“I think if you harness that intelligence and guide it he can really excel. Going cross-country, his little ears are always perked—there’s not a picture of him on cross-country where he’s not looking for the next fence.”
wrong, not what the horse was doing. We’re always train- ing the horses and I think it was good for me to take a step back and focus on myself.” Even as the fall season began, they still had some kinks
to work out. “Plantation Field [in Unionville, Pennsilvania in September] was our first Advanced—his and mine— and the nerves got to me, and I had five rails. I got very tight on him and I knew it was me. Then at Morven I kind of had the attitude it couldn’t get much worse, and we had a pretty good round with only one rail down.” Somehow when it came time for the big event, she managed to keep her focus despite the immense pres- sure of going into the ring with everything on the line. “I still can’t figure out how I didn’t get nervous at Fair Hill! I put myself in my own little world, like I was riding in my backyard. There’s a lot of atmosphere there, but I like the ring and it’s an open, flowing course. You have to ride forward and a bit softer and I think that compli- ments the way Neo and I go, more than a tighter, twisty course,” she says.
Currently Allie has had only Neo to ride. With the new
year, however, she plans on going professional and will take on other horses. “I’ve mostly done teaching through Pony Club and have a lot of connections; that’s kind of my bread and butter,” she says. “Since we were married I’ve been working as a hostess at a big ski resort near our home. I’ve been working at odd jobs since I was 16—at [tack shop] Bit of Britain, at a feed store, so I’ve experi- enced all walks of life, from retail through being a work- ing student and an exercise rider. I think working with so many different people has taught me a lot of important things. I’m excited to be able to do horses full time.” The past year has been like a fairy tale for Allie. As she
sketches out a plan for 2014, she would like to compete in Jersey Fresh CCI** in the spring and the three-star at Fair Hill in the fall. “I want to save his legs for the big stuff,” she says. “He loves cross-country, he just eats it up. You can’t make a horse do something at that level if they don’t enjoy it.” Clearly she and Sparrow’s Nio are having the time of their lives.
Warmbloods Today 29
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