You can’t miss Jodie Stowell as she heads out of the start box on cross-country, whether it’s on her novice level leopard Appaloosa Island Fever or her preliminary packer Appaloosa/Thoroughbred Comet II.

The amateur rider has a penchant for the colorful breed and she’s ticking off her goals one by one with both, on her own no less, as she balances competing with her day job as a small animal veterinarian.

“I like to have a horse that I can look at and go, ‘Wow, that’s a cool horse!’ The personality will get you ever time,” she said. “They’re very opinionated but at least the ones I have are very sweet.”

Stowell, 31, picked up eventing in the local Pony Club near her hometown of Murfreesboro, Tenn.

When she realized she needed a horse more suitable to eventing than her childhood Quarter Horse, Stowell found Comet II (Sombreado—Puf Tan—J.J.’s Joker), or “Joker’s Hale Bopp” as he was registered.

Nicknamed Comet because he was born in 1997, the year of the Hale Bopp comet, the then-2-year-old dilute palomino gelding might not have seemed like a good choice for 16-year-old Stowell, but she was smitten.

“Really the only snag we hit was when I was trying to teach him to canter,” she remembered. “He was like a Tennessee Walking Horse trying to canter—back half, front half, back half, front half. He started to do that and toss his head around and I had no idea what I was doing.”

With some help from her dad, who had raced Quarter Horses 20 years earlier, Stowell and Comet made quick progress.

“From there, he was pretty straightforward,” she said. “It’s almost like he was a born schoolmaster. He’s not your typical event horse. He’s very quiet, ho hum—would rather probably go slow than go too fast. He gets a little excited every once in awhile. I’ve actually put friends from work on him to go walk around. He never makes time at prelim, but he’s done 19 prelims and been to [the Nutrena/USEA American Eventing Championships] twice, so you’ve got to give some consistency to a good jumper, even if they’re slow.”

Jodie Stowell on Comet II at the Carolina International CIC* last year. Photo by Brant Gamma

When it came time to go to college, Stowell stayed close to home so she could afford her eventing habit and attended Middle Tennessee State University in hopes of becoming an equine vet.

She attended the University of Tennessee for vet school and moved south to Loxahatchee, Fla., for an internship after graduation. Unfortunately south Florida lacks in events, so Stowell made do with what she had.

“We would go out with my mentor, who had Arabs, and did endurance riding,” she said. “We ended up going on some training rides with them and doing a 30-miler. I was working the ride and we ended up just taking a few hours off to go do the ride!”

Her internship took a toll, mentally and physically, but Comet was always there for her, even if she had to come to the barn in the middle of the night to get a ride in.

“It’s not always been easy,” she admitted. “I would say the time I’ve leaned on him the most was at vet school and my internship. Even though that’s technically into adulthood, it’s interesting transitioning from being a student for so many years into trying to work and figure all those things out. During my internship I didn’t ride him a whole lot. I took my five days of vacation and went to AECs in Georgia and wouldn’t trade anything for that trip—I loved it.

“There were days where I would go and cry on his shoulder because I was so tired or things were so crazy,” she continued. “It’s not easy being an intern as a vet and trying to do all these things. Anything that I’ve asked of him, he’s always done for me and he has enriched my life in so many ways that I can’t enumerate them all. He’s been a great friend to me.”

Digging Deep

When it came time to look for a job, Stowell was having trouble finding one in the equine field, so she decided to look into small animal practices. She ended up in northern Virginia and now works at a Banfield Pet Hospital.

Stowell lives in Upperville, Va., and works four days a week, usually on 12-hour shifts, and keeps her four horses at a rented property where they live out 24/7.

“[My job has] got its perks—it pays well and you’re not on call. I was either going to have to choose between my professional and riding careers and I thought I’d rather further the riding career and do what I need to do with my job to make it all happen. I’ve done my best to try to be happy with both. I would not be happy with just any small animal job. The people I work with are amazing,” she said.

When Stowell first moved to Virginia, Comet was recovering from a suspensory injury, so she found Island Fever, a full Appaloosa bred to be a show horse. They’ve been competing at the novice level this year and were named Best Conditioned at the Waredaca Novice Three-Day Event (Md.) last fall. They even completed a 25-mile endurance ride in November.

“He’s an attention catcher,” she said. “He’s a leopard. You can just tell he’s a ham by his head and his expression. He definitely has a bit more go in him, which I definitely like. We’re working on controlling that right now.”

Jodie Stowell on Island Fever at the 2014 Waredaca Novice Three-Day Event.
Photo by GRC Photography

She also has two young horses, another Appaloosa/Thoroughbred cross and an Irish Sport Horse, that she’s bringing along when time allows.

Stowell occasionally has help from her boyfriend, but it’s mostly her caring for her four horses, plus two of her landlord’s. She travels to shows alone, even taking a week to go to Aiken, S.C., in early February with two horses.

She gets occasional lessons from eventer Erin Freedman or Stephen Bradley, but considers five or six lessons a year to be doing “a good job”.

“It involves a lot of late nights where you go to bed at midnight or 1 o’clock and get up at 6 a.m. to leave for the horse show,” she said. “It’s something that you’d better have a passion for or you’re not ever going to get it done. I feel like I’m a one-woman show most of the time. It’s definitely not easy and every once in a while I get tired of it, but I think that’s everybody doing anything. It’s a passion I’ve always had, so on the tough days, I kind of have to dig deep and think about that, but otherwise it’s really not too bad!”

Since Stowell can’t ride each horse every day, she focuses on one or two at a time during specific times of year.

“I would love to get them all ridden five or six days a week like all the pros do, but it’s just not physically possible,” she said. “I don’t have an arena or lights where I am because I needed to find rent at a decent price to keep myself and four horses somewhere. I try my darndest to make sure everybody gets some attention.”

One of Stowell’s biggest accomplishments in her career came when she competed Comet in the Cloud 11-Gavilan North LLC Carolina International CIC* (N.C.) last spring, finishing 28th out of 52 riders.

“It was probably going to be our last attempt because our first attempt was a CCI* at Virginia,” she said. “He did really well until after cross-country he pulled up lame for the first time in his life. It was arthritis in his hocks and he’s had some issues on and off ever since.

“Being on an Appaloosa, they’re very visible and I got tons of little girls and other people coming up [at Carolina International] and saying ‘I love your horse, I’m cheering for you guys.’ It was really cool,” she continued. “It definitely has that underdog feel to it, but that’s one of my favorite spots to be in. I like to be going for it and that cross-country run was really amazing. They had completion ribbons and that’s one of the top three ribbons in my heart. It was a great feeling to say we finally did it.”

With Comet inching towards semi-retirement at age 18, Stowell plans to try some judged trails rides or foxhunting, which he’s done in the past.

She’s also eyeing the Waredaca Training Three-Day for Fever this fall. “I love the long format. Comet has won a training three-day and Fever went to two three-days last year,” she said. “I think it’s one of the best and most fun things I can do in my sport.”