09/15/2026
What an adventure for the Mustangs and Pacific Northwest group of riders who were chosen to represent the USA World Equestrian Games in Working Equitation!! Congratulations š to Kenton Wright Equestrian and USA team and having a great attitude.
Recap from the Working Equitation World Championships for Lidador and I.
Special thank you to everyone who helped get us to this event with Team USA Working Equitation and to Eduardo Almeida Working Equitation for the opportunity to ride such a talented and kind horse
Day 1 had us with some less than perfect steering on my part, so in dressage we ended up with a 65.803 and 28th in a class of 66
Day 2 I felt really good and thought we were riding the test as smoothly as we could, which was my ultimate downfall as I had some changes that werenāt as expressive as they could be. So in EOH we ended up with a 64.667 and 32 in a class of 65
Day 3 had us doing the speed test which felt great-he tried his heart out- and we flew with a time that would have put us 13th in a class of 65. Unfortunately I made a mistake in my choice of spurs and caused a spot of blood on the side of Lidador so we were disqualified at the paddock. We knew the rowel of the spur the horseās owner had me use needed to be changed when he got back to Portugal because the middle part of the rowel was worn, which did not allow it to function how they were designed to and ultimately caused a minor scratch on his side. I feel terrible for the horse and my team as I never want something like that to happen. I will learn from this experience and be a better steward of my spur choice in the future. While Iām sad about the results for my horse and team, Iām supportive and happy that we have rules like this in place to promote good riding and horse welfare.
Lidador was all good and Eduardo, the ring steward, etc all agreed the mark was minor, as it did initially show on a white napkin, but did not remain after being wiped and was not visible immediately following.
Day 4 had us taking on the cows š® and I say taking on because these cows had a bit of extra willingness to do fight and flight. Iāll share more on that and the story of me rounding up a cow outside of the arena on the palace grass š it was an epic moment for an American cowboy from Oregon to get to do. We had a number of solid goes with our team ultimately only successfully penning one cow with Matt French cutting it out. Thankfully this was enough to bring our team to a bronze medal š„ finish for the cattle trial.
With this final team phase done we received our final results, placing 8th overall . While everybody at the competition can say if I would have done this differently or that differently for a better outcome I still wish I would have made better choices for my team as with my speed time we would have finished in 6th overall. On a personal note we would have finished in 22nd, but instead finished 59th as we couldnāt place higher than anyone who had finished all three tests even though we had more total points.
I came away from this event with a ton of respect for the riders, chefs, coaches and organizers of this event. It was a fabulous event to be a part of with many new friends made and lots of learning. The lessons learned here in confident will last a lifetime and serve me well in the future.
While this event is the culmination of a lot of hard work and could be viewed as the end. I think this is just the beginning of something special for myself and our country of talented riders. I am looking forward to getting home and beginning the next steps towards international competitions.
*spoiler alert we have some things in the works that are sooner than later
