Donna Donaghy - Century Club Member & Donor for 11 Years

I started riding as a child and rode off and on while I was growing up, mostly basic riding lessons and jumping. When I met my husband, he wanted to learn to ride, and after that happened, we eventually became fox hunters. It was through fox hunting that I became interested in eventing, and when I was in my mid-fifties, I started eventing. And, of course, I had to learn dressage, which was a life-changing experience for me.

I really knew nothing about it at the time, and as I got into it, I realized, although I had been riding for over 50 years, I had never really learned to ride until I had to learn dressage. I was fortunate enough that my first event horse had some experience, and I was able to learn how to ride him well enough to get very good dressage scores at the events.

In 1994, at the age of 57, I was the then USCTA's (now USEA) National Master Training Level rider. I eventually got that horse to 2nd Level, before I had to retire him. I had my next event horse long enough that we joined the Century Club in 2015, where I rode him at 1st Level.

Today, I am 86 and my horse is 33, and I still ride him. I attribute his amazing soundness partly to some of the things I learned in dressage, such as straightness, balance, and flexibility. Without a doubt, learning dressage was the best thing that ever happened in my life as a rider.