This past weekend, the Dutta Corp. Fair Hill International Horse Trials ran in Fair Hill, Maryland. The horse trials run every international level, with the CCI*** being the most prestigious. Horses and riders from all over the country come to the small town in Maryland for a showcase of the best of the best. Especially since this was one of the first Olympic qualifying events, there were 39 starters in the CCI division. These kinds of shows are usually dominated by professionals and the possible Olympic rides, but on some occasions are speckled with amateurs and their horses who defy the odds.
This year’s CCI*** was won by the California-native Frankie Thieriot-Stutes and her gelding Chatwin — both amateurs. They have been a force to reckon with on the west coast for many years, as they have taken a top 5 placing in almost every event they have ever competed in together. Frankie and Chatwin were given a travel grant to come to the east coast and compete, which was the gateway for their success on the east coast.
Frankie and Chatwin were the favorites to win, so it really wasn’t much of a surprise when they took home the blue ribbon. What was a surprise was how they beat out every professional rider in the division. Frankie is an amateur rider, who has started two of her own successful businesses and is raising two kids under the age of three. Throughout all of this, she has been able to bring Chatwin up the levels of eventing and be very successful in every aspect of her life. This is an impressive feat and just goes to show that with determination, you really can do exactly what you want.
This also goes to show that “professionals” can be just a title. People were a little taken back when Stutes beat out Boyd Martin, an Olympic medalist and a long time professional of the sport. But every professional has to bring up horses through the levels, and every horse and rider can have a bad day. That wasn’t the case for Boyd and Long Island T (they came in second just behind Stutes), as Long Island T is a new horse to this level and thus much greener than Chatwin. So despite the horses competing at the same level, they aren’t comparable, and neither are the riders.
Both amateurs and professionals play a major role in the eventing world and deserve each their own successes. People need to stop comparing the two, despite them competing in the same division. Professionals have a job to do, and amateurs have a goal to achieve, but they both ride for the love of the sport.
This is such a nice story to read about Frankie and Chatwin. Being an amateur in this competition must have been very daunting, but obviously Frankie and Chatwin trained hard and wanted to win. I love reading stories like this about the underdog working their way to the top. I also think it is interesting, as you mentioned in your post, that Frankie and Chatwin are well-known on the West coast but this was the opportunity for them to compete on the East coast. It is just incredible that Frankie was able to achieve this while also taking care of her two kids who are not older than 3!