This middle-aged mother from Northern California will be taking the ride of her life on her horse of a lifetime.

Kristi Nunnink’s default facial expression is a smile.

It doesn’t matter how hard she’s working, what level she’s riding or how the horse under her is performing—her mouth curls faintly upward, unforced.

It may just be a coincidence of facial structure, or it may be a product of years of habit. But either way, the expression fits her, because Nunnink may very well be the happiest rider at Rolex Kentucky. At 48, she’s heading to her first CCI**** with her horse of a lifetime.

“I think it’s going to be really incredible,” said Nunnink, Auburn, Calif. “I’ve been quite often over the years to watch, and I’ve always thought, ‘Oh, I want to be here.’ And now I’m going. I’m just so happy.”

For the past five years, since she got her Holsteiner mare R-Star (Riverman—Marisol) as a barely-broke 4-year-old, Nunnink has believed they’d eventually make it to Kentucky, but the journey has transformed her in ways she never expected.

Nunnink lives on an 8-acre farm in rural Northern California between Sacramento and Reno, Nev. In her younger days, she ran a large boarding facility and trained students full time, organized the American Valley Horse Trials for eight years with her husband, Randy, and competed up to the three-star level on the East Coast in 1990.

But life slowed a bit a few years ago. In 2004, Kristi had to euthanize her best horse, Stars And Stripes, after his diaphragm burst at a small combined test just a week before his first CIC***.

“It was just devastating to her,” said Erin Spohr, who’s been Kristi’s live-in student and adopted daughter of sorts for almost a decade. “That was the horse she loved. He was so sweet, and she bought him from England, and that was supposed to be her big-time horse. After that she always said over and over again that she’d never find another horse like him.”

But a young gray mare was about to enter Kristi’s life. From almost the moment she saw “Rosie,” who’d been bought by another rider in her barn at the time, Kristi knew she wanted her.

“We’d moved to the Auburn area to be closer family, and ‘Rosie’ just kind of fell into my lap,” Kristi said. “And then Mia Eriksson, whose family owned the barn I’d been at before, tragically died at [the 2006 Galway Downs CCI** (Calif.)], and it was kind of just a wake-up call—you’ve got to do what you want to do with your life. So I started to transition more over to the riding again, just seizing the moment.”

From Gardening Back To Galloping

When she re-devoted herself to upper-level competition, Kristi didn’t quite know how much of a whirlwind the next few years would really be. She moved Rosie up one level per year, hitting intermediate by the time the mare was 7.

“Then I realized I hadn’t done some of my homework well enough,” Kristi said. “She didn’t quite come back and do the technical stuff well enough, and it became a lot more important. We had some control issues to deal with, and we ended up tipping over in her first two-star.”

Neither horse nor rider was seriously injured, but for the remainder of 2008, Kristi focused much more on her riding and worked to establish a safer, more balanced gallop on cross-country.

“She is very serious about what she does,” said Derek di Grazia, who, along with his wife Bea, has coached Kristi for almost 20 years. “She wants things done the right way. She’s really made a huge effort the past two years to be as prepared as she can.”

One year after their fall, the pair returned for a second crack at the Twin Rivers CCI** (Calif.) and won. They never looked back, topping a large intermediate field at Aspen Farms (Wash.) and taking third in the Rebecca Farm CIC***-W (Mont.) and fourth in the Twin Rivers CIC***. And when they journeyed East for the Fair Hill CCI*** (Md.) in October and ended up 10th, “the powers that be” really began to take notice.

For the first time ever, Kristi earned a spot on the U.S. Equestrian Federation High Performance Training B List, skipping the Developing Rider program altogether. Suddenly she was training in team sessions with U.S. Chef d’Equipe Mark Phillips and his wife, Sandy, in Southern California. That’s when Kristi’s schedule really began filling up.

“I am a professional, but I’m really a homebody,” she admitted. “My favorite pastimes used to be gardening and reading books. And I have dogs and children, and I’ve really never been gone from home as much as I have been in the last year of my life.

“I don’t know how all those really big, famous riders are gone from home so much,” she continued. “You don’t see your husband; you don’t see your friends. And when you are home, you’re working so much that you don’t really do anything else.”

Kristi wouldn’t have it any other way, though, nor would Randy, who travels with his wife as much as possible when he’s not running electrical grid for the California Independent System Operator, a non-profit corporation which operates the majority of the state’s wholesale power network.

“He’s taking so much time off to take me to Rolex,” she said, noting that Randy has also evented at the lower levels. “He’s been more supportive than you can imagine.”

The Nunninks’ strong relationship has carried Kristi through the new challenges of the past few years and kept her grounded throughout her speedy rise up the ladder with Rosie.

“I’m really lucky, because my husband believes I can do it, my coaches believe I can do it, and the horse is
really just such a good horse and makes it a lot easier,” she said. “It really is about how good a horse you’re
sitting on, unless you’re Phillip Dutton. He’s incredible, but you know, most of us are really only as good as our horses!”

And Kristi makes it clear that she knows Rosie is her horse of a lifetime. Whenever she’s doubtful of her own abilities, the mare boosts her confidence.

“I hadn’t gone advanced for quite awhile, and I feel like I started off last year walking the advanced courses going, ‘Oh my gosh, why am I doing this?’ ” Nunnink said with a laugh. “But then she just jumps around and makes it so easy, and the advanced courses feel almost like you’re doing a hunter course.

“She’s made me super brave, and she’s allowed me to work so much on my riding,” she continued. “It’s been so fun having these great opportunities to do new things. At a time when I thought I’d be retiring, I’m coming to do Rolex. It’s been kind of like a dream life.”

A Lifetime Of Experience

Kristi isn’t as wide-eyed and wet behind the ears as her enthusiasm might suggest, however. She up grew in Northern California in the 1960s and ’70s, participating in 4-H and Pony Club and riding her mother’s western pleasure horses, then a B-circuit hunter, then an off-the-track Thoroughbred.

“It was good because I learned to do a lot of things with horses,” she said. “I think that’s really come in handy in eventing, because event horses come in all different packages and sizes, and they have all different little issues that you have to think outside the box to get through to.”

Knowing she wanted to event at the upper levels, Kristi started as a working student with the di Grazias in Pebble Beach, Calif., in 1984. A year later, however, the mare she was riding broke down.

“I realized I had no money and no ability to make some, so I’d better go to college and try to get a career,” Kristi said. “I needed an income so I could afford to buy a new horse.”

But fate intervened when she met Randy in school, and she soon dropped out to keep riding. They married and had a son, Ryan, whom Kristi toted around to shows as an infant. In the fall of 1990, she and Ryan trekked to the East Coast for Kristi’s first CCI*** at Fair Hill.

“Now lots of eventers have children, but that was back when no one on the East Coast really had children, and people kind of frowned at us,” Kristi said with a laugh. “But it was super fun. We got a group together, Vicky Koss and Valerie Williams and I, and went for two months to ride with Torrance Watkins. Vicky and I brought our children with us and shared a day nanny, and they turned 3 at Radnor [Hunt CCI** (Pa.)].”

Kristi finished ninth at Fair Hill that year with an off-the-track Thoroughbred named Master Control, but the gelding sustained a stress fracture and was never fully sound again.
“But he was really a big learning experience,” Kristi said. “I wish I’d taken it a little slower with him, because if he hadn’t gotten hurt I think he could have gone on and been really competitive later in his career.

“Now I feel like Rosie owes me nothing,” she continued. “My job is just to take care of her and do the
best I can. It’s amazing, your different perspective on things as you experience and watch things happen in
life.”

Whatever You Want, At Whatever Age

As she’s aged, Kristi’s done her best to pass that wisdom on to the younger generations as well. Her son, Ryan, who evented up to preliminary level, is now 22. And Spohr, who moved in with them when she was 15 to train with Kristi and stayed until she was 21, is off to dental hygiene school but ready to get back to riding soon.

“She really taught me everything I know, riding-wise, and in life too,” said Spohr, who formerly competed Kristi’s other current advanced horse, Corner Street. “She’s a huge part of my life. I call her my mom. She can be a little tough—she tells you how it is. But her honesty is amazing, and she’s just a great person and has the biggest heart and work ethic.

“She’d bend over backwards to help anyone,” Spohr added. “If you work hard for her, she’ll work 10 times harder for you. She deserves everything she has right now, and I am so happy for her.”

The Nunninks keep 10 horses at home, including Corner Street, with whom Kristi won the Galway Downs CCI** last fall, and her two up-and-coming preliminary horses, Danny California and Sportsfield Oliver.

“The horses are in excellent care, and she’s an amazingly hard worker,” Spohr said. “Her determination is amazing. She works harder than anyone I’ve ever worked for or been around.”

Most of Kristi’s horses live out, though some have access to the Nunninks’ modest three-stall barn. The
farm has a dressage arena and a jumping arena and abuts a 200-acre cattle pasture, so although it’s small,
it’s more than sufficient to support Kristi in her full-time job.

“We live right on the property, and Rosie’s pasture is right outside my bedroom window, so I can always keep an eye on her,” Kristi said.

Conventional wisdom might imply that her first four-star should have come two decades ago, but Kristi’s surprised and grateful that now, just two months before her 49th birthday, she wakes up every morning and looks out on the horse who’s finally going to get her to Rolex Kentucky.

“It just makes you realize that your idea of aging is pretty inaccurate,” Kristi said. “I think we get concepts, and luckily there’s people like Karen O’Connor and Bruce Davidson out there breaking them, because you can really do whatever you want to do at whatever age. You get this idea that, ‘Oh, I’m too old to do this,’ and it’s absolutely untrue.”

Great, But Realistic, Expectations

Kristi Nunnink doesn’t have delusions of winning Rolex Kentucky her first time around, but she still has high expectations for herself and her young mare, R-Star. Since it will be the first CCI**** for both, the former at 48 years old and the latter at 8, she’s shooting for solidity.

“If I can keep control of my nerves and put in a nice, solid dressage test in that big arena, and then jump around cross-country within a pretty close time, and then show jump well, no matter what ribbon she gets, I’ll be feeling really, really successful,” Nunnink said.

Coach Derek di Grazia knows Nunnink has done her homework, so she’ll have a strong foundation when she steps into the four-star spotlight.

“She’s improved her own technique substantially over the last couple years, so it should put her in a good way to go out and do what she needs to do in Kentucky,” he said. “A lot of [the first-time stress] is dealing with the crowds and your own nerves, but if she can handle that, she’ll be able to go out and do a good job. I don’t think the tests themselves will be anything she’s unprepared for.”

How Much Is That Horsey In The Window?

Kristi Nunnink’s horse R-Star is that archetypal dapple gray that little girls everywhere drool over—a dead ringer for a Breyer model or a calendar pin-up. Her floating trot and pony-perfect knees over fences make her a crowd favorite at shows, and Nunnink’s spent the past several years turning down outrageous purchase offers.

“She’s such a family pet around the house,” Nunnink said. “We’ve been offered quite a bit of money for ‘Rosie,’ but my husband Randy has said, ‘No, this is what you’ve worked your whole life for. Not everything in life is for sale.’ ”

This is technically Rosie’s 9-year-old year, but she was foaled in late June, so she’ll be among the youngest horses at Rolex Kentucky. Charlotte Wrather, a Yale-educated former corporate lawyer in New York City, turned race horse breeder in Southern California, “got on a little Holsteiner kick” in 2000, according to Nunnink, and imported Rosie’s dam, Marisol, from Germany.

“She bred it to Riverman one time, and it was Rosie,” Nunnink said. “Once Rosie started doing preliminary, Charlotte said, ‘Oh, wow!’, and now she’s actually gone back and re-bred her mare a couple of times, so Rosie now has siblings—a 2-year-old and a yearling.”

Nunnink didn’t consider herself “a mare person,” at first, but she’s changed her tune since buying this one.

“I always get super attached to my horses, so then when they break, they sit around retired in a field until they’re like 30,” Nunnink said. “I had just been through so many geldings, and I thought, ‘Gosh, it’d be nice to have something that had some intrinsic value even if it can’t compete.’ ”

Someday Nunnink hopes to breed Rosie, but for now she’s just enjoying riding the most talented horse she’s ever owned.

“I think Rosie is one of those horses who would be a once-in-a-lifetime horse for anybody,” said Derek di Grazia, Nunnink’s coach. “To have a chance with a horse like that is a great feeling for any rider, and Kristi knows that, and it’s really motivated her. Since she’s had Rosie she’s really made a commitment to put in the time and do the best job she can to be there for her horse.”