USHJA On Course Episode 32

USHJA: It's a new year and new competition season but the same USHJA podcast you love! Welcome back to On Course, I'm Terise, and today I'm joined by the inaugural winner of one of the Association's most popular programs.

First, here are your Association updates.

Expand your equestrian education this year with USHJA. Applications are now open for the MZ Farms/USHJA Emerging Athletes Program through April 1. This year will host 10 Regional Training Sessions with top clinicians across the country and all 12 Zones offer grants to participate.

The Horsemanship Quiz Challenge is also now open. Register, prepare with free study materials, and take two online quizzes by September 1.

As the show season continues to get underway, be sure to enroll and apply for all your favorite USHJA programs this year. Simply sign in to your USHJA member account, select the blue "My Programs" button and click the "Enroll" button next to the program you wish to join.

Now for our guest! Carly Anthony is the inaugural USHJA Emerging Athletes Program winner, topping the Nationals back in 2009. Now an accomplished professional in the world of show jumping, Carly gives back to the sport in a variety of ways, including as an active member of the EAP committee. Taking her advocacy for good horsemanship to the next level, this year Carly will serve as a Regional Training Session clinician. Tune in as we discuss her experience as an EAP participant, how it shaped her riding career, and why she just can't get enough of the program.

USHJA: Welcome.

Carly Anthony: Thank you for having me.

USHJA: So, the idea for this podcast specifically came up because we're celebrating our 20th anniversary and looking back on the beginnings of some of our things. You won the Emerging Athletes Program the inaugural year back in 2009; do you remember what the program was like back then?

Carly Anthony: It was similar to what it is today. I would say the level has changed a little bit. We used to be offered at a 1.10m, 1.20m, and I believe 1.30m, and now it's offered to lower levels and open to all ages. I think at the beginning, there was also an age limit or restrictions.

But a similar structure. You’d have clinicians going around the country to different clinics, and then you would have to be selected by those clinicians to move on to—there was another tier, I believe—in order to get to the finals. And then once you got to the finals, which were hosted in Nevada I think, the structure was very similar: do a Nations Cup team situation format. It was a lot of fun, what I can remember.

USHJA: It's definitely evolved, now the time that you're there for the regionals and for the nationals is longer. I believe the nationals was only three days.

Do you remember anything from your experience that week—you just did a great job covering what the program was overall—but those three days at nationals, what do you remember from that time?

Carly Anthony: I hate saying this, but that was a very long time ago.

USHJA: It was, it was.

Carly Anthony: But the general memory I have of it: it was three very intense days. And intense in a way that you learned an incredible amount because you were 24/7 hands on with your horse, with the professionals that were involved at the time, and just absorbing as much information as you possibly could.

We were all on different horses that were donated, so that was an additional element of fun and learning that we got to experience when we were there. And, I'd say for me, the key takeaway—which I think is also a primary focus for the program now—is the connections you made in that whole process. It was quite a privilege to be a part of those finals and learn all that I could from it, and also at the end of the day, meet all of those professionals.

USHJA: Do you have a key takeaway or moment that you still remember or utilize in your approach to riding today?

Carly Anthony: I have been on the EAP Committee now since I won that award and I have the honor and privilege of being a clinician this year for one of the EAP sessions. I think the key takeaway from that whole experience, especially in the finals, is networking.

This sport is all about networking, taking every advantage and opportunity that you can to introduce yourself to people. The EAP is for people—because it's no longer just kids—it's for people that don't have the ability, whether it's because of their location or their economical background, to maybe meet some of their heroes. And it gives them an opportunity to do that, even if the clinician that you're meeting isn't the end person of who you'd like to meet, that person might know your dream rider and can put you in contact with them.

So for me, the key takeaway from that whole experience was definitely networking because ultimately winning the finals is kind of what jumpstarted my professional career after I graduated from the University of Georgia.

USHJA: You mentioned still being involved—we'll talk about that a little more later too—but from going from being the inaugural winner, now you're on the committee and now you're going to be a clinician. How have you seen the program evolve? Aside from the obvious, adjusted heights and age limits and how long it is, how else have you seen the program develop over the years?

Carly Anthony: Well, I'd say, after I won it, you've had some incredible now professionals win it as well: Jacob Pope, Kathleen Driscoll, who just had an exceptional article in the World of Showjumping which mentioned the EAP and how that helped jumpstart her career as well. I think that's what the EAP is about and giving people like us an opportunity to achieve at the highest level if that's our goal. But I think it's also, what I've seen a lot as well more recently, is educating as many people that are willing to be educated about being proper horsemen, which is getting harder and harder to come by these days.

So, for me, I think the evolution of the EAP has been great. You have great professionals that come out of it. But the people that don't win, I think they leave those sessions or the finals having learned a lot into how to be the best horseman or woman that they can be, which in the end is ultimately what we're all about as horse people.

USHJA: You mentioned great professionals that have come out of the program and some of our incredible winners, you yourself are definitely one of those. So, looking at your journey since that win in ‘09, what have been some of your most significant highlights and milestones in your career?

Carly Anthony: I would say there have been a lot, and for a lot of those milestones I owe a lot of it to the EAP. My first job out of college was through the EAP. I was a working student, if you will. I cleaned stalls, groomed, I did all the things. For free, I didn't get paid. But just to be around that environment at the time was an experience of a lifetime. And after I graduated from university, I turned professional and I went to work full time and won my first international Grand Prix in Antwerp. I was third in my first Saturday Night Lights class here at WEF in a four-star Grand Prix with a horse that I produced from 7 to 10 when I took him into his first Grand Prix. I got to ride, I got to help try and show and ride Explosion W with Ben Maher. I got to work for him and Emily Moffitt, which was an incredible opportunity and experience. I don't know, I mean, the list could go on. I feel very privileged and honored to have had all the experiences that I've had and it all started with the opportunity that I got from the EAP.

So, it's a snowball effect. You know, once you get the ball rolling, all the other things kind of seem to fall into place or open new doors and new opportunities. And, it just started from one thing. And as the saying goes, one thing led to another and now I have my own business. I've continued to enjoy producing horses to the highest level. I have two incredibly wonderful five-star horses that I have the privilege and honor of riding with an incredible owner and team behind me and clients and sales horses. And I'm very proud of what I've created, but again, I owe that to all of the opportunities that were given to me prior to allow me to be what I am today.

USHJA: You obviously have mentioned that you're a member of the committee coming back to be a clinician. What is it about the program that keeps you involved? You've kind of had the unique story of: you were the inaugural winner but you're still in it and you're helping the program continue to grow and develop for the future you down the line. What about the program has kept you coming back?

Carly Anthony: There's a lot actually, that keeps me excited about what the program is. I think so much has changed in our sport over the years. As I've said before, the amount of people that have what an old school person would call good horsemanship is definitely fading. And I think it's important for people to know all the ins and outs of taking care of a horse, riding a horse, being a part of the horse community, how to be good if people choose to be professionals later down the road, what that means. I think everyone has their own path, but I think it's really important to continue teaching people and sharing with people what that is. What is a good horseman, what is a good sportsmen, all of those things I think will always be needed and I think it's really good to support that and people that want to learn. I think nobody that signs up for the EAP doesn't want to learn. I've been to a few now recently and every single one of those kids is there motivated, hungry, eager to listen and take whatever they can away from those clinicians.

So, I'm passionate about it. If those kids want to learn, then everyone should be helping, teaching, spreading as much knowledge as possible. I'm lucky that they asked me to be a clinician this year, and I'm really excited. But I think the more people that know how to be better horsemen, the better our sport will be.

USHJA: Definitely. What are you looking forward to about being a clinician this year?

Carly Anthony: I am looking forward—and this is going to sound cheesy, so bear with me—but I'm looking forward to learning myself. I've done one or two clinics in the past. I've learned a lot from those: how to be a better teacher. Everybody learns a different way, they hear things differently. It's been great to have feedback, so I'm excited to grow as a teacher. I think I could definitely be better in that regard. And it's now great, I can go and spread my knowledge with those people that are going to be at that clinic and also get feedback from them and learn different ways to get the same message across. Maybe I have to say it 10 different ways. I think that's what I'm looking forward to the most. And I really enjoy working with the group and just interacting and seeing what I can learn from them as well.

USHJA: I think you'll have a cool perspective too, having been through it, having had the success, and then being able to circle back to it on the other side of things.

Carly Anthony: Yeah, it's full circle. It's been a lot of fun. Honestly, I've really enjoyed it and am very grateful for Amy Center. She's allowed me to be a part of it and learn through this whole process and all the people on the committee have been awesome. So it's been a great program to be a part of.

USHJA: What advice would you give to other young riders—maybe they're starting riding, maybe they're at the EAP level, maybe they're beyond—who aspire to be in your shoes in the sport?

Carly Anthony: As I've been growing up and learning to adult and be a professional and run my own business and all the things, my advice is: it doesn't matter really what you choose to do, but if you choose to do horses, at whatever level, you just need discipline. The horses give us so much. They give us everything of who they are, whether you're trail riding, jumping a five-star Grand Prix, it doesn't really matter. I think you owe it to your horse every day when you show up to ride it, to take care of it, whatever you do at whatever capacity with your horse, to have the discipline yourself to show up and give them the same amount of your focus and your time and your effort that they give to you.

I see a lot of people, not just in horses, but it's become such a culture of instant gratification and social media and everything makes everything seem just so easy to attain and achieve. And it's definitely not that way. The only way to get what you want, even if it's just to show up and have a good flat lesson or go in and win a class at any level, it's every day. Having discipline every day and giving everything you can at the same level as your horse. That would be my advice.

And it's something that is hard. Discipline is hard. And it's something that I struggle with, but that's what I try to work on. That's my mantra. Stay disciplined no matter how freaking hard it is. And it's 99% hard, 1% easy, but it's only that 1% easy because of the 99% of the time that it was hard.

USHJA: I like that outlook. Well, we always wrap up with something we call the Victory Gallop. So if you had to pick one: bay, gray, or chestnut?

Carly Anthony: Bay. Grey is too much poop stains and chestnuts are too spicy.

USHJA: The long approach oxer or the trot jump?

Carly Anthony: Gallop right down to the base. Slowing down is not what we need. Speed it up.

USHJA: If you got to live a day in the life of another rider, who would you pick?

Carly Anthony: Steve Guerdat.

USHJA: What's the last thing you watched?

Carly Anthony: There were two. I'm a serial binge watcher of Heartland. That is my weakness. And my new favorite show is Love on the Spectrum. It puts you in such a great mood. It’s always so positive. It's a great show. I'm obsessed.

It's those two shows. No serious shows. That's not for me. I like light and fun and happy.

USHJA: Yeah, it's relaxing time.

Carly Anthony: Exactly.

USHJA: What are two things you can't get through a horse show without?

Carly Anthony: Need my ChapStick. And my Frenchie.

USHJA: If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Carly Anthony: Coffee ice cream. Very unhealthy.

USHJA: What is the most used app on your phone?

Carly Anthony: WhatsApp.

USHJA: Describe your dream horse in three words.

Carly Anthony: Careful. Happy. And healthy.

USHJA: All good ones.

And then finally, since we are celebrating 20 years of USHJA, what is your favorite USHJA memory?

Carly Anthony: Winning the EAP. That's a pretty memorable one.

USHJA: I would say so!

USHJA: Thanks for tuning in to this episode of USHJA On Course. Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode and follow us on social to stay up-to-date on everything USHJA!