Competing at the National Horse Show

By Eleanor G. ’27

At the end of October, I spent a week in Lexington, KY, for the National Horse Show, held at the Kentucky Horse Park, and it was one of the most rewarding experiences. The National Horse Show is like no other. From the 4am schooling times, course walks with hundreds, and the minute-by-minute schedules, it was a wildly rewarding and exhausting week. 

I competed in the 14-15 Equitation division over the week, which was made up of close to 150 young riders. On Sunday, I competed in the Hamel Foundation NHS 3'3" Eq Championship, and we were in the top 80 riders among a competitive group of approximately 190. We had two extremely solid rounds with minor glitches that kept us out of the top placings.

Riding at the NHS is more of a mental game than anything else because all you are doing is putting in the practice and skills that you have been building for the past year. I gained more confidence and experience in one week than in the past six months because of how vastly different the National Horse Show is from every other show. I have never been to a show that was so organized and chaotic at once. Learning how to manage all the schooling times, tiny schooling rings, ten-minute course walks with hundreds, and how to manage stress is a large curve at a final, but the only way to learn is to compete at one. Riding your course after a glitch is something else I worked on during the week and is imperative to do instead of dwelling on the mistake.

My rounds went very well, and I was very happy with how my horse Jus D’O, aka Juice, and I rode. I cannot wait to build off this foundation for next year’s indoor season! This was my first ever full season in the equitation, and it has been more than I could've dreamt of. The equitation is all about the fine details and the ability to focus on those, whether it is how to ride that long five, inside turn, or which show shirt has a higher collar.

I am so grateful to everyone at Skyland in Kentucky and everyone back home for all the support, to my trainer Denice Perry for everything she did to help me achieve my first indoor season and all my goals this year, to the Foxcroft trainers for their help as well, and to my family and my amazing horse Juice, without whom none of this would be possible.