I’m flying around a cross-country course in Southern California on my trusty little mare, galloping past the palm trees and over the arid terrain. It all feels right. My main problem is holding Lady back – once she shifts into overdrive, we’re in danger of speed penalties at this level. But jeez, does it feel good.

As we clear the last obstacle – a scary-looking, flower-festooned panel that she takes as though it were a crossrail – my coach runs up and shouts, “Did you go clear?” I nod, and my little cheering section waiting for me at the finish flags lets out a whoop. With difficulty, I pull Lady up. She is still looking for the next fence. She isn’t even breathing hard. She is 28 years old.

And I, dear reader, am 73. I am also pretty much a novice. I’ve been working towards this goal for years, having inherited this experienced and freakishly athletic little mare from my daughter. I’ve had to overcome both my own fears and those of my family and friends – that I must be nuts to be jumping at my age, never mind the time and the expense.

But in the back of my mind, ever since my first pony ride, I’ve wanted this. And now there’s another reward: US Eventing has just established a special award for fools like me. It’s called the Century Award, and it’s given to a horse and rider combination who compete successfully at a USEA-sanctioned event with a combined age of at least 100. Lady and I have just qualified.

It’s been a long road.

I was one of those horse-crazy kids with non-horsey parents. Riding lessons were a sometime thing, and by the time I reached adulthood I’d pretty much put those dreams away. Then my fourth child came along, and she had the horse bug. Dammit, I thought, maybe I couldn’t live out those dreams, but Ruby would. She joined Pony Club at seven and it quickly took over our lives.

Over the years, watching Ruby brought it all back. I lived vicariously through her, observing her lessons, drinking it all in. She turned into an avid eventer, and in the back of my mind I started to dream again. Was it too late to learn?

When Ruby outgrew her wonderful pony at the age of 12, I bought her a little off-the-track thoroughbred mare. Just a plain little brown horse, green but kind. She turned out to be quite the athlete, though, one of those clever, catlike little horses who loved her job and got Ruby out of many a hairy situation on their cross-country adventures. They competed all over the US East Coast, from New Hampshire to Virginia to Kentucky.

Then Ruby went off to uni, and I inherited Lady. I started taking lessons and I moved us both to California to be near my oldest daughter and her family. By that time I was in my 60s, and I didn’t know anyone my age who still wanted to event. But I loved jumping, and Lady and I both adored the adrenaline rush of cross-country.

I didn’t fool myself into thinking I’d get to the levels where Ruby had been competing. My goals were modest: to just be a successful lower-level eventer. It took a couple of years, but I finally found my way to one of the West Coast’s best eventing barns, run by Brian and Lisa Sabo. Brian, a former president of US Eventing, was also the architect of its Instructor Certification Program. Lisa was still an upper-level competitor and, bless her heart, she didn’t laugh at me when I shared my goals with her.

Lisa had a brilliant young assistant trainer who was about one-third my age. Megan McIver took me on. From years of on-again-off-again riding, I had a lifetime’s worth of bad habits. Over the course of about three years Megan took my riding apart and put it back together again. We went to a bunch of one-day events at the weeniest levels – but my goal was to compete at a US Eventing sanctioned three-day event.

During that time, I passed the age of 70. Lady was well into her 20s, but she was still freakishly fit and athletic. No one could believe her age. Much of my motivation came from the wish to be a good enough rider to stay out of her way.

Then we heard about the Century Award.

US Eventing had just instituted this award, to be given to a horse and rider combination who could compete successfully at the Beginner Novice (in the USA that’s 80cm) level or above and whose combined ages added up to at least 100. Megan and Lisa thought we could do it.

“Eventing in particular
is such a complicated sport.”

I hoped they were right.

One thing I’ve always loved about eventing, and equestrian sports in general, is that neither horse nor rider is all washed up while still in their teens. Eventing in particular is such a complicated sport – to master all three phases takes time, dedication and thoughtfulness. And while riding demands fitness, it’s not so punishing that older riders can’t keep going much longer than other athletes.

The same is true of the horses. To excel in this sport, particularly in the cross-country phase, horses need to be able to think quickly. No matter how good the rider, hairy situations happen, and the horse that can’t figure out on the fly where to put her feet is a liability.

So Andrew Hoy represented Australia in 2022 at the age of 63, and New Zealand eventer Mark Todd competed at the 2018 World Equestrian Games at the age of 62. The ranks of top eventers are filled with people in their 50s: Shane Rose, Phillip Dutton, Stuart Tinney, Ingrid Klimke. As our own Heath Ryan puts it, “I can’t ride like the kids any more, but I can sure outguess them sometimes,” and he adds: “When you’re older, you’re a lot less emotional – as an older rider you can be more thoughtful.”

What about the horses? Heath reminds us that his brother Matthew competed at Badminton in 1992 on Kibah Tic Toc when the horse was 19; more recently New Zealander Joe Meyer’s little horse Snip jumped clear around the Rolex Kentucky course in 2011, and Jonelle Price rode the quickest clear cross country at Badminton in 2022 with Classic Moet. Both horses were also aged 19.

For late starters like me, this is all good news. Having that award as a goal inspired me to stay with my training, pick myself up after I tumbled (yes, I do still fall off) and get myself fit. So here’s a challenge to Equestrian Australia: why not institute a Century Award here? If Miriam Margolyes can pose nude on the cover of Vogue, old ladies like me can keep on galloping around the countryside – with a little help from our equine friends. EQ

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