The farm belonging to the 2009 U.S. Equestrian Federation’s eventing breeder of the year isn’t a huge, slick commercial operation. Instead, it’s the 25 acres of the Eastern Shore of Maryland that Elizabeth “Didi” Callahan calls home.

At her Cool Na Grena Sporthorses in Oxford, Md., Callahan produces between two and four foals a year. Those foal crops deliver remarkable results, earning top scores in breed inspections and becoming consistent performers not only in eventing, but also in dressage and show jumping.

Two horses contributed the majority of the points for Callahan’s USEF breeder award last year—Slate River, an advanced horse ridden by professional Heather Morris, and Balmoral, a novice and training level horse ridden by Callahan.

Callahan’s accomplishments are all the more impressive given the fact that she’s a full-time veterinarian, balancing her breeding activities with her job, family life and riding.

“For most people it’s a full-time job to be a vet, or a full-time job to be a breeder, or they spend all day on their riding, but she does it all. And then she downplays it,” said Kim Meier, Callahan’s trainer. “She doesn’t waste time or effort. If she’s determined to get that much done in a day, she does it. She just knows to knuckle down and get things done, and she doesn’t make a big deal about it,” added Meier.

Something That’s Fun To Ride

Callahan currently has five broodmares, four of which are in foal for 2011. Her mares include Emma, a Thorough-bred mare bred by Denis Glaccum who evented to the one-star level, and Report To Sloopy, out of the same dam (Nearly Sloopy) as John Williams’ four-star ride Sloopy.

Callahan also has three mares she bred and evented herself that are second- or third-generation of her breeding program—Leia, Rehobeth and Balmoral.

She rode Leia (Le Champion—Princess Nancy, I’ma Hell Raiser) to the intermediate level and completed two long-format one-stars on her. Meier and Sally Cousins both rode Rehobeth (Riverman—Noontime Surprise, Hullabloo-jah) at preliminary after Callahan produced her through the U.S. Eventing Association Young Event Horse program to training level. And Callahan rode Balmoral (Hilltop Bugatti—Princess Nancy, I’ma Hell Raiser) to multiple wins at novice and training before the mare suffered a career-ending injury last winter.

“I just enjoy seeing the combinations and seeing what I can produce. It’s like a chess game, seeing what I can do to improve on the mares I have,” said Callahan.

“What I breed is what I would like to ride myself, or at least think I could ride,” she added.“If they come out crazy fancy, that’s fine, but I’m not out to breed the ultimate Olympic athlete. I like to breed something that’s fun to ride and has enough talent to do whatever a rider would like to do, and if they have more, great. They can go on to someone who can do more with them.”

Sandy Fritsche of Shamong, N.J., has bought four young horses from Callahan. “She breeds very good quality animals. I never have an ounce of concern about their quality or their health,” Fritsche said. “I’ve purchased three horses now from her virtually sight unseen. She’s honest and up front. I have no qualms calling her and saying, ‘I have an empty stall, which one do you think I should take?’ That’s the way we do it.”

Fritsche does much of the groundwork on the young ones she gets from Callahan, then sends them to Doug and Holly Payne for starting under saddle.

“All the horses we’ve purchased from her have been easily sold for eventing or dressage. Even a lightly untrained 3-year-old went immediately because it was such good quality,” said Fritsche.

Just Nice Horses

All of Callahan’s broodmares are full or half-Thoroughbred, since she started with Thoroughbred broodmares. She began breeding in the ‘80s, looking for an affordable way to get nicer horses on a budget.

“I could afford a Thoroughbred, but I couldn’t afford a nice warmblood. But I thought, ‘I can breed one.’ I started with a Thoroughbred mare, bred her to a warmblood and got some babies. Then I got a slightly nicer mare and just continued with that,” she said.

Despite her Thoroughbred base, Callahan has continued breeding to warmbloods. Slate River (originally named Roanoke) is a 1⁄4 Thoroughbred, 3⁄4 Oldenburg (Riverman—Etoile, Bonjour).

“For good or bad, as eventing progresses, warmbloods are becoming the thing. At the [U.S. Eventing Association] Young Event Horse Championships, they were all fabulous movers. There wasn’t one average mover there, and I think things are progressing to that point, where you’re going to have to have a fancy mover,” Callahan said. “And unfortunately, it’s hard to sell a Thoroughbred. People assume that they’re hard to ride.”

Callahan breeds with an event horse in mind, but she makes sure her young prospects are well rounded and marketable to many disciplines. She shows her young horses in-hand at breed shows and even at Dressage At Devon (Pa.).

“It’s really nice to take an event-bred horse to a dressage breed show and do well. It just shows that a good horse that has good movement can do well anywhere. A good horse that is correct and moves well should be able to pin at Dressage At Devon or at foal inspections,” Callahan said.

Callahan also presents her young horses and mares at breed inspections. “It’s nice to have other people’s opinions, because everyone gets a little barn-blind. In the organization I belong to [the Oldenburg Registry North America], they require foals to be inspected. It’s nice to have someone who sees lots of foals say, ‘This is a nice foal.’ I might think I have a nice one, but sometimes you wonder, and it’s nice to have that confirmed.”

Meier thinks that Callahan’s willingness to broaden her horizons has helped her make wise breeding decisions. “She watches to see which horses win and why. Every-thing she sees, she’s educated by,” Meier said. “Her eyes are always open, and she never thinks she’s smart enough, which is why she knows so much.”

It’s A Full Day

Callahan, 51, started riding lessons when she was 6, and her parents bought her a pony when she was 9.

“They bought a 4-year-old who ran away with me the first four times I rode him. I think I fell off all four times,” recalled Callahan, who grew up in the same area where she now lives. “And then they brought him home, because you don’t want to spend money on lessons once you have your own pony, right? I think for the first year I had him, I’d only canter him if I could aim him into a corner, so I wouldn’t get run away with.”

After she outgrew the first pony, Callahan’s parents bought her a horse from a dealer. That horse surprised them by delivering a foal one night, and Callahan raised, broke and trained that baby. She dabbled in 4-H and showed in local hunter/jumper shows.

Callahan attended Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (Va.). “I wanted to be a doctor until I spent a year as a candy striper and realized I really didn’t like sick people at all, so I figured I’d stick with the horses,” she said.

While at veterinary school, she discovered eventing. She graduated in 1985 and moved back to Oxford, buying her farm. “I realized that there was a lot more eventing in my area than I’d thought, so I went on with it,” she said.

Callahan works at Veterinary Medical Center in Easton, Md. “We’re one of the last of the real mixed practices,” she said. “We do companion animals and horses. My spring is primarily breeding work, and I do routine horse stuff and small animal too. I like horse people, and I like horses. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”

Callahan’s day starts early, as she feeds, mucks and turns out before arriving to work at 7:30 a.m. “I work until I get done, which in breeding season is 6 or 7 at night, and then I try to ride when I get home. I do all the barn chores, and then I ride. I try to ride five or six days a week, and I can usually ride one a day,” she said.

Her husband, Robert Drysdale, isn’t a horse person but has become competent in barn chores. “He’s been made into a breeding assistant, young horse handling assistant, and he does trail ride a little,” Callahan said. “I couldn’t do any of this without him. He’s a computer engineer by trade, and he helps out in practice and runs things here.”

They’ve been married 27 years and have two children, ages 24 and 22.

While she doesn’t do her own breaking of the babies anymore, Callahan does do a lot of ground work with the foals and weanlings and trains her own youngsters once they’ve been sent out to be broken. Right now, she’s working with a 3-year-old mare, Avalon, who is out of a mare she bred and by A Fine Romance.

“She really doesn’t mind if she only has a 3-year-old to ride,” said Meier. “When she rode at the preliminary and intermediate level, she didn’t think she was capable of doing that, but she did it. She grew with the horse, and she was a very capable rider and very competitive. She loved going intermediate on Leia, but she enjoys the little stuff with the babies, too.

“She got the horse on the trailer and off the farm. She knows about exposure. She doesn’t care about competing as much as getting the horse experience,” added Meier.

Meier said that Callahan is always working to improve. “She doesn’t care if she’s good or good enough, she just wants to get better every time she has a lesson,” she said. “Before I can find fault with something, she’ll stop and say, ‘I think I was doing this wrong.’ Never once has she said, ‘I think that was pretty good.’ She’s always picking on herself, which means she’s always improving.”