By Kathy Marsh
I am so excited to find out that I have won a Masters Challenge award, especially so late in my riding career. My life as a dressage rider is somewhat unexpected. Still, it has brought me tremendous satisfaction and pleasure, especially because I have been lucky to find an incredible partner in my young horse, Fiona.
Although I took a long break to raise my son, I have ridden since high school and rode hunters/jumpers, fox hunted, and trail rode, but I did not have any formal training in dressage. When my son was two, I seriously broke my back and spent six months in a body cast. That, combined with the demands of a job and a family, set my riding career on the back burner for fifteen years.
My dressage experience actually began with an Off-Track Thoroughbred (OTTB) that I purchased when my son went to college, leaving me as an empty nester. It happened that this young mare had a serious hidden injury when I bought her, so I started learning dressage as a form of rehabilitation. This is how I learned to love dressage.
That horse (who I still have) never fully recovered, so I started shopping for a serious dressage partner. After three failed attempts to buy a suitable horse, I finally found Fiona, almost accidentally, only an hour from my home. I took one look at her, and I knew. She was only three years old and barely broke, but she was kind, beautiful, and well-bred. I have always been a risk taker, so I took a chance on a youngster and bought her almost on the spot.
Since she was so young, I hired a professional to do her early training. The young woman I hired was an expert in natural horsemanship and did a wonderful job retaining my mare’s kind and cooperative nature. They formed a fabulous partnership and won many big awards, including the USDF First Level Musical Freestyle Championship at the 2021 Great American/USDF Region 2 Championships and the 2021 Adequan®/USDF Musical Freestyle Challenge Award at First Level. They also went to the US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan® two years in a row, finishing as Reserve Champion for their musical freestyle both years. I am in the music business, so I helped design the music, in addition to acting as owner and groom for the pair. It was great fun.
Last spring, my rider announced she was having a baby. I decided it was time to get back in the saddle, so I took over as rider. I was so out of shape that I could not even look at a video of my riding. It was depressing, but I showed up every day to practice, slowly regaining some of my old form. Fiona is so kind to me; my time as her groom bonded us. We had a few difficult moments, but we got through them and became more understanding of each other. She is smart and has a real personality.
When we go to shows, she has a fan club. Fiona loves attention. Not much bothers her, almost to a fault. She can sometimes be a little devil-may-care, but when it is showtime, she is all in. She can be fussy, though; we literally went through ten saddles before we found one she liked. She is very expressive, so it is easy to know what she is thinking. She almost talks. Having a talented, good-moving horse is great, but nothing beats a kind-hearted horse as a partner. We had a lot of fun showing last season, and I learned a lot. At first, I had a lot of anxiety about showing, but midway through the season, I decided just to enjoy spending the day with Fiona, so we rode around the showgrounds like I was a ten-year-old riding her favorite pony, and the anxiety evaporated. We started having fun.
I am now working hard to elevate my riding skills. I have gone to clinics with luminary Lilo Fore and, recently, Mary Wanless. Riding well is very hard. I studied ballet for twelve years when I was young, so, fortunately, I have pretty good body awareness. Dressage and ballet are quite similar; total body control is necessary to become accomplished. I know that my time in the saddle has an expiration date, so I am getting as much top-level instruction as I can now. I want to continue getting better, and that takes expert training at my age. Still, dressage is keeping me young. I don’t feel any different than I did forty years ago, but then I look in the mirror! Good thing my horse doesn’t mind my age.
The Dressage Foundation offers the Century Club Award for horse and rider pairs whose combined age is greater than 100 years old. I will have to wait another twelve years to make it into that club because Fiona is only seven years old. Perhaps there should be a recognition for older people who like to ride young horses!
I look forward to seeing my girl every day. She is the joy of my life, and I am forever grateful to have her.
