LIFE & TIMES of Marylanders
who was Regional Supervisor at the time, and off ered to help make a better course for the kids.” Fast forward to 1989 when Gilbert and others
founded the Fair Hill International. Gilbert has been involved with the organization ever since, serving in a variety of capacities but mainly as co-president, and now sole president. By the time Gilbert made it to Fair Hill, she was no stranger to organizing events. She and her hus- band, Bill, ran the Blue Ridge Horse Trials and spring three-day U.S. Equestrian Team Cham- pionships in Virginia for many years. At Fair Hill, the horse trials grew over the
years to include the U.S. Fall Eventing Cham- pionships for the then CCI2* and CCI3* levels. In 2003, Gilbert and her team successfully ran the Pan American Games Eventing Champi- onships at Fair Hill as well. “I am just so proud of what we’ve been able to do at Fair Hill,” Gilbert said, adding, “It’s like the Energizer Bunny… just keeps going on and on and on!” In 2017, Gilbert was part of the team that
created a proposal, fi rst to the U.S. Eques- trian Federation and then to the Fédération Equestre Interationale (FEI), to bid for a fi ve- star (which was actually a four-star based on the FEI’s star ranking system in 2017) event to be held at Fair Hill. T e proposal was accepted by the FEI in 2018. At the same time the FEI
granted approval for a new international event in Maryland, however, they were working on changing their “stars” ranking system. Fair Hill International decided to wait until the FEI released the new ranking system and in 2019, they announced that their new event would be a CCI5*-L to be held in October of 2020. T ough the new fi ve-star is run by the Fair
Hill Organizing Committee, not Fair Hill In- ternational, Gilbert remains heavily involved. When the organizing committee decided to postpone the inaugural event in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gilbert was in full support, and said, “Fair Hill International supports its partner T e Fair Hill Organizing Committee in its decision to postpone the in- augural Maryland 5 Star to next year. T ere are too many challenges to overcome this year re- lated to the pandemic. With this decision, we can move forward with the planning for 2021 and work together to create the best event pos- sible, building upon the legacy FHI has estab- lished at Fair Hill over the last few decades.” In October 2021, the Maryland 5 Star at Fair
Hill debuted, becoming one of two CCI5*-Ls on U.S. soil and one of only seven in the world.
Full Speed Ahead On June 28 of this year, fellow USEA Hall of Fame members and longtime family friends Drs.
Alice & Pete Drayer
Tim and Nina Gardner, and USEA CEO Rob Burk surprised Gilbert with her USEA Hall of Fame induction announcement at her farm in Churchville. Surrounded by Gilbert’s friends and family, Dr. Tim Gardner said, “It was an enthu- siastic and unanimous agreement. We all agreed that there is no one more deserving than you. And we also agreed that it was long overdue.” Also in attendance that day was U.S. Olym- pian and Hall of Famer Jim Woff ord, who said, “I don’t know of anyone who has dedicated their life to the improvement of eventing in the way that you have. I hope you know that your sport is a better place for your eff orts. Congratulations again and thank you, thank you, thank you.” “It really is humbling to think I’m even part of that group of [Hall of Fame] names,” Gilbert told T e Equiery. “I personally know every one of them on that list. We have become an event- ing family.” So you might think that at this point in Gil-
bert’s life, at 81 years young, she’d like to sit back and retire knowing she has made a diff erence in the sport. Not the case for Gilbert! “I’m still involved with Fair Hill International and I love riding through my children and grandchildren,” she said. “We’ll all keep going and going …”
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