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18 SIDELINES MAY 2011 FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE

Udonna with that nonpareil temperament, athleticism and overall willingness to run and jump, account for their relatively meteoric rise through the ranks.

“We all aspire to the same thing: good riding is good riding – it’s not two different sports,” says Marilyn. “There are so many features that I use in show jumping that I use all the time in the cross-country. There are things I’m learning on the cross-country that I think will be great to bring into the jumper ring. There are a lot of shared technical aspects that really translate very well. When I teach someone, it’s not just a show jumping lesson per se, it’s a jumping lesson.”

Marilyn serves as living proof that you’re only as good as your basics. She has put in the time and done her homework: the steady improvement in their dressage scores speaks volumes, and there’s no denying that their jumping, whether on the cross-country or over the painted rails, has been fault-free and very impressive.

Marilyn’s video “Team Udonna” on YouTube showcases Udonna in the jumper ring and on the cross-country at her very frst horse trials last autumn. At the end, it declares: “From frst start to Fair Hill in one year.” For anyone else, that might be too big a goal, but Marilyn has been putting her ambitions to work long before that fateful day in front of FEI TV. If horse and rider continue to “hunt” their way around the courses, Fair Hill International’s three- and two-star autumn championships in mid-October look possible. “That video was made for getting the owners of Udonna excited,

because they know nothing about eventing,” explains Marilyn. “When I was sick one day, stuck in the house, I put the video together. I just happen to know about Fair Hill and I put it in. It’s like parents saying their child’s going to be President. People made a lot of it, but it’s starting to look as if it might work out. It’s a fun thing to think about, but the horses always come frst. If that mare isn’t right for Fair Hill, we won’t go. Udonna will do her frst two-star at Poplar Place (GA, March 25-27) and she’s creeping up on the goal, so I think that Fair Hill is do-able. We’ll see.”

Marilyn spent her formative years foxhunting with Maryland’s Howard County-Iron Bridge Hounds, where she is still a member. She belonged to Frederick Pony Club where she evented. She raced ponies across felds. Her parents were into letting her learn by doing.

“If you survived galloping across that feld and jumped the wall and hung on, great, but if you fell off, you’d better fgure out how to do it better next time,” Marilyn says, laughing. “What a great way to learn! Most riders don’t have access to that sort of freedom and upbringing. I was fortunate and it pretty much made me the rider I am now. I just love hunting. Anytime I’m offered an invitation or have a horse that could do it – if I have the time, I go. I just wish I could do more of it.”

Her parents get the bottom line, however, because her mother Lynn says it best: “Marilyn produces winners and they’re happy horses – they go in and win for others. She can pat herself on the back for bringing along horses that like you and want to jump for you.”

Nothing like a little chip off the old block.

Marilyn, six, with pony Snowy Day, competing at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Palm Beach in the Small Pony Hunters

Marilyn at age 10 with Rendezvous, fying over 3’11” in the children’s jumpers at the Winter Equestrian Festival, Palm Beach. Children really do live what they learn