 Cover Stories Duvall resident, Amy Tryon, 32, a full-time firefighter, has just recently been named to the United States Olympic Team in the Equestrian sport of 3-Day Eventing…TWICE! Named to the team of five with My Beau, owned by the Mesher family of Seattle, Amy was also listed with her own and Mark Hart’s Poggio II as one of five alternates. So how does a young woman born and raised in the Seattle area get to the top of a sport peopled mostly by East coast riders? She must have family wealth, right? Or perhaps a trust fund? Well then how about a major corporate sponsor? None of the above! She just tried harder and worked harder and had some wonderful horses come her way. She cleaned stalls for many of the local barns and earned all her entry fees. She braided manes and tails at hunter-jumper shows and rode novice horses in their first classes for trainers and got bucked off at least once a day. She finished high school in two years with a 3.5 average and went on the road with two horses at the age of 16. Her first REAL job was as a working student with Derek, former World Champion and Bea DiGrazia at Pebble Beach, CA. Her first 3-Day was at the course on Stanford University land. She won the division on one horse and came 2nd on the other. In that same year, she won a major Young Rider Championship in Pennsylvania and entered the Rolex, KY 3-Day Event for the first time. 2004 was her 6th Rolex competition. During her five years of traveling to the East coast to train and work and compete as a Young Rider, Amy also attended college part time often by correspondence. While at Central Washington University in Ellensburg one fall, she was introduced to the idea of becoming a medic. She needed a career that would allow her to continue to ride and compete, and the flexible schedule seemed perfect. So she completed her degree, took an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) class and got a job as an ambulance driver while she tested to become a firefighter. She began to volunteer at her local fire station, and was eventually hired as a full-time firefighter for Eastside Fire and Rescue, based in Issaquah. Beginning The Journey Amy’s story really began with a horse-crazy mom who never had a horse. So of course, the offer of a “free” pony was just too good to pass up. Amy was one year old and her sister, Kerrie, was four, and that first pony was a little stinker. That first summer, the pony was staked to one fruit tree after another, to be moved when the grass was nibbled down. But when fall arrived, she was invited to live in a pasture with a big Thoroughbred and the girls were exposed to English riding. At the tender age of six, Amy was finally allowed to enter the walk-trot classes at local 4-H shows. She had to wait till she was eight before she was allowed to join 4-H, but she’d already been a “pre-junior” member for two years. Her competitive nature was revealed early on. The family’s move to a farm in Issaquah when Amy was six became the catalyst that got Amy headed towards the Olympics. The stubborn little Shetland had now been replaced by two wonderful pinto ponies for the sisters, and mom finally got her horse, so the three of them could trail ride almost every day after school. Mom happened to call Ruth Moore to have the girls start some lessons. But Ruth informed mom that she “didn’t teach riding”…she taught “dressage and combined training”. “What was that?” They all wanted to know. And Ruth replied, “Come to an event and see.” The first horse trials they saw were in Stanwood, put on by Equestrians’ Institute, and when Amy heard that eventing was one of the Olympic sports, she told her mom she would be there herself one day. So the dream became a possibility and the possibility became a reality. Isn’t that what dreams are supposed to do? Pony Club now joined 4-H as a focus. Amy participated in her first horse trials at the age of eight on a borrowed pony. The first jumps at home were broom handles set on logs out in the pasture. Once the girls thought they needed a higher jump so they use the porch railing to prop up the poles. (Needless to say, the porch did not live a long and useful life!) Except in shows, they always rode bareback, thus developing incredible balance and a feel for the ponies’ way of going. The International Trail Amy has reached heights in the past six years that belie her humble origins and ordinary horses. A win at the Radnor Hunt **3-Day Event on Pogi and a 5th place on another horse, Mondi, led to her being named to the USET’s Winter Training List which meant she was invited to train with Captain Mark Phillips. She was now spending the winter and spring on the East Coast, and after landing her firefighter’s job, having to ask firefighters to trade shifts with her so she could be away for those long periods of time. A last-minute replacement to the 1999 Pan American Games team gave Amy her first opportunity to shine in international competition. She and Pogi placed fourth individually, one of only two riders to finish on her dressage score, and was dubbed “the Cinderella of the Games”. In 2002 Amy was named with two horses, My Beau and Pogi, to the US team for the World Equestrian Games in Spain. That team, with Amy’s help and inspiration, led to the first team World Championship in 28 years. Riding Pogi, Amy took a bad fall at fence #15, and despite serious injuries, remounted and finished the course of 30 additional fences, thus insuring that the US could qualify a team for the Athens Olympics. After the hospital docs pronounced her fine except for bruises…no broken bones…Amy rode in show jumping the next day. David O’Connor had to jog her horse in the 3rd horse inspection because not only could she not run, she had to be lifted up into the saddle to ride. For her “courage and fortitude”, the US Combined Training Association (now US Eventing) awarded Amy the prestigious Ironmaster Trophy, which is given only when someone’s actions are so inspirational they merit the award. When Amy returned to work two days after the World Championships, she collapsed as she was tending an accident victim, and was rushed to Overlake Hospital, where all her injuries were correctly diagnosed. She competed the following spring, but the pain became too much, so she rode at Rolex, KY, and two days later had back surgery. Asked how she could continue such a physically demanding schedule (returning to work as well as to her horses), Amy replied, “It’s mind over matter.” Which, if you’re determined to someday ride in the Olympics, makes perfectly good sense. On The Road To Athens In 2003, the US selectors suggested all riders aiming for Athens go to England to try to qualify for the Olympics by completing the Burghley 4-Star competition. So a large US contingent competed, with seven US riders going head-to-head with a British rider for an “unofficial” competition. Amy was paired with Pippa Funnell, who won the competition and became the first rider in history to achieve the “Grand Slam of Eventing” by winning Badminton, Rolex and Burghley on three different horses. But the US won 4 of its matches, Captain Phillips was happy. Those horses that completed Burghley without jumping penalties on cross-country were then named as competitors in the 2004 Rolex “Modified Division” without roads and tracks and steeplechase. Those riders and horses not yet qualified had to enter the full 3-Day Event. The thinking behind this was to test most of the top riders in contention for a place on the team in the same format as they would face in Athens. This would also possibly save the horses for their best effort in Athens. The drawback for riders like Amy and John Williams, who do not have major corporate sponsors, was that they missed out on earning top prize money ($190,000 in the regular 4-Star competition) as their entire division competed for only $5,000. So now, Amy and John are joined on the team for Athens by Julie Richards, Darren Chiachia and Kim Severson. At press time they’re in England preparing for the Games and will travel to Athens on August 10. And the rest, as they say, is history. Watch next month for an update on the results of the Amy and the Athens Summer Olympics. For further information about Amy, visit teamtryon.com. If you’d like to join TEAM TRYON to help Amy’s journey to Athens or be on Amy’s mailing list for future newsletters, contact jemicain@aol.com Copyright © 2009 The NW Horse Source |