I was lucky, at a young age, to get a job working under show jumper Susie Hutchison, a woman who had a profound effect on my riding career and life.
I remember going to work for her at Indio, Thermal, Showpark and a lot of other venues in Southern California. I very honestly was completely out of my depth and at first quite overwhelmed by the experiences, but I grew to love the scene of it all and truly enjoyed jumping the young horses for her.
In reality, Susie was the first person who really gave me a true opportunity to get in the show ring on quite a number of horses. And because of that experience, I fell in love with being a small part of the little equestrian worlds at those venues, and that small obsession followed me when I moved to the East Coast a few years later.
I remember quite vividly my first taste of Wellington. I went down there with three horses on a team grant, and I was terrified about not knowing people and being completely out of my element. The world down there is so different from anything I have ever seen…
But last week, as I was driving down to compete in the inaugural $50,000 Wellington Eventing Showcase at WEF, I had to laugh to myself. At this point, through working for Michael Matz, with his Palm Meadows being so close, and riding with Scotty Keach and Sharn Wordley, and Marcia Kulak becoming a friend and mentor, taking me in five years ago down here, I have grown a lot more comfortable with Wellington—even though I know it’s not really an eventer’s world.
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| (From left) Michael Matz, Katie Ryan Walker and D.D. Matz pause for a selfie at the $50,000 Wellington Eventing Showcase. |
When I saw the email inviting me to compete there, I immediately knew it was something I would love to be a part of. I can honestly say that I am beyond impressed with how Mark Bellissimo ran the event and how we were all made to feel so welcome and at home. A place that literally used to make me shake with nerves driving into has become a place I feel very comfortable competing in. For that I am very grateful.
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I think our sport is filled with some great people who work very hard to make ends meet, all the while competing in one of the most dangerous horse sports, and to think that there are people out there trying to support our sport and promote it makes me very happy for the future. I hope this is the beginning of something special, as I think that every horse, rider and spectator in Wellington was thrilled how the weekend went. I think it was a great small taste of what our sport is, and what an amazing kick-off to the 2015 season!
Thank you to the Asheville Regional Airport for their sponsorship, as well as everyone who helped put the event on!
I hope this is a big event for years to come!
Jennie
