Last year, Molly Duda and her quirky Oldenburg gelding Disco Traveler (Donatelli—Cadence) shot up the levels from training to CCI3*-L in less than 12 months, earning a slew of accolades on the way. So it’s perhaps no surprise that they followed their 2023 success by not simply moving up to advanced this year, but doing it well enough to be selected for the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s European Development Tour and capping their year with a win in the CCI4*-L division—their first time doing a four-long—Nov. 2 at the Eventing Championships at Galway Downs (California). 

But along with the impressive highs, 2024 has included some serious lows and learning experiences for the 20-year-old from Menlo Park, California.

In April, she ventured East with “Disco” to take a crack at the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S (Kentucky), only to have the trip end with her first fall on cross-country. And shortly after returning from a highly educational European Development Tour, she had a serious fall from her three-star horse, 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse Carlingfords Hes A Clover (also known as “Tommy”), while riding at home.

“You’re either winning or you’re learning,” she said. “I’ve had some really amazing wins, and I’ve had some really impactful learning moments. 

“I had a really bad fall in June and actually broke six bones in my face,” she continued. “It was a fall off ‘Tommy,’ just riding at home. And that was definitely the worst fall I’ve ever had, and it took me out of the saddle for two months. My nose was completely crooked; I had to have surgery. Having that in the middle of the season and then trying to come back from that was challenging.” 

We caught up with Duda in between classes at University of California, Los Angeles where she’s studying business economics. 

“I definitely feel like I live a double life,” she says of her studies during the week and travel to Temecula, California, on the weekends to ride with her coach, Land Rover Kentucky CCI5-L* winner Tamie Smith.

Tell me about Galway and your first CCI4*-L with Disco. 

He was great. He was honestly on it all week. He’s a horse that has a history of being quite nervous and spooky at certain things; he can get very anxious in the show environment. But he is a veteran at this point; he’s such a professional. He arrives at the show, he knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s like, “OK, this is a competition.” 

And he feels like he locks in; he was just so focused all week, really ready for the show and happy to compete and work. And he wasn’t spooky or nervous.

It was long, for sure. It was my first four-long, so 10 minutes felt like I was there for a really long time, but it was a great course. I think [course designer Clayton Fredericks] did a great job. It definitely required the rider to be accurate, and it was a good test, but it rode well, if you were answering the questions as intended there. I also did my first [CCI4*-S] at Galway in March with Disco, so some of the questions we’d already gotten the chance to look at, and that helped.

And one of your competitors was your coach, Tamie Smith? 

(Laughing) She beat me in March, but I got her this time.

Now I want to drop back a bit. Can you tell me a little about your experience at the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S in the spring?

That was my first ever fall on cross-country, and it was kind of a life-changing fall. I have never been afraid on cross-country in my life, until after that fall. It definitely altered my mindset, and thinking about getting back on course made me feel fear for the first time.

That’s when I started working with Natalie Hummel, coach and sports psychologist. She is incredible. I can’t say enough good things about her. I just feel like she has helped me so much. And I think everyone can benefit from sports psychology. Natalie played a huge role in getting my confidence back this season, since that fall. The thing about my fall is that it wasn’t his fault; I literally fell right over his neck into the ditch, and he kept jumping. He would have kept going. He was like, “Wait, are we done?”

I think that having a little bit of fear on cross-country has made me ride better, because I respect the jumps more. I took my youth for granted a little bit, and now I’m learning how to have discipline and how to be accurate and ride smooth, and the fear has a little bit helped me. I’ve been able to channel that back into the riding.

Talk to me about Europe, where you went over the summer on the USEF European Development Tour with USEF Eventing Emerging and Development Coach Leslie Law. You went to Chatsworth International in England, though it was canceled due to rain, the Bicton CCI4*-S in England, and Millstreet International Horse Trials CCIO4*-S in Ireland.

It was such an incredible opportunity, and definitely one that I wasn’t expecting to have. I applied for the tour last winter, and I had no expectation of actually getting the opportunity to go. I applied before I had even completed a four-star [short], and I didn’t know how that would go. Disco has just exceeded every expectation of him this year and surprised us all, and definitely earned his spot on that tour. 

It was just incredible, and getting to work with Leslie closely for a long time was great. I actually love Leslie’s coaching style. He’s very positive, and he gives you a lot of confidence. 

Also, just being in such a big atmosphere at those events in Europe, with all my idols that I’ve only watched on social media and on the TV screen—seeing them in person was really unbelievable. Also just getting to experience the courses. The cross-country is very different so it was a really, really educational experience.

I think the footing and the design of some of the jumps is very different, like the brush is brushed up very tall in Europe compared to here. And then there’s just certain types of jumps that you don’t really see over here, like at Millstreet, they had this really interesting table that was actually part of the ground. Basically this ridge that they put wood on the front and back, but it’s just dirt you’re jumping over. It looks like a bank that you could almost stand on. So it was really cool to experience.

And how did Disco travel? Was it his first time overseas? 

He’s U.S.-bred so it was his first time competing in Europe as well, and he was amazing.  I was very lucky to have Alyssa Dobrotin, Tamie’s groom, join me on the tour. She said that most often it goes one of two ways for both the horse and the rider when they compete abroad for the first time, they either excel or the pressure is too much for them. He was thriving out there. He did a great job with the travel, and just handled everything like a pro.

And you had last-minute change of plans, correct? You were going to compete at the Chatsworth International Horse Trials CCIO4*-S-NC but instead went to Bicton International Horse Trials CCI4*-S?

Chatsworth would have been our first Nations Cup. We actually arrived on site and unloaded all the tack trunks, set everything up, and then we got the news that the event was canceled because of the rain, which made sense, because the cross-country was pretty flooded. 

That was a big bummer, but we did reroute to Bicton, and we just treated that as a combined test. We did the dressage and show jumping and went over to Millstreet the next weekend. 

Treating an FEI [event] as almost a practice run was very different—like FEIs are big-deal events that you really prepare for, and you have to be competitive—but it was a great set-up for Millstreet [where the pair finished 23rd out of 59 competitors].

I wasn’t able to compete on the Nations Cup team at Millstreet. I just did it as an individual. I think just after my fall at Kentucky, the selectors wanted to make sure I could have one confidence-boosting ride before the pressure was back on. 

I know Disco is your special horse, but do you have any up-and-coming horses that you’re also working with? Anyone waiting in the wings?

My Irish horse Tommy. He actually just helped me win the [Mia Eriksson Memorial Trophy for the] top-placed young rider [in the CCI3*-L] at Galway. He’s been great. Tamie rode him while I was in Europe and definitely tuned him up a bit for me. He’s a horse that is very different from Disco, but it’s given me a lot of good experience, and he’s taught me a lot about how to ride a more spooky, sensitive horse. 

I’m hoping to move him up to four-star next season. Having two horses at four-star I think will really help me progress my riding at that level. 

What then are your next goals? Anything else you’d like to add?

So with Disco, I am hoping to return to Kentucky next year and get some redemption, and then hopefully the European tour again, potentially with Disco and Tommy, and looking at a five-star at the end of the season. 

I’d just like to acknowledge the ginormous role that Tamie has played in my success here. I recently moved my horses down into Temecula full-time. I’m based with her now, and she’s just been such an incredible resource and an incredible mentor and human being.