Maryland Eventing Valerie Pride & the Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill
by Katherine O. Rizzo On October 17, Valerie Pride of Harwood be-
came the first, and only, Maryland-based event rider to complete the Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill. Competing at the CCI5* level has been Pride’s long-term goal and having completed her first CCI5*-L in her home state made the experience just that much more special.
From Western Trails to International Eventing
Pride was first put on a horse when she was just
six weeks old as her mother gave her pony rides aboard her prized Arabians. Tese early riding experiences were in Indiana where her mother mainly trail rode in Western tack. “When my mom remarried, we moved to the East Coast and I joined Annapolis Pony Club,” Pride explained. Te transition east was a bit rocky at the start as most of her new pony club friends were riding English so Pride made the switch as well. By the time Pride was 16, she was driving around the Annapolis area with her dog and a saddle, riding and training horses for others while also teach- ing lessons. “When I went to college, I decided I needed to take a break from horses so I could focus on my studies but that didn’t last long,” Pride said with a laugh. “I just couldn’t handle not being in the saddle and luckily had an owner that was willing to send me a horse.” Pride balanced riding and studies quite well
and graduated from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2003 with degrees in English and Psychology. She also continued rising up the ranks of the U.S. Pony Club, achieving the A level, the highest level of USPC. During this time, Pride fell in love with eventing and competed for Area II as a Young
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Rider while dreaming of her own five-star de- but. “I had watched the five-star at Kentucky hundreds of times and was really excited when I heard there would be a five-star right here in Maryland,” she said.
A Five-Star Partner Pride’s road to the Maryland 5 Star would
not have been possible without her four-legged partner, Favian. Te 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding was bred by Anita Nardine in Cali- fornia and was initially campaigned by U.S. Olympian Tamra Smith. “He had done a few different things as a young horse and won the Novice Horse division at the AECs before I got him,” Pride stated. At the time, Pride did not have any FEI level horses in her barn and was starting to feel a bit anxious. “I was starting to worry that I’d forget what the feel of riding at the FEI levels would be like but had also re- cently sold a horse for a decent price so had a bit of a budget to spend,” she said. Pride did not want a completely green horse and so her search for something that had at least a season or two of eventing began. “It was really hard to find what I wanted,” she said. “I had a few horses that failed vettings and I was about to start looking across the pond when I reached out to a friend in California to see if she knew of anything out there.” Pride’s friend, Liza Horan, mentioned Favian as a horse she had been keeping an eye on and really liked. Pride immediately called and had him vetted before she even saw him in person. “I probably would have bought him without ever sitting on him honestly,” she said. “He’s just everything that I was looking for.” With the help of Elizabeth Bonner, owner
of Sudley Farm and one of Pride’s biggest sup- porters, Pride brought Favian to Harwood in 2016. “I just adore him. He’s very casually con- fident on cross-country and he’s beautiful too. A stunning black horse,” Pride said. Pride bases her Blue Clover Eventing business out of Sud- ley Farm, which Bonner purchased eight years ago. “Strange fact… I used to work at the farm when it was an old racing barn! Dreams come true and it’s now a world class sport horse facil- ity that I’m based out of,” Pride said. Over the past four years, Pride has trained
Favian and moved him up the levels in event- ing to the top level of the sport. Tis year, they started out the season at Pine Top in Georgia in February and completed their first CCI of the year at Te Fork at Tryon International Equestrian Center in North Carolina. Tere they placed 18th
in the CCI4*-S division.
Teir next stop was the CCI5*-L at the Land Rover Kentucky Tree-Day event. Tis was to
continued...
Valerie Pride’s first eventing experience was a USPC Eventing Rally held at Fair Hill!
THE EQUIERY YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION | DECEMBER 2021 | 27
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