Dressage riders Ruth McCormick and Dottie Minter admit that in their decades of riding, showing has never been the primary focus. The two friends and barn mates have owned talented horses and ridden under top trainers, but their main objective was always to enjoy their equine companions. Over the last few years, however, McCormick set her sights on one competition goal: the century ride.

“I’ve had in my mind to do this for a while,” McCormick said. “And so I kind of started counting the years until I was old enough. You only get so many opportunities; it can be fleeting.” 

The century ride distinction, honored by The Dressage Foundation’s Century Club, is awarded to a dressage rider who competes in a class when their age combined with their horse’s age adds up to 100 years or more. McCormick turned 73 this May and continues to ride her 27-year-old Westphalian mare Joy almost daily. When she began to scheme about a century ride plan with a few of her friends who would also qualify, Minter was immediately game. 

“My horse is 65 years old, you know,” Minter said with a laugh. “That makes me 35, right?”

Minter (who comes clean that she is actually 82) owns two horses that would make the age cut, but by the end of the summer, only her oldest was sound enough for the test: her beloved 27-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Pedro. 

The riders hosted the event as a small schooling show on Sept. 15 at a private barn owned by Steve Williams and Owen Rogers in West Amwell, New Jersey, inviting a judge friend to evaluate their tests. Over the course of the summer, the plan that started with four century rides whittled down to two when one horse passed away and another was injured—a reminder of how brief the window for the landmark ride can be. They were grateful to make it to the finish line on the two special horses they’ve owned for decades. 

“We reckon we have two of the best 27 year olds there are!” McCormick said. 

Minter believes that the achievement symbolizes all that riding has meant to the two women, especially in recent years as each has been navigating their partner’s illness. Minter’s husband has dementia and had to be placed in memory care, while McCormick’s husband has Parkinson’s. 

“As far as I’m concerned, I think it’s saved my life over the years because when you ride, it’s kind of Zen; you don’t think of anything else,” Minter said. “I know when my husband was sick, I could feel myself relaxing halfway to the barn.” 

When McCormick began riding mid-life, her husband, Larry McCormick, immediately embraced his role as a newly minted horse husband. He would make trips with Ruth to Spruce Meadows and World Cup competitions in Europe as spectators. Larry, who is a pastor of a small church and is known in local horse circles as “Friar Mack,” also regularly offered a blessing of the horses before they traveled home from Dressage at Devon. He has occasionally written for equestrian publications, including The Chronicle of the Horse, about his experience as a tourist and observer. 

“He ended up being a good horse husband in that regard,” Ruth said. “I never had my horses at home, so he wasn’t challenged the other way, like having to muck out or anything like that.”

Ruth found horses at a time in her life when she needed something that was just for her, and she now sees that first lesson as letting “Pandora out of the box.”

“When I was almost 40, a friend of mine said to me, ‘What have you done for yourself lately?’ ” she said. “I went off and took riding lessons that week.

“By two months, I was riding twice a week, and by six months, three times a week,” she added. “My trainer said something like, that job is interfering with your riding!”

Ruth retired from her career in human resources about 10 years ago and went all in on her horses. She had acquired Joy as an 11-year-old, and it took some time for the two to connect. But Joy was a horse that responded well to her rider’s consistency in a strong program.

“I feel like there was this period of time where she was like, ‘Expletive! Whatever! I don’t have to do this,’ ” she said, laughing. “She doesn’t really have any vices or anything, but it was kind of like, ‘No, you’re just not good enough for me to really follow what you’re saying.’ ” 

Ruth, who competed about three times a year, showed Joy to the third level. Following her retirement and with increased riding time, she was able to take her younger horse, Benji, to Prix St. Georges. 

“If you had told me I could ride first level when I retired, I would have been so excited,” she said. “And then, I was able to go up to Prix St. Georges. I’ve ridden beyond the level I ever thought. I never thought I’d have horses that could do it. I never thought I’d be able to do it.” 

Minter brought her gelding Pedro over from Europe when he was just 3, and she was immediately amazed by the quality of the horse she’d imported sight unseen. 

“He has a face that will never get old,” she said of the elderly gelding. “If you don’t look too closely at him, you know—there’s a little dip in his back now—but other than that, his movement is still beautiful. I mean, I feel privileged to have found a horse of this quality.”

Minter had to adjust her expectations of the warmblood gelding when he began to turn up “head-bobbing lame” as a youngster. After countless veterinary visits and rehab programs, it became clear that he would never be competition sound. As much as he loved showing off his flying changes, she decided she’d have to enjoy him at home doing more lower-level movements that kept him as healthy as possible. Now, 24 years later, she has no regrets about purchasing a horse with chronic lameness issues. 

“It’s cost me a lot of money over the years, but he’s just such a lovely horse that I didn’t mind,” she said. “People are like, ‘Oh, aren’t you upset that you bought this horse?’ But I have to tell you, I would never been able to buy a horse as nice as this horse and see all the gaits that he has.” 

For both Ruth and Minter, the horses under them at their century rides hold all the passion they’ve put into their riding, and all that they’ve been given in return. 

“He was a beautiful, perfect gentleman through the whole thing, and so it was fun,” Minter said. “I’m glad we did it. It’s kind of a goodbye to the sport with your favorite horse that you’ve had for a long time.”