Bonnie Mosser’s simple red helmet cover has long been a recognizable icon on cross-country courses, but for all of her international experience, she’s never had the opportunity to add any more of that color to her accoutrement. That is, until this summer. Because, at long last, Mosser has earned a spot on the U.S. Equestrian Team and the traditional red hunt coat that accompanies it.

After a stunning double victory in the CCI*** and advanced horse trial at the Jersey Fresh Three-Day Event (N.J.) in June, Mosser found herself in a somewhat unexpected but entirely enviable position: qualified for the Pan American Games with three different mounts.

“It’s kind of a dream come true to have three,” Mosser said. “I never dreamed that I’d have three horses at this level and all three being eligible for the team.”

At Jersey Fresh, the Unionville, Pa.-based rider topped the CCI*** with the recently acquired Merloch, dominated the advanced division with student Rebecca Polan’s Close The Deal, and showed off her longtime partnership with her own Jenga.

Mosser’s ascension to the upper echelons of eventing has been closely tied to the performance of Jenga in particular. She trained the 14-year-old, bay Thoroughbred up through the levels, and the duo added many three- and four-star events to their curricula vitae. After winning the 2002 Foxhall Cup (Ga.) CCI***, the pair was named as alternates for the World Equestrian Games in Jerez (Spain) but didn’t make their first appearance on the international scene until the 2004 FEI World Cup at Pau (France). The following year, the pair finished 23rd at the Luhmuhlen CCI**** (Germany); after standing as alternates for the 2006 WEG (Germany), their 11th-placed finish was the top U.S. score at the Burghley CCI**** (England).

New Horse, New Hemisphere
This year’s Pan Ams, however, will mark Mosser’s first foray into South America. “I just like to go there and experience it first hand,” she said. “I know Rebecca [Polan, who is going as Mosser’s groom] is really excited. But I have no vision in my mind even what it looks like. Last year going to England I had no idea where we were even staying!”

Accommodation arrangements are low on Mosser’s priority list when compared with her most formidable task—preparing to represent her country with a new mount. Merloch’s performance in the CCI*** at Jersey Fresh secured him one of the six Pan Am team positions. Mosser also has a fallback in Close The Deal, who was named to the list of alternates. The veteran Jenga, however, will not make the trip to Rio.

“Jenga’s leaving for Italy,” Mosser said in mid-June, having just reached a sale agreement with a foreign rider. “It’s sad, but it’s a very fortunate time that it’s happened. One chapter closes, and Merloch’s chapter opens.”

Actually, “Murry” has already had some pretty impressive chapters in his 10-year lifespan. Mosser found the horse competing at the preliminary level in New Zealand four years ago and recognized the gray gelding as a perfect fit for her student Alex Zavoyna.

“I called them up and just said ‘wire the money,’ and they did!” Mosser said.

Zavoyna went on to win an individual gold medal in the CCI** at the 2006 North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (Va.). Ready to begin her college education the following fall, Zavoyna made the decision to sell the horse to her coach. “He’s turned out to be even better than we expected,” said Mosser.

While Jenga and Merloch are generally quiet, Mosser said that Close The Deal has a bit of a redheaded streak. But Mosser has clicked with the 14-year-old, Thoroughbred gelding over the past two years, placing third in last year’s Jersey Fresh CCI*** and winning an advanced horse trial at Plantation Field (Pa.). Before that, he was jumping up the levels with his owner, Polan.

“We originally just got him as a trail horse for my father,” Polan said. She quickly commandeered the 2-year-old, but the partnership wasn’t an instant success.

The entire herd of weanlings “Bob” had grown up with in Kentucky had come down with strangles; he survived, but later contracted a related condition, purpura. Blood vessels in the colt’s legs swelled up to
mammoth proportions until the skin around his knees and hocks cracked open with wounds that wept for months.

“The vet said, ‘There is no way you can compete this horse,’ ” Polan recalled of the scar tissue that developed on Bob’s joints and is still visible today. “But he was my horse, my only horse. So we just tried a little bit at a time, and he was great. This backyard horse who was supposed to die is now on the short list for the Pan Ams.”

Polan competed Bob up to the two-star level, commuting back and forth between graduate school in Washington, D.C., and Mosser’s farm in Pennsylvania for two years. But when she took a job in Ohio with her family’s business, it became clear that she wasn’t going to be able to support Bob’s needs.

“There are only a few intermediate-level events there, and it was a nine-hour drive [to Mosser’s farm for lessons]. I didn’t have a vet or farrier where I was living, so any time anything happened, it was very stressful. And Bonnie was looking for another horse at the time, so one day I just said, ‘Hey, maybe you could ride him.’ ”

Unwilling to sell the horse, Polan granted Mosser a temporary stint in the saddle. “As an instructor and a rider, I really admire her,” she explained. “She has a really good intuition with the horses. She’s very consistent in the way she rides them and very methodical about the way she trains them. She inspires confidence in them, and she does the same thing with her riders.”

A Far Bigger Accomplishment
Though this will be Mosser’s first time on the USET, the role of U.S. athletic emissary is a familiar one for the 44-year-old competitor. Mosser spent her childhood on a horse farm in East Aurora, N.Y., skiing during the lengthy white winters and riding in the summers. At the age of 16, she was already touring Europe as a member of the U.S. Ski Team’s Development Squad.

“In my ski racing we went to Europe with the development squad, but I never had the opportunity to race in a championship, so this is, to me, a far bigger accomplishment,” she said.

In her early 20s, Mosser made the decision to focus her competitive energies on riding. In 1980, she took a working student position with Denny Emerson, and then later moved to Maryland to work for Ellen Shepherd, the owner of Verbena, a horse that helped Mosser win the DeBroke Trophy. In 1997, she began riding for Phillip Dutton, eventually becoming his full-time assistant trainer.

“I think she’s always had a good, natural feel for her riding,” Dutton said. “I think the biggest thing that she gained being here is getting more confidence in herself and her riding. She was a great, great asset for us. I could go away and always know that the horses would be well taken care of and well-ridden.”

After eight years under Dutton’s wing, Mosser forged out on her own in 2004 and now runs her own Point Above Farm. “I think that you need to make your own opportunities in life,” she explained. “Working under somebody of his nature, you’re never going to pass them unless you go away. I think you sometimes need to find out if there’s an opportunity for yourself, which I’ve found out that there is!”

Dutton said he’s also pleased with Mosser’s progress. “I absolutely think it’s a real testament to her talent that she can go out and do it herself,” he said. “It’s not easy balancing the competing with making a living out of it as well.”

That balance is something Mosser—who still loves to ski and relishes her days off from the barn—has also passed along to her young students.

“She’s one of the most positive people I’ve ever met,” said Polan, who moved to Charlottesville, Va., and will be taking back the ride on her horse after the Pan Ams. “Bonnie has been really helpful to all of us to balance our lives. When I needed to move to Ohio, she was like, ‘That’s great. You need to do that so
that in the future you can come back and have a riding career.’ And a lot of trainers would have really pressured a kid like Alex [Zavoyna, who chose to pursue her education], but Bonnie is really good about supporting whatever you need to do.”

When she’s not on the road, Mosser’s typical day involves riding between three and six horses, teaching her two working students and giving private instruction to other clients. “I rent a barn in Unionville that has 11 stalls—my ideal number of horses,” she said. “I’m a quality versus quantity person.”

That decision has actually made her clients quite happy. “The horses in her barn are treated really well,” asserted Polan. “Everybody spends time with them, and it’s a very relaxing environment. When I bring my young horse up for lessons, he always lies down in her stalls and takes a nap. He never does that at home! It’s just very relaxed and the horses love that, and I think it really shows at her competitions.”

Navigating The Road To Rio
As a rider, Mosser isn’t afraid to confront her problems head-on.
 
“This spring on Merloch I was still having problems making time,” Mosser said. “And his previous rider had easily made the time on him.”

She borrowed videotapes of Zavoyna’s rides and compared them with her own, surprised to note all of the places she could have made up time. “We had a run at Fair Hill [Md.] before Jersey, which we won, but I got the video and I still hadn’t gone as fast as I should have. And I can tell you exactly where I lost the time at Jersey. I still had time there, but it was a lot faster than I’d gone before!”

Part of Mosser’s reluctance to put the pedal to the metal was her miscalculation at Rolex Kentucky aboard Jenga. In the top 10 after dressage, Mosser was pushing to make time on cross-country but fell late in the course.

“At Kentucky I was really going for it, and that’s the margin of error,” she said. “It becomes inches, not feet.”

The pair’s bad luck at Kentucky continued the next day in the show jumping, where Jenga had a rare refusal at the second fence. Seeking a return to forward riding and a chance to still make a Pan Am bid, Mosser went to show jumping veteran Anne Kursinski for help in the following weeks.

“Anne really helps me with believing in the horse more,” she said. “There’s an old saying that ‘You’re only as good as your last movie.’ And I did sense that after what I did at Rolex, I’d really have to redeem myself. After cross-country they were still considering me, because I fell off, but the rest of the round was flawless. But the stop in the show jumping—I hate to say it—I didn’t choke, but I didn’t start riding until the third fence. So I thought, ‘I better get my act together for Jersey Fresh.’ ”

She undoubtedly did, and the hard work finally paid off. But Mosser won’t be resting on her laurels.

“I think what’s been the hardest with this situation is to not get excited,” she said. “It has been kind of a mental challenge when people call me up and say ‘Congratulations!’ and I have to say, ‘Thanks, but I’m not there yet.’ When I get on the plane, it’s going to be overwhelming at that moment. Touch wood that nothing happens before then.”

Kat Netzler