To put it simply, Lillian “Lily” Frenzel knows how to get things done.

“Anything that I need doing, she is always there, and always does it with a smile and is happy to do it,” said Kathryn Butt, who recently retired from her role as the youth coordinator for the South Carolina Dressage and Combined Training Association.

Frenzel’s can-do attitude, serious work ethic and penchant for always showing up to help prompted Butt to nominate her for this year’s U.S. Dressage Federation Youth Volunteer of the Year award, which she won.

Despite her many volunteer efforts, which include handing out prizes and setting up dressage arenas and jumps at events as well as fundraising for them, being named the USDF Youth Volunteer of the Year came as a surprise to Frenzel.

“I had not known that I was nominated. I got a text from [Butt] telling me to check my email, and I did, and it was really exciting,” said the 17-year-old from Bluffton, South Carolina. “It was definitely surprising, because no one had told me they had planned on [nominating me].”

Making Friends Along The Way

Frenzel’s inspiration for volunteering at horse shows and clinics comes from a genuine desire to help. She also dreams of one day becoming a technical delegate. Volunteering, she noted, helps her better understand and learn about everything that goes into making a horse show run.

“A few years ago, my trainer introduced me to the technical delegate at one of the shows. I got to talk to her a lot through the weekend, and she was amazing,” she said. “I hadn’t realized that was a job you could have … and it just sounds perfect.”

Frenzel takes care of her own horses and has also groomed for other barns at shows over the years. Her favorite part of grooming is getting to know each horse’s personality. She tends to work as a volunteer at horse shows she is not personally competing in, ensuring that volunteer time doesn’t take away from the time she gives to fulfilling her charge’s needs. The social aspect of horse shows is one of her favorite parts of the experience, whether volunteering or competing.

“I love getting to meet new people at every one and making a lot of new friends that way,” Frenzel said. “It’s really fun.”

One of her favorite volunteering memories took place at a combined test for the 2023 SCDCTA Oktoberfest championship when she and her friend McKenna Sykora scaled a tall pile of jumps on a flatbed to help unload them. She also has fond memories of setting up dressage arenas with friends.

“Any time you set up a dressage arena, trying to get it straight is a lot of fun. There are some fabulous photos of my friends and I looking like we are performing rocket science trying to set up a dressage arena together,” Frenzel said. “Getting it straight and square, there are tools to help, but it is always a far longer process than you anticipate and so much fun to see how everyone views it differently.”

Making A Clinic Happen

Frenzel volunteers alongside her 14-year-old sister, Delia Frenzel, and many of her friends. All must accumulate volunteer hours if they want to take part in the annual SCDCTA clinic for juniors and young riders, which Lily has attended for four years.

“Every year, the SCDCTA hosts a free, multi-day clinic with an FEI rider for all of their junior members,” Lily said. “It is a fabulous clinic experience and is actually a big part of what got us into dressage.”

Butt, who has overseen the organization’s annual clinic for the past seven years, credited Lily as a driving force behind fundraising for the annual event, which has featured clinicians such as Endel Ots, Mary-Cameron Rollins Mansfield and Jodie Kelly. While the two-day clinic at the South Carolina Equine Park in Camden gives young riders a chance to train with an out-of-state clinician that they “otherwise wouldn’t have access to,” the clinic also is entirely funded by the attendees.

“Lily, acting as the SCDCTA youth representative, really rallied the troops and fundraised like a fiend, well over 100 hours,” Butt said, reaching out to equestrian and non-equestrian businesses, receiving both financial and product sponsorships, including from Platinum Performance and Mackey.

“So thanks to Lily’s efforts, not only was the clinic able to happen, but we had the most, for lack of a better term, swag that we’ve ever had,” Butt said. “Making this clinic happen is a year-round project, for sure, but there was never an opportunity that Lily let pass by.”

Lily wrote letters to request support from the sponsors leading up to the clinic, but she also personally wrote thank-you notes to each and every one of them after it had ended, showing her gratitude for their contribution. Some riders at the clinic were having trouble writing thank-you notes due to their young age or not speaking English as a first language, Butt said, and Lily helped them get the job done.

“She’s a great kid that’s never met a stranger. Whenever I needed help reaching out to another kid or a new kid, or to help make a new kid feel welcome, she was the first to step up,” Butt said.

Looking Ahead

Lily began riding when she was 5, starting out on hunters and jumpers under the training of her mother, Megan Frenzel, then switching to dressage at age 13. She lives on the same property as her family’s barn, so she begins her day with barn chores and completes her online schoolwork throughout the rest of the mornings. Her afternoons and evenings are spent caring for the horses and riding with Turner, who is Butt’s mother.

She began competing at recognized shows in 2021, and now competes at second level with her current mount, a 13-year-old Hanoverian mare named La Reina Hu (Leonberg—Rohmanie).

Moving forward, the high school senior’s goal is to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design (Georgia). She plans to continue riding and competing her own horses, and possibly compete on the university’s equestrian team as well.

“I’d love to keep volunteering as much as I can. I really like it,” Lily said. “When I’m a bit older, I’d love to be able to scribe for the judges, because I’m currently too young to do that. I’ve been told that scribing is a great way to learn to do everything.”