Published: July 18, 2008 10:59 am         

Riding her dreams

Keeping balance in her life, Olivia Upham seeks to become equestrian Olympian

By Libby Cluett
lcluett@mineralwellsindex.com

For many kids, age 12 is filled with fun and romping around with buddies. But it was at that age Mineral Wells’ Olivia Upham left home for the summer to be a work-study student in Virginia, where she learned the equestrian sport of eventing from its top professionals.

Eventing, also known as horse trials, is the equestrian equivalent of a triathlon. It combines the English disciplines of dressage, cross-country and show jumping over a period of two to three days.

That summer and on a more extended stay later, she was a working student with another Texan, Clark Montgomery, grandson of Clark Garden’s Max and Billie Clark.

Now at age 16, Upham looks back on why she chose to home school so she could ride, and attributes the decision to “the love of it” and her parents giving her the option.

She became hooked on the sport after attending the “O’Connor Camp,” conducted at the Virginia farm of eventing Olympians Karen and David O’Connor.

Since then, Upham has methodically risen into increasingly higher levels of eventing competition over the past couple of years.

Mitch and the ‘Junior Olympics’

Just over a year ago, Upham acquired “Mitch,” whose show name is In Any Event. Mitch is a New Zealand Sporthorse gelding and a horse she and her parents, Lori and Robert Upham, thought could take her to the next level – he has.

At the end of this month, Upham will be as close as ever to the pinnacle of competition for a young eventing rider – the equivalent of a junior Olympics. On July 29, she will begin competing at the North American Junior Young Rider Championships against riders, ages 14-21, from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean Islands.

As the only international equestrian championship of its kind held in North America, the event is an important stepping-stone to the Olympics, world championships and other major international equestrian events.

In her relatively short eventing career, Upham has worked extra hard to achieve this level. She left home at age 14 and returned at age 16 while being a work-study student with Montgomery. During that time, she lived in Virginia again, on the O’Connor’s farm.

While doing every job for her own horses – like cleaning stalls, feeding and grooming – getting “up at 6 a.m. and going to sleep at 11 p.m.”

In her spare time, she studied high school coursework online through the University of Missouri.

“The experience of being around professionals,” was the best reward for Upham. “I was lucky to be there.”

Occasionally, she would have lessons from the O’Connors. “They’re at the top of their sport and it’s amazing to be around people like that,” she said.

Moving to international competition

In addition to living and training in Virginia, in the past years Upham campaigned her two event horses in Florida – the winter mecca for many English disciplines and competed in places around the nation. Last fall, she won the American Eventing Championships, junior preliminary level.

She also qualified for and opted to move up to the international level competition, starting with three-day events or CCI (one-star).

This level of competition is governed by the Fédération Equestre Internationale – the international body governing of Olympic equestrian sports.

This year, Upham has continued to compete in international-level horse trials at the “preliminary” level, including one local CIC (one-star) horse trials win.

Coming home

Eight months ago, Upham and her two horses arrived home – initially just for a brief period. After her grandfather, Chet Upham, died in January, she opted to stay home and not return to Florida or Virginia.

“Hopefully in the future I will,” she said. “Now, it’s great, I have my driver’s license, I’m back with my friends and my horse is taken care of. I feel a little more well-rounded at home.”

Lori Upham said she is happy for her daughter’s decision to stay in Texas and continue her training locally, because she said East Coast trainers push their students to higher levels faster.

Staying has paid off. Upham gets to be at home and visit her friends. She trains in Brock, Texas, with Mary D’Arcy, from Ireland but who now resides in Fort Worth. D’Arcy has coached five European medalists, including the gold-medal winning team at the 1995 European Young Riders Three-Day Event Championships in Germany.

Under her tutelage, Upham won the CIC (one-star) competition in May at the Greenwood Farm Horse Trails in Weatherford. She established and maintained the lead through all three eventing disciplines.

Last weekend, Upham and her folks traveled to Wayne, Ill., for the Maui Jim Horse Trials to compete in the CIC (one-star). The pair did not fair as well as in Weatherford.

“He spooked in dressage and the test was very tense,” she said. However, after that first phase, Upham and Mitch rose from 27th place to end in 18th place, with solid performances in show jumping and eventing.

“He jumped the best he’s ever jumped in stadium,” she said.

What next?

To prepare for the Olympic-like competition to be held in Colorado, Upham will train in Flower Mound, Texas, with a team of four from the region. She is paired with a teammate and as they transport their horses around, Upham said, “We joke that we’ve wrapped [the horses legs] in double wraps. We have to be real cautious because we don’t want a freak accident to happen before we go.”

Afterwards, she will give Mitch “a quick break and then have the fall show season to compete,” she said.

“I will hopefully move up to the intermediate level. Everything is more technical, the jumps are taller and wider and the speeds are faster,” Upham explained.

“It’s very mental for me. Sometimes confidence gets me down and I’ve had to work on that in jumping especially and overcoming certain fears. The horse can definitely feel when you’re not confident sometimes and he gets nervous,” she said.

For instance, on an intermediate level cross-country course, riders traverse just over 2 miles, jumping 23 cross-country obstacles at a rate of roughly 20 mph. They must finish within an optimum time or they receive faults.

She expects Mitch to continue to be her partner in this higher level.