Team #834 Lynn Freeman and Harley
Photo by Creek Dreams Photography
Team #834: Lynn Freeman and Harley
From: Meriden, New Hampshire
Ages: 77 & 24
Combined Age: 101
Test: Prix St. Georges
You Can’t Take Your Horse on Your Boat!
My family were sailors, not leaving any time for my childhood dreams of horseback riding. Like many girls, I made believe with broomstick rides and dreamt of riding, but you had to pedal the horses to make them go!
In my late 20s, while in graduate school, I found a riding program. The rest is history: 50 years of horses! I was fortunate to latch on to horsey friends who let me tag along, and to be coached and encouraged by many wonderful instructors.
Over the years, I was lucky enough to have the horses and instruction to take me safely eventing to the Intermediate Level, before a radical swap to foxhunting. My husband and I fox hunted for 15 years, primarily in Virginia, with several trips to Ireland (for some crazy rides!). But I missed the training, and dressage drew me away from hunting. My passion for riding has not diminished over the decades. I currently ride three to four horses a day, and I love taking lessons and going to clinics.
I’ve had some amazing horses over the years but am particularly attached to Harley. I wanted to do something special with him, a Prix St. Georges Century Club ride. So, at 77 and 24, in a borrowed shadbelly, and rode down the centerline for the first time in 20 years, to do my first (and probably only) FEI test. It was a deeply emotional experience, the childhood fantasy of an adult amateur come true.
