Not even 2,500 miles of ocean can get between Lila Badham and her equestrian dreams.

Honolulu native Badham is one of 16 riders selected to participate in this year’s MZ Farms/USHJA Emerging Athletes Program National Training Session, going on now through Sunday at Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar, Virginia.

She was selected to attend the prestigious national training session from a large group of riders who attended one of 10 regional EAP sessions not only because of her riding abilities, but because of her horsemanship and barn management skills. Growing up in Hawaii, Badham explains that they “do things differently back home.” She has spent many years taking care of her own horses, and she attributes that experience with preparing her well for EAP.

“I’m really excited to clinic with [EAP Nationals lead clinician] Joe Fargis; that’ll be super, super cool, and honestly for all the seminars and just getting to meet everybody,” said Badham, 17. “[It will be] the same things as regionals but just on a little bit of a bigger stage.”

Horsey Hawaii

For Badham, a pair of lessons she was gifted for Christmas when she was 6 morphed into weekly lessons, and her family invested in a green “backyard pony” four years later. By the time Badham partnered with a full-sized mount named Rio, she was visiting the stable before school to muck out and feed, and returning after school to ride Rio and any other horses she could finagle.

While Rio now is leased out to a new rider who manages his care, Badham still rides him two days a week when she’s home. She also has made opportunities for herself to ride horses with several trainers at the handful of boarding barns on the island. She enjoys the opportunity to learn from a variety of people.

Badham said that most Hawaiians do the majority of their own horse care, aside from possibly paying someone to drop grain twice a day. The biggest challenge in Hawaiian horse care comes during the rainy winter season, when horse owners have to be vigilant about thrush and fungus.

There are no U.S. Equestrian Federation hunter/jumper shows in Hawaii, but the Hawaii Horse Show Association puts on about four shows a year. Each show attracts 20-30 entries, Badham said, with jumping classes up to 3’. When she attends one of those, it’s Badham’s job to manage trailering, braiding, renting a stall and care for her horse.   

“I mean, it’s definitely a lot of work. But, you know, I’m lucky I get to live in Hawaii and ride horses, so I can’t really complain,” she said. “I think just learning to do everything yourself is really good, and that came in handy for EAP. You have a better connection with the horses if you’re there every day.”

Succeeding On A National Stage

Badham’s riding journey changed when she competed in her first horse show on the mainland—also her first recognized show—during the 2021 Winter Equestrian Festival (Florida), where she won a low children’s/adult jumper class. Since then she started training at Oceancrest Farms under Alicia Saxton and Alysia Lynch-Sherard in Encinitas, California. She travels there several times a year for lessons and shows.  

Badham will often catch a red-eye flight and arrive at the horse show on little sleep, but she has perfected the art of remaining energized and focused upon her arrival. The biggest challenge of transitioning from riding at home to competing on the mainland on a different horse is readjusting her eye for the distances of the jumps, she said.

Saxton and Lynch-Sherard helped her pair up with Dayle Fischer Lemire’s Quadro D’Ag, a 20-year-old Selle Français gelding (Dollar De La Pierre—Unisson De L’Erve), to compete on the mainland. “Douggie” is a veteran equitation horse, and he helped Badham jump to fourth place out of more than 180 entries in the Hamel Foundation NHS 3’3” Equitation Championship at this year’s National Horse Show (Kentucky).  

“I never thought I’d have a chance to ride a horse like him before. He’s super experienced,” Badham said. “I’m super lucky that I get to ride him. … I never thought that I would get to take him here, or even ride a horse at that caliber.”

Originally, Badham wasn’t sure if she’d be able to go to Kentucky for the National, as the trip was primarily dependent on whether she won the Shelby Drazan Memorial Award this past September. That award, given annually to a West Coast rider who displays integrity and passion for equestrian sport, provides a round-trip flight from Tex Sutton Equine Air Transportation and a stipend for entries to an East Coast equitation final. Badham had been “keeping her eye on [the Shelby Drazan Award]” ever since she heard about it. In her application essay, she wrote about her experiences with school, service and riding, focusing on her unique story and journey as a rider.

“When she received that award, the mom cried, the kid cried, I cried,” Saxton recalled. “It was very impactful for her. She was a kid who really deserved it, and it really made a difference for her.

“[She’s] down to earth,” Saxton added. “She’s always happy to help around the stable, eager to ride any horse available to her, setting jumps for other people, and wiping down horses without being asked to. I don’t think she’s ever said no to anything I’ve ever asked.”

Looking Ahead

Badham “had her eye on EAP a few years” but never had a horse to do it with until Douggie came along. She is excited to participate in the national training session, she said, because of the chance to be around other young riders with the same ambitions as her and to become a more well-rounded horsewomen.

After EAP she’ll head to the Las Vegas National Horse Show where she’ll tack up Douggie for the IHSA/USHJA 3’3” Hunter Seat Medal Final—West. Badham also recently committed to ride on Baylor University’s (Texas) NCAA Equestrian Team after she graduates from high school.

“I also appreciated that they saw something in me a little bit, especially during that process,” she said of the Baylor team. “I’d been showing for a year, and I hadn’t really done any medal finals yet when I was talking to everybody, so I was kind of a little bit lesser known, so [I was] excited that somebody wanted me and kind of saw some potential there. I’m super grateful that they’re taking a chance on me, and I hope to prove myself.”

Badham plans to work at a show barn after graduation, which Saxton thinks is a real possibility.

“She’s a good horsewoman. She is hard-working, she’s dedicated, she’s smart, she’s talented. I mean, she’s got all the components that you want,” Saxton said. “[Badham is a] trainer in the making. … The sport would be a better place to have her in it as a trainer, eventually.”