage. I had the time and the energy to spend on him. I was an amateur with nothing better to do than to spend every waking moment trying to figure out how to make this horse better.”
Part of the reason Alisa had the time was that she had to take a year off to regain her amateur status after spending two years teaching and coaching at her alma mater, Sweet Briar College (Va.) following her graduation. She spent the time just bonding and building trust with her new horse.
“We’d have a good day, and then it seemed like we couldn’t do anything for the next week,” she recalled. “It was always a roller coaster. I didn’t know whether I was ever going to be able to ride or show him, whether he was going to work for me.”
There’s an old proverb that says it’s the journey, not the destination that’s important. And sometimes, as Alisa Cline Berry has discovered, the journey can change a person’s perspective about what constitutes success.
It’s been a rough road for Berry and her 12-year old Thoroughbred-Hanoverian, Wallstreet Week. Eight months ago, “Wally” was clinging to life by the slimmest thread when he suffered devastating injuries in a freak stall accident.
But the pair’s determination was rewarded when Berry and Wally earned the amateur-owner, 18-35, division championship at the Lexington National Horse Show, Aug. 13-17 at the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington.
The difficulties that she and her horse have encountered over the past three years have left Berry reflective and philosophical about her achievement.“We’re just happy to take each show for what it brings and just live one day at a time,” said Alisa as she and her husband Jason packed for the trip home to Verona, Va. “I never take anything for granted anymore. I’ve come to look at things very differently over the past year.”
The Roller Coaster Begins
As a junior rider, Alisa never had the opportunity to own an equitation horse. So just having the chance to acquire a horse like Wally—for two years straight the gelding was named best young horse at Devon (Pa.)— was the opportunity of a lifetime for Alisa.
“He was so fancy it was unbelievable,” she recalled. “Normally, I couldn’t afford to even sit on a horse like that.”
Alisa purchased Wally (by Wallstreet Kid) from Cismont Manor Farm when it became clear the horse wasn’t going to be a four-foot horse.
“He was mentally tough,” Alisa recalled, “just a hard horse to show and to manage. I had the time and the energy to spend on him. I was an amateur with nothing better to do than to spend every waking moment trying to figure out how to make this horse better.”
Part of the reason Alisa had the time was that she had to take a year off to regain her amateur status after spending two years teaching and coaching at her alma mater, Sweet Briar College (Va.) following her graduation. She spent the time just bonding and building trust with her new horse.
“We’d have a good day, and then it seemed like we couldn’t do anything for the next week,” she recalled. “It was always a roller coaster. I didn’t know whether I was ever going to be able to ride or show him, whether he was going to work for me.”
| Nelson Claims Inaugural Equitation Challenge Chris Nelson earned the Amy Ylvisaker Reistrup Equitation Challenge Trophy, a new class introduced at this year’s Lexington National Horse Show to honor the late Lexington area horsewoman’s legacy as a rider, coach and mentor. |
