The O’Connors hold an annual eventing clinic at the Virginia Horse Center in which they bring along their staff, training tools and their string of show horses to teach campers how to tackle the difficult questions of eventing.

While interning for the Virginia Horse Center during the summer of 2009, I saw that the clinic dates fell during my time in Lexington, Va. I was thrilled—just to be able to meet them, watch them teach and ride and maybe even sign an autograph. Little did I know, my week with the O’Connors would turn into more than just a watch and learn experience.

In covering the clinic as an internship project, I had written a few press releases beforehand and was able to get them printed. To my surprise, my boss informed me that I would be able to participate under the circumstances that I kept a daily blog of my experiences, submit follow-up stories and represent the Horse Center appropriately. I was jumping for joy in my office and didn’t sleep a wink the night before. I was wired like an anxious 5-year-old awaiting Christmas Day.

We got settled in the barn on Sunday evening, and I noticed that the O’Connors had brought along quite a few horses. They filled the bottom of our barn at the Horse Center with navy and silver stall guards, tack trunks and a flatbed trailer with a big red object secured to the middle of it. “Hmm…this is going to be an interesting week,” I thought as I walked over for our first camp meeting.

David and Karen strolled into the barn and took a seat around our circle, their black and tan terriers following their every move. Cathy Wieschhoff, international competitor and student of the O’Connors, was present to help teach as well. After we all had met Cathy and the rest of the O’Connor Event Team, we introduced ourselves before heading to the pavilion for a leisurely dinner.

Over a plate full of fruit salad and fried chicken leg, I relaxed in the cool summer breeze and visited with two campers from a northern Virginia barn. As we exchanged horsey stories, I just about jumped out of my jodhpurs as Karen O’Connor plopped down with a plate of food right across the picnic table from me. Holey ja-moley. I tried to contain my enthusiasm; not making any sudden movements across from the same woman that I have read about in Practical Horseman multiple times, whose posters hung in my room, who has competed in four Olympic Games to date, and has been named United States Female Equestrian Athlete of the Year 10 times. Deep breaths…deep breaths.

I worked on not choking on my words, or my dinner, as I chatted with others at my table, as well as Karen. We all enjoyed music, a meal and the company. She was more normal than I ever would have imagined; it was just like sitting at the table with your closest barn friends and talking horses.

“Well, they do put on their pants in the morning the same as you; one leg at a time,” a wise friend told me on the phone later that night. As much as I respect the O’Connors’ professional equestrian status, I discovered that they are also stellar dinner hosts. I found out later in the week how much they enjoy cooking, eating and playing camp jeopardy at a relaxing barbeque provided by Brian and Penny Ross.

The next morning, I found one of their quirky training tools was a big red mechanical bronco attached to the flatbed trailer. One of our campers named it “The Voodoo Child.” Every morning we practiced proper leg position for jumping, drop jumps and galloping positions. Simulated manually by three strong people, our jumping technique was critiqued and perfected with out even setting foot in the stirrup.

One of my favorite lessons of the week included jumping a stadium course on the last day. David was the course designer, as he had to leave early that morning to travel. Busy is the schedule of the U.S. Equestrian Federation President and coach of the Canadian Eventing Team. In my lesson with Karen, I learned how to positively ride a stadium jumping course, hold my upper body and tackle a tricky triple combination.

The last day concluded with a show jumping round, just as if we were competing in an event. David designed the course with a triple combination near the grandstand seating and a two-stride line just past the in-gate, along with multiple other questions for horse and rider to navigate.

Karen took our entire group and walked the course. We counted strides, decided when to balance, where to cut corners and which corners to ride deeper. Karen is so methodical; she takes everything in stride and told us to remember to think while on course. This was reiterated all week. For instance, if you chipped into a combination, Karen or David would yell “Get him outta there!” That meant fix your stride and push him forward to get out of the combination in one piece.

Everything rode as planned for me and Simba except for the second-to-last line. It was a big ascending oxer in, to an upright vertical right in front of the in-gate. Even though it walked as a four, everyone before me had ridden the organized five. I had a strong ride to the first oxer, probably the largest one on my course, and the four came out of the bigger step we had.

Then it was on to the triple by the grandstand. We needed a forward ride to attack the first jump and get a good spot in so the one to a two-stride would come easily. No pressure, just Karen O’Connor watching you, as well as everyone else including auditors, parents and students. To top it all off, Simba’s breeder, trainer and owner was watching. All eyes on me; don’t screw up.

We got in deep to the first one, I pushed to the second and maintained for the two. We got out of the triple alive, all the rails still in their cups. Relieved, I trotted over to Karen so she could give me the low-down on how my ride looked from her seat, as she was perched on the fence at the in-gate.

She explained to me that I needed to have an active seat and quiet upper body. I did have a few very good lines, like the four towards the in-gate. But I really needed to hold my upper body and not fall forward. We practiced the four-stride line to the triple a few more times, and I learned how to ride that big combination properly. Karen told me to attack the first jump as if it was a stand-alone oxer, and then the distances to the other jumps just came.

Karen is such a down-to-earth instructor. She is the kind-of trainer who encourages you to ride positively, so your horse is happy to do his job.

During camp with the O’Connors I became friends with their lovely staff. They all worked with each other, never seeming to mind the job at hand. I even caught Karen mucking stalls one evening. What a team. Focused on the team aspect of riding, each lesson group had to come up with a name.

While out cross-country schooling that Wednesday afternoon, Karen dubbed our group as “The Future of the Sport.” Wow. As scary as that sounded, there is no denying the truth merited by her words. One of my favorite authors, Henry David Thoreau, once wrote “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” After spending the week with the O’Connors, it is apparent that both David and Karen continue to live by these words. Maybe one day I will too.