In the pages of this magazine you normally find the equine elite, the cream of the crop, the world-class performers. Week after week we interview the winners from competitions at the highest levels of equestrian sport. Although there’s always an upper level competition somewhere in the world to cover, the reality is that the glory of media coverage goes to only a tiny percentage of the riders out there. The vast majority of horsemen are performing at a much lower level, if they’re competing at all.

While they may not be riding in the Olympics, that doesn’t mean that these equestrians are any less serious, less dedicated or less passionate about horses. We all set goals, and attending your first horse show or cantering your wiggly off-the-track Thoroughbred around his first course may be as great an achievement for you as winning a gold medal is for others.

On Nov. 3-5 I attended my first Adult Team Challenge at the Virginia Horse Center, a team eventing competition sponsored by the Chronicle and the U.S. Eventing Association (see p. 120). While my team didn’t win, it was a great experience and an unusual one for an amateur rider. First, there was the team atmosphere. Once you leave the ranks of Pony Club and young riders, there aren’t many opportunities to ride on a team. Team spirit ran the gamut from carefully coordinated team jackets to orange streamers to glowing margarita glasses.

Then there was the special treatment the team competitors received: A formal dinner, complete with wine and souvenir wine glasses, began the show. We had special gifts in our competition packets, and the awards ceremony took place in the Waldron Arena in the Anderson Coliseum, the same place that the CCI** winners took their victory gallop. The top three teams earned neck sashes instead of ordinary ribbons, and the winners took home coolers, which made the whole event feel much more important than an ordinary horse show.

It’s not that adult amateurs need fancy ribbons, big prizes or even media coverage on a weekly basis to make riding worthwhile. As we all know horses are hugely expensive and time consuming, and there are many easier ways to earn glory than through our four-footed friends. If you’re an adult amateur, you’re probably out there riding for love and love alone.

But when we do have the opportunity for a little hard-earned recognition, such as the ATC or in an article in this amateur issue, it’s that much sweeter. In this issue we interviewed a variety of people who don’t count on their horses to bring in any income. They range from Kathryn Downs, who experienced the ride of a lifetime at the 2006 World Equestrian Games, and Momi Black, who never thought she’d compete at advanced, let alone go to the Rolex Kentucky CCI****, to Clarissa Edelston, who just wants to complete one preliminary competition some day, and Marsia Holzer, who never expected her grand championship at the Hampton Classic (N.Y.).

No matter the size of your dreams or how lowly your goals, this is your magazine adult amateurs. It probably wouldn’t be interesting to read about non-professionals all of the time, but for one week a year the spotlight is on the ambitious everyday rider instead of the exceptional one. These are people the average amateur can count as one of his or her own.


Sara Lieser