Friday, Feb. 7, 2025

Winner Of The Week: Anna Marek Is On The World Cup Trail With Fayvel

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When Anna Marek met Fayvel in 2020, she knew the gelding had the talent for Grand Prix, and she enjoyed teaching both him and his amateur owner Cynthia Davila the movements.

Davila showed the 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Zizi Top—Ofra, Houston) in several small tour and Grand Prix CDIAm classes between 2021 and early 2023, until a serious neck injury unrelated to horses required her to step away for rest and rehab.

She suggested Marek show Fayvel a bit in 2023, and after a few national Grand Prix classes went well, Marek entered a CDI3* at the World Equestrian Center—Ocala (Florida) in September where they won the Grand Prix freestyle.

“I had to kind of transition from riding and training him for [Davila] to riding him for me,” Marek said. “I had to make him my own ride. Cynthia said to [my coach Anne Gribbons,] ‘How good is this horse? Can Anna be competitive at CDIs?’ And Anne loved him, but we’d always looked at him as Cynthia’s horse, and we were both never going to push Cynthia into letting me ride him, because he’s a perfect horse for her.”

Anna Marek and Cynthia Davila’s Fayvel earned a ticket to the FEI World Cup Final after two wins at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival. SusanJStickle.com Photography Photo

With Marek’s top horse, 2023 Pan American Games (Chile) team gold and individual bronze winner Fire Fly, on track for Paris Olympic qualification and with Davila still rehabbing her neck, the group decided Marek would show Fayvel in CDI-Ws at the end of the year and into this season with the goal of qualifying for the FEI World Cup Final (Saudi Arabia).

After earning a second qualifying score in January at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival (Florida), Marek returned to win the CDI-W Grand Prix (72.82%) and the Grand Prix freestyle (78.47%) at AGDF, held Feb. 7-11 in Wellington, Florida, clinching her ticket. Today, she added again to the gelding’s list of accolades by winning the Grand Prix (70.36%) at the WEC—Ocala February Dressage CDI3*.

“Every single show he exceeded our expectations,” said Marek, Dunnellon, Florida. “We tweaked the freestyle with Karen Robinson to make it more difficult. He’s really handy, so I knew I could do some difficult, unique things in his freestyle to show the judges how rideable he is. We had fun with making this new freestyle, and he was just getting monster scores and getting better and better.”

Riding to music chosen by Davila, including Handsome Dancer, X Ambassadors and Kygo, Marek felt Fayvel’s confidence in the big atmosphere improved from their last start there in January.

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“I was a little bit concerned, because he loves other horses,” she said. “Any time I enter the show ring, he always calls. Then he puts his head down and is like, ‘I’m good to go. I just have to see where the horses are.’ Much to my surprise, he was great. He wasn’t spooky. We were last to go, and when we came out of the arena people were screaming and clapping, and he was walking out on a long rein. He didn’t care at all. It was so cool.”

Their ride featured piaffe pirouettes and passage half-passes. Marek was inspired to try some two-tempis on a circle then transition to one-tempis on a diagonal after watching some European freestyles.

“I get so much feedback on how much people love that move,” she said, “And it’s so easy for Fayvel.” 

“The last show we had a clean ride, and he was relaxed,” she continued. “There were still things I thought could be better, but it was so cool that he was rewarded for having a clean ride and just being him. We were all just like, ‘Wow.’ After he did so well in the freestyle, we were like, ‘Yeah, let’s go for [the World Cup].’ My husband [James Courter] was like, ‘Who knows when you’re ever going to have two horses like this? You’ve got to do whatever you can do.’ It was like, OK, we’re going to World Cup!”

With Fayvel’s scores climbing just as high as Fire Fly’s, Marek is keeping him in mind as another possible Paris contender—after his win in Ocala, he needs one more qualifying score for Paris—as well, but she is conscious of the travel involved and of her family commitments. She’s mom to 5-year-old James Courter and 2-year-old Mae Courter.

Fire Fly, Janet Simile’s 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Briar Junior—Arieka, OO Seven), has his qualifications for the Olympic short list sealed up, and Marek said she might do the CDI5* at AGDF with him this season, but he doesn’t need to.

“Paris would be icing on the cake, but being able to go to Europe—having a family, I don’t have the ability to go to Europe for the season and compete and gain experience that way—I was looking at it as, even if I get to go over there and ride in one or two observation events, and then I come home, that’s a pretty freaking awesome experience for me,” she said.

Marek had never traveled outside the U.S. to compete before going to Chile. She said the Pan American Games, which was her first senior team experience, changed her perspective, and she’s come out this season more confident on all of her horses.

She tried to control her nerves and just think about riding while she was there thanks to plenty of support from the U.S. Equestrian Federation and others.

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“It’s more relaxed than when I go to WEC to show, and I’m having to go teach and coach and then go home,” she said. “They did everything so I could just focus on my horse, and it taught me a lesson coming out of the Pan Ams, that when I’m showing at these big shows and trying to qualify for something or trying to make a team or whatever, that it’s really so important to take the time and clear my schedule and just focus on those horses. 

“I clearly do better when I go down to Wellington, and I have one or two horses, and that’s all I have to do,” she added. “Chile taught me that. I was traveling with Fire Fly for two weeks, and people were like, ‘What are you going to do? You’re used to being so busy.’ I was kind of getting in my head a little bit like, ‘Yeah, how am I going to handle that? Is it going to make me nervous?’ But it was actually completely the opposite, and it helped me so much. 

“It taught me a lesson for going forward to this year,” she continued. “Going on a big stage and just riding the horse like I’ve learned the ride the horse, and it all worked. It was one of the best experiences of my life.”

At home, Marek, 34, has plenty of help family with her children while she’s working at the barn and traveling to show, but she admits the toll of trying to do it all after having her first child taught her another lesson.

“Back when I had James, I remember being pregnant with him, and at that time five years ago, I felt like a lot of times it was looked at that if you were going to have a baby or start a family, that that’s what you’re going to do now, and there weren’t too many women that were at the top of the sport with young kids,” she said. “I felt a lot of pressure after him to start riding really quickly and make sure I had the same clients and that I was back in the show ring. I felt like I had to prove that I was still going to do this the same that I did before I had the baby.”

Looking back, Marek said she got back in the ring quickly and achieved her goals, even with family helping to cart the baby around the horse show, but maybe it was a bit rushed. She welcomed her second child with a little more of a relaxed attitude.

“This time around when I had Mae, I enjoyed it so much more,” she said. “It’s all going to be there when I’m ready to get back. I have two girls that ride for me that do a great job. The horses don’t forget anything. They don’t mind having some down time. And I’m not going to forget how to ride. I took a lot more time with Mae and enjoyed the beginning part of it—it’s true what they say, and it does go by really fast. I look at Mae now as a 2-year-old, and she’s still obviously a baby, but when she started school, it was still very emotional for me. If this is my last little, I can’t believe she’s starting school!”

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