watching him and riding next to him in the school every day, things just started to become more natural and instinctual.” At Rolex Kentucky, Sinead finished just ahead of Fox-Pitt
riding Neuf de Coeurs in fourth. Still, she acknowledges that she is just learning to play with the big boys, and remarks, “I don’t really feel like I beat William, just like I didn’t beat Karen [O’Connor] or Clayton [Fredericks]. My horse and I performed the best we could on the weekend and that placed us where it did. I am still a kid around those guys even if I am almost 30. I am just pleased to be playing on the same field as them! They beat me in ‘times up to bat’, if you know what I’m saying!”
OUTSIDE VENTURES Sinead is very actively involved with the Professional Riders Organization (PRO) and says, “We have been having a great time this year in our efforts to reach out to areas around our events and involve the community. At Rolex I spoke to first graders at a local school who were involved with the Black Stallion Literacy Program. Each child received a book and could pet a horse and ask questions to us ‘grown ups’ in the front of the room. It was really fun and the kids were excited. It is organizations like PRO that can organize efforts like this and really make a difference. I am very proud to be on the executive board.” In 2006 Sinead, along with professional rider Rebecca
Howard and adult amateur Dana Voorhees, organized the first DerbyCross competition at Great Meadow Polo Club in The Plains, Virginia. A fast-paced combination of show jumping and cross-country, run in a team format, DerbyCross is a spectator-friendly event that generates a party-like atmosphere.
“PRO also is a group that has turned what was an idea
of my partners, Rebecca Howard and Dana Voorhees, into a reality in Wellington, Florida with DerbyCross. Rebecca, Dana and I have run the event several times but with full-time jobs elsewhere and not a full staff, the event was not able to reach its full potential,” says Sinead. “With PRO we were able to utilize a mass group of professionals to execute the event to its potential. It is very exciting and the event will continue to grow and bring interest to the sport of eventing.” Executive Director of PRO, Samantha Lendl says,
“We’d been talking for quite some time about doing an educational exhibition of a hybridized form of eventing for the general public who might not really know what the sport is. DerbyCross fit what PRO was looking to do, so we tweaked the format a bit and then talked to the organizers at Wellington, who were quite excited about it.” The five teams of five riders were made up of show
jumpers, polo players and event riders as well as two host riders, Leslie Law and Boyd Martin, who came in and introduced themselves and talked about training event horses vs. show jumpers, and came back during the competition to talk to the crowd about what was going on. Samantha explains, “Sinead and Rebecca were responsible
The first DerbyCross held in VA in 2007. Photo by Cassidy Sitto 22 July/August 2011
for rewriting the rules, making sure the event rider team captains knew what was going on and educating the polo players about the format. Sinead was really the brains behind coordinating the rules and horses, making sure the eventers captaining their teams knew their responsibilities. They came a day early to school the show jumpers and polo players over the solid fences and matched the right horses and riders. DerbyCross is fast-paced and hectic; it’s a lot of fun and Sinead does a great job with it—she has a lot of energy and is very enthusiastic. I think everyone was excited to have it going again and we already have plans to have another one in Wellington next year. Sinead is also very involved with PRO and has a lot of ideas and diverse talents in many areas. It’s great working with her. It’s also been nice to see her come back from the injury with Tate and have a lot of success and happiness with him.”
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