Eugene’s equestrians bring prestige to the area By Stephanie Land
On a cloudy weekend in Wilsonville, Oregon, horses and riders from all over the West Coast gathered at Hunter Creek Farm for the Early Summer Classic Horse Show. Becca Davidson, 18, a client of Christus Farms in Jasper, a few miles southeast of Eugene, is preparing for her round. Her ebony boots have been polished to a deep shine, her saddle scrubbed to a like-new clean, and her horse, Roman Holiday, gleams like a new copper penny. While a groom readies her horse, Davidson relaxes on a plush couch under one of the tents set up at the end of each aisle, discussing horses with friends and family. This could be Davidson’s last show season with Roman Holiday, as she is headed for college in the fall and the horse has been put up for sale. “It’s sad,” the petite brunette notes, “but it will be good to ride other horses in college.” When the announcer calls for Davidson’s class, she and trainer Amy Gau, one of three trainers at Christus, walk to the event ring. “Make sure to keep your leg on him, and take your time between the two far fences,” Gau advises.
Davidson takes a deep breath; her horse picks up the graceful canter gait and sails to the first fence. The powerful animal rocks back on his haunches and jumps, tucking his feet to avoid a pole. Davidson continues through the course and is greeted at the end with the pinnacle of horse-show accomplishment: a blue ribbon.
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Lane County has always been a popular place for people to own and ride horses. From obedience and beauty contests to speed or obstacle courses, there is an activity for every horseback rider. While not everyone participates in horse shows, the success of the following competitors, along with many other local amateurs and pros, on a regional, national, and international level is focusing attention on our area, bringing with it world-class trainers and fantastic boarding facilities that cater to the professional or casual horse enthusiast.
The Lance Armstrong of riding
Like the famous cyclist Lance Armstrong, Stephanie Connor, a 58-year-old bookkeeper, has won more championships than almost anyone else in her sport. Competing with Morgan horses, and mostly in horse-and-cart driving events, Connor has won five world championships with her horse Festival Calypso, an English pleasure world championship (a riding event) with Man In Command, and a world Ladies Park Harness championship with HVK Constantinoble. Another one of her horses, Dragonsmeade Carnegie Hall, won back-to-back world championships in amateur ladies pleasure and open pleasure.
Connor and her daughter Shannon train at Arcuri Stables in Springfield, and enjoy lessons with legendary saddlebred and Morgan trainer Tim Arcuri. “To have him in your backyard is such a blessing,” she says. Arcuri notes that Connor is the only person he knows of who has won an amateur pleasure driving world title and a ladies pleasure driving world title in the same year, meaning she won two titles with two different horses.
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When competing in the driving division, Connor is judged on her poise and appearance, while her horse is judged on obedience and gracefulness at the walk and the trot at different speeds. Connor also has another very accomplished show horse, El Torro, who won grand national titles in 2004 and 2006. “I have been very fortunate to have extraordinary horses,” Connor says, and that makes competing fun.
With the help of Tim Arcuri and his son Ryan, Connor was able to purchase Festival Calypso and is currently gearing up for this year’s world championships. If they win, it will certainly make them a candidate for the most successful Morgan horse-and-rider team of all time. “The adrenaline rush I get when I am out showing my horses is something I don’t experience in other parts of my life,” she says. “It’s a whole different world out there.”
Triathlon for horse and rider.
When 46-year-old Kathryn Daniel moved with her family to Eugene from Kentucky, she brought her love of Three Day Eventing with her. The sport is derived from military practice and involves three phases—dressage, stadium jumping, and outdoor cross-country jumping—like a triathlon for horse and rider. Daniel noticed a lack of knowledge and enthusiasm for the sport here, which she set out to change. Make Your Mark Stables was the result, and today it is the only full-size cross-country training facility in the Eugene-Springfield area. Sitting on 60 acres of rolling hills along the McKenzie River in Springfield, Make Your Mark features a 5-acre eventing field with challenging obstacles for both beginner and advanced riders; a large covered arena with sand trucked in from Florence to provide cushioning for horse hooves; and a full course for premium stadium jumping. Daniel’s events are very popular with the equestrian community, and she plans to host the barn’s first annual Halloween Derby this year. “It will be a great time for people who want to come out and ride or just try [eventing] for the first time,” she says.
Eugene’s Rodeo Queen
The Fourth of July weekend is a big one for 24-year-old Rachael Anderson. By day she works for the Eugene Police Department as a Special Operations Administrative Specialist, but this night, the Fourth, she is rodeo royalty. She is the 2009 Ms. Eugene Pro Rodeo Queen, and she is on stage for all of her subjects to admire. Dressed in a pink button-down shirt, white leather chaps, and cowboy hat, the tall blonde beauty looks every inch the rodeo cowgirl she is meant to be. This is Anderson’s second year serving as Eugene’s Professional Rodeo Queen; it’s a rare honor in the world of rodeo pageants to win twice. Beyond her personality for pageantry, Anderson is also on her way to becoming a professional in the sport of barrel racing, a timed event in which riders race their horses around barrels in a cloverleaf pattern.
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“Barrel racing is great because you don’t have to be clean and it’s not the look that matters,” she says. “It’s about how hard you work and how fast you are.” In barrel racing, Anderson found her niche, and she and her horse Flash have been competing in the Northwest Professional Rodeo Association ever since. Once she wins enough prize money, Anderson will be able to apply for a license to be a professional.
As Ms. Eugene Pro Rodeo, Anderson spends nearly every weekend participating in a variety of promotional events, speaking to anyone who will listen about the joys of rodeo competitions. When her time as rodeo queen is over, Anderson plans to focus her attention on barrel racing, spending every spare moment training for the next level of competition. “It takes years of training before a horse is ready,” she says, “and I think we’re almost to that point.”
A driving passion
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Sue Minton-Edson’s passion is riding dressage horses, in which the horses are trained to smoothly perform patterned movements (it’s also an Olympic sport). The 56-year-old business owner leaves her husband at their home in Sixes, Oregon, every Thursday and drives 3 1/2 hours to Creswell to spend a weekend at her trainer’s barn. Minton-Edson has been making the trip to see Marcy Chapman every week for the past two years, and she and her husband are currently building a house in Eugene so she won’t have to drive so far. She grew up riding and training horses, but took a 20-year break to “go into the real world.” She started a water treatment company with her husband, and currently works part-time at home and part-time in her trailer, parked at Chapman’s barn.
After missing riding for years, it took only one lesson for Minton-Edson to decide that riding was truly her passion. She has won championships at 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-level dressage competitions both locally and nationally; in 2008, she won a silver medal by achieving qualifying scores in 4th level and Prix St. George, the first of four international levels—a major accomplishment for any rider. However, she believes that her biggest accomplishment is developing a harmonious relationship between her horse and herself. “When I came back to riding I didn't believe I was capable of this kind of success in this sport,” she says. “I was looking for a hobby. The combination of both the physical and relationship challenges have created tremendous growth in my life. That is my most valuable achievement.”
Not brain surgery
When 51-year-old Catherine Gallo isn’t spending time with her three horses, she’s a neurosurgeon at the NeuroSpine Institute at RiverBend Hospital. The mother of three children and stepmother to two competes in the Western pleasure and English pleasure events (in which the horse is to appear relaxed, at ease, and a “pleasure” to ride) in saddlebred breed shows all over the country. While in most breed shows the riders show their mounts at only three gaits (walk, trot, canter), saddlebreds can perform up to two more (slow gait and rack). Gallo’s horse, Toreador, is both the reigning world Western pleasure champion and national champion in the Western pleasure class in the saddlebred circuit. She’s also been among the top five in the world with her other two horses, Intoxicating Heir and Assets and Attitude. Riding Western with saddlebreds is particularly difficult, she notes, because the breed is high-strung and the Western class lends itself to a more levelheaded breed.
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Gallo grew up riding, even overcoming being thrown by a “nasty mean” pony.
After leaving the horse world for college, medical school, and then residency, Gallo moved to Oregon and immediately began looking for a place to ride. While touring a local riding barn, she saw a saddlebred horse walk by and knew that was the breed for her. Gallo ended up at Arcuri Stables, and has been training there ever since. She will be competing in the World Championships again this year in Oklahoma, but she’s trying to stay focused on one show at a time. “You can really drive yourself crazy saying, ‘I have to win a world championship in this or that,’” she says. “I want to win at the next show and I try not to focus too far ahead.”
In the long term, Gallo plans to start a breeding farm and produce high-quality saddlebred horses after she retires from medicine.
A head above
Many horse-crazy kids dream of becoming a horse trainer. Eugene native Sarah Rice made that dream a reality. At just 21, she became the head trainer of Triple Rise Equestrian Center this year, and now spends her days working with clients’ horses, giving lessons, and preparing for shows.
Growing up in Eugene, Rice spent her time doing a variety of activities. “I was that kid who did everything,” she says, “but eventually I just started dropping things off as I started riding more.” Though she admits she wasn’t a naturally talented rider, Rice says she kept with it because of her love of working with horses. She spent hours at Triple Rise cleaning and finding other ways to help out around the barn, until eventually she was able to start exercising clients’ horses and helping with the lesson program. She leased her first horse when she was 15, and worked to purchase her first horse two years later. Rice now competes in the 3’9” division on her horse, Eleanor, and was most recently the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Zone 9 Hunter Class Champion for the entire year. Her success as an amateur, along with her tireless work at the barn, made her the obvious candidate for head trainer when the position opened up.
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Rice said she sees a lot of potential in the horse community of Lane County. Even with the slow economy, people are still coming in to learn to ride horses, and there are lots of grass-root start-up barns in the area. “I think people like riding because you can get a better connection with a living, breathing animal than, say, a ball, something that will respond to you.”
BACK IN THE SADDLE
Arcuri Stables
37691 Upper Camp Creek Rd., Springfield
541/746-0143
Christus Farms
36826 Wallace Creek Rd., Springfield
541/726-1505
Eugene Pro Rodeo
eugeneprorodeo.com
Make Your Mark Stables
36316 Camp Creek Rd., Springfield
541/521-3999
makeyourmarkstables.com
Oregon Horse Center
90751 Prairie Rd.
541/689-9700
oregonhorsecenter.com
