Hillary Marsden

Hillary riding Ace of Harts

:::GOALS FOR 2004:::

I plan to continue riding and learning on Gaucho. I would like to make it to a couple of fun shows and hopefully an event this summer.

Birthday: How many years riding? Main discipline: Horse:

leases Gaucho

:::PROFILE:::

I was born and lived in Edmonton for the first 4 years of my life. Just before my fourth birthday, my family moved to an acreage and decided to homeschool us out there. They bought us a pony named Quicksilver, because my sister (Amberley) loved horses. I first started out doubling bareback with Amberley on him and occasionally ride around at a walk or trot by myself. She showed me most of my basics and  I learned the rest by watching other people or by reading books. When Amberley bought a horse of her own named Cienna, we would trail ride through the many trails around our acreage. I always liked going for rides, but Quicksilver had developed heaves and had difficulty going faster than a walk. I loved him, but I didn't always like when Amberley got to canter around! Occasionally Quicksilver would decide to take off running and bucking home, which was usually the highlight of my ride!      My interest started getting stronger around age 11 or 12. My best friend at the time started learning to ride, and her family got a couple of ponies. She would invite me over to ride, just around the ring at first, and eventually we got better and ventured out on trail rides. We showed the ponies a couple of times, never placing too well, but always having a good time. Riding with her was great fun- we had plenty of adventures with runaway ponies on a mission!      Eventually I decided that I wanted to get better at riding, especially jumping, so I started lessons at Whitemud Equestrian Centre. I took a bunch of lessons there before switching to Shadyvale Equestrian Centre with Amberley and a couple of our friends. I rode with a dressage instructor for a while, and then began riding with Tanya Sundlie in hunter/jumper as well as dressage.      In the fall of 2000, I began half-leasing a little Arab/QH named Smokey. Unfortunately things with Smokey had to end and we weren't sure what horse I was going to be able to lease for the summer. Tanya looked around and found me her neighbor's horse to ride. His name was Hart. Hart was very out of shape and needed some work. Work it was, but eventually he was in much better shape and we were able to compete successfully in lots of small fun shows. That summer was the best one of my life and Hart was a special horse that I will never forget. Despite that though, I had to realize that I wanted to focus on jumping and his talents were more in lower level dressage and fun shows. Fortunately Hart became a lesson horse at a nearby stable, so he was able to keep doing what he was best at.      After Hart I went through a bunch of different horses, leasing a jumper through the winter of 2001 and not having much to ride during the summer. I managed to make it to one event with Tanya's horse Beau in 2002, which I really enjoyed. Finally in the fall of 2003, my friend Amanda bought Gaucho, a horse that Tanya had in training. She is currently half-leasing Gaucho to me, which has been a great experience so far. I hope to continue riding him, as we have plenty to work on together!

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