2024 was a year of rebuilding for me personally.
I sold my only sound horse at the end of 2023, and decided to reinvest my time fully into my heart horse, one I had been rehabbing for two-plus years. In the spring, we made a triumphant return to the show ring and I never felt better. Those long, horrible months of stall rest and rehab were behind us.
Until they weren’t.
Over the summer, my horse suffered another injury. Different from the one before, but it still took us out of riding for six months. I felt lost in the upside down of it all.
As 2024 neared an end, I was grateful to say I was back in the saddle, rehabbing my forever horse for the umpteenth time. That glimmer of hope was alive and well… though guarded, again.
In a lot of ways, this experience made me look at the way I approach riding and horse sport in a new light. It’s taught me to trust my gut over anyone else, and to listen to what my horse is telling me. In retrospect, I wish I’d experienced these kind of revelations much sooner.
There were lots of headlines that made a big splash in the horse world in 2024. While I try to wrap my head around them, here are some of the biggest takeaways I have going into a new year with some renewed hopes and dreams.
Horse Welfare is No. 1, Always. Get With The Program.
One of the major highlights of 2024 was the Paris Olympic Games, of course. Horse sport was on the global stage from the immaculate gardens of the palace of Versailles. The public tuning in, as we found out, was a double-edge sword.
A dark cloud hung over Olympic equestrian coverage, which happened shortly after dressage darling Charlotte Dujardin withdrew from the British team after allegations (and video) of horse abuse. The terrible narratives just piled on from there, with more FEI suspensions, blood rule eliminations and more.
And the internet condemnation was ruthless. Scathing opinions came from every end of the spectrum. But the worst, in my opinion, were those ones from equestrians themselves who want to target those who represent our sport. Yes, we should expect more accountability and responsibility of the riders at the top levels. Yes, all horses – especially those who perform at the top – should receive the best care and be treated with respect. That should be the No. 1 priority for anyone who touches a horse. But we need to work together to produce proper change, not get lost in the online rhetoric of beating each other down. We’ll never produce results this way.
There’s More Than One Way To Do … Almost Anything.
I’m someone who grew up climbing the ranks of my local hunter/jumper circuits, and only began to dip a toe in different disciplines as an adult. It’s a humbling experience, thinking you know how to do some very basic riding practice only to learn that others do it differently – and often much better – just under a different way of approaching the action. It’s easy for riders to operate in silos this way – and to double-down on the false thinking that their way is the best or only “right” way to accomplish something. There is so much we can learn from one another, both in the saddle and in horse care.
In 2025, I challenge you to take a lesson in a discipline that is not what you normally ride and compete in. You may surprise yourself in what you learn and what you accomplish.
We Can’t Bubble Wrap Them. It Sucks, I Know.
As my horse came out of an extended period of stall rest, introducing a safe turnout option for him was critical. I was beside myself with worry, fear that he would re-injure and guilt of having kept him cooped up in a stall for so long in the first place. Obviously my experience is not the norm. But over and over again, we see top riders with successful sport programs severely limiting the amount of time the horses are able to be outside and just “be a horse.” For a herd-based prey animal who is designed to be moving and grazing all hours of the day, there is nothing less natural that keeping them confined to a stall for the vast majority of their day. Science supports keeping them out in pasture. It’s better for their bodies and their mental state.
I’ll be the first to raise my hand to say that I wish we could keep them in bubble wrap, or whatever else to ensure their safety. But we can’t. So I turn my injury-prone, rehabbing gelding out into the field, whisper in his ear to make good choices, and try not to think too much more about it. He deserves his time to himself and with his friends.
It’s OK To Just Do Your Best.
Social media is fun in that it’s helped connect me to so many equestrians around the globe. Most of these new friends are kind and supportive of my riding endeavors they see in my posts. But social media also instills this intense feeling of #FOMO (fear of missing out) especially when the horse you have is laid up with an injury. In the years I’ve spent trying to keep my horse sound, I’ve lost a lot of the competitive spirit that motivated me to try harder and move up. I mourned losing that part of myself – I’ll be honest – but I’ve come out on the other side a better horseman.
Chasing the ribbons is not the end-all, be-all anymore for me and my horses present and future are and will be better off because of it. I still have riding goals. I still want and plan to compete. But my horse’s health and well-being comes first. I don’t need to be at every show in the series to chase year-end points. I want our outings to be purposeful and successful, and those terms are not measured by the ribbons we take home. If one of us isn’t happy in the job, then the job needs to change. It’s about building trust between us, confidence and purpose in our training and learning from our experiences along the way.
We’ve Got To Do Better. Together.
Horse welfare deserves two separate shout-outs in this piece, because it is the most important narrative affecting our community today. I was horrified to read of the horse care practices our show officials have uncovered in recent years, from the use of euthanasia drugs to withholding water, all in an effort to make a horse perform with lethargy in order to place better among the judges. What have we become, that we would inflict this kind of abuse to win? And that judges would reward this? These kind of hush-hush practices have been going on for some time, but it’s reached a new low, in my humble opinion. We should reward brilliance in the show ring, which shows horses being horses, athletic creatures with grace and power. We shouldn’t dumb it down. Learn how to ride horses who go forward, who have scope and who enjoy their jobs. And understand that they are not bicycles – not every day will they perform the same, feel the same or have the mentality do what you want them to. Adapting to that is the foundation of horsemanship. Let’s build better lifelong horsemen, not just passing-through riders.
Photo credit: Angela Conkel Photography