Team #747 Elizabeth Kelley and Sammy Equus

Team #747: Elizabeth Kelley and Sammy Equus 
From: Reno, Nevada
Ages: 82 & 21
Combined Age: 103
Test: Training Level Test 2

I grew up in New York City. As a young child I was obsessed with horses. I tried without success to convince my parents that a pony would fit in the elevator of our building. When I got a bit older, I was able to take riding lessons in the city at Claremont Riding Academy. I rode in a tiny indoor ring with six support columns in the center of the ring. The horse’s stalls were upstairs and downstairs – talented horses to be able to navigate to their stalls. When I learned to trot and canter, I rode in Central Park. 

College, work, marriage, and children interrupted my riding activities until I was 56. By then, I had moved to Southern California where I discovered eventing and foxhunting with the Temecula Valley Hounds. I’ve been hunting since then, many years in California and now in Reno, NV, with the Sierra Nevada Hounds. 

My wonderful old horse, Sammy, was an eventer on the Mexican National Team, after which he evented with a lovely young rider. Now he takes care of me in the hunt field. He’s also teaching me some of his fancy dressage moves. 

I have much to be grateful for starting with my tolerant and supportive parents, my coaches who taught me the correct principles of riding and horse management, and my hunting friends - a group of whom came to my Century Club ride to provide encouragement and to celebrate with me. 

Thank you to The Dressage Foundation for providing this rewarding experience. I hope a Century Club ride will be the goal of many older riders. 

Keep on riding all and Tally Ho!