Andie Sue Roth - 2020 Cynthia Aspden Youth and Young Adult Development Fund Grant Recipient

Photo by Terri Miller

In 2020, I was the recipient of TDF’s Cynthia Aspden Fund for Youth and Young Adults grant, and looking back on that time, I am so grateful for how much that changed my life.

Without that grant, it would have been very difficult for me to have been ready to tackle my next big goal, which was to compete at Tryon International Equestrian Center. That year a very generous owner allowed me to borrow her incredible P.R.E. stallion, “Centeno” for a National Para-Dressage show for the first time in the Para-Dressage world. I was so excited but needed to prepare well.

Thanks to the Cynthia Aspden grant, I could do just that. The competition was amazing, and it literally catapulted me into my current goals of achieving my USDF gold medal and continuing my quest to the Paralympics. Currently, I am a USDF silver medalist and a U.S.A. Para-Dressage Rider on the USEF Para Development list competing at the 3* International CPEDI competitions.

I am so grateful for that first grant! At the time, all I knew was that I needed a boost in my training to get to the next level. I never imagined how far that boost would take me! Thank you so much, TDF, for all you do to support riders at all stages of their journeys. Like me, that first grant may help them go farther than they ever could imagine.