10 SIDELINES DECEMBER 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
By Alexa Cheater
A rising star in the sport of show jumping, Kaitlin Campbell of Up-
per Black Eddy, Pennsylvania, has struck a fne balance between
work and play. This dedicated rider, who turned 21 in October,
maintains a busy competition schedule in addition to completing
her fnal year of studies in business management from American
University in Washington, DC. She has competed in the North
American Junior and Young Riders Championship three times,
winning individual gold and team silver in 2009, fnishing fourth in
both individual and team competition in 2011, and earning a team
silver in 2012.
Kaitlin, who trains with Rachel Kennedy of ESP Farm in Brooke-
ville, Maryland, made her grand prix debut in 2011 and earned
a number of impressive victories, including the $75,000 Grand
Prix at the Upperville Colt and Horse Show and the $10,000 Five
Seasons Open Welcome Stake at the Vermont Summer Festival.
In 2012, Kaitlin returned to Vermont, dominating the frst week
of competition with wins in the $10,000 Overland Sheepskin Co.
Open Welcome Stake and the $30,000 Vermont Summer Special
Grand Prix. All of her major victories have been aboard Rocky W,
a 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding that she has moved up
the ranks with.
How did you begin your riding career?
I started riding when I was six. My parents bought my frst pony,
Friendly Dolphin, when I was nine. I actually saw him recently.
He’s 28 now and living at Lane’s End Farm. He’s still just the best
pony ever. He’s taught so many people how to ride properly and
he’s still going strong. I eventually moved up on various ponies
and, once I got onto a horse, it took off from there.
What makes your partnership with Rocky W so special?
I didn’t even want him when I frst tried him. He was hot and I
Kaitlin Campbell
Juggles Work
and Play
Kaitlin Campbell and her grand prix partner, Rocky W.
Photo by Sheryl Sutherby
was just coming off of a children’s jumper who was a complete
packer. Rocky had a mind of his own and he was so hot, I couldn’t
even get him to just trot the frst time I rode him. We bought him
from the Hayes family. They were family friends and my parents
told me that if I wanted a horse to do the bigger jumpers on, I was
just going to have to make it work. Now we know each other inside
and out. I can tell you just by looking at him how he’s going to be
that day and I’m sure he can do the same thing with me.
What are your plans in terms of your riding career?
I would like to keep riding and possibly do some FEI classes in
Florida this winter. My trainer has an eight-year-old, Grand Pleas-
ure, that I have been riding so, hopefully, I’ll be able to compete
more on him. I’m not sure yet if I plan to make riding my career.
Right now, it would have to be a pretty great opportunity that came
along for me to make it a career. When I went to college, I origin-
ally told myself I wasn’t going to ride while I was in school. I lasted
a week and a half and then just couldn’t take it anymore, so I am
sure that riding will always be a part of my life, I’m just not sure to
what degree yet.
What is your most embarrassing moment with horses?
It has to be when I fell off in the hunt team in the small ponies at
Devon. It was back in 2000 and I’m still upset about it to this day.
I was riding with a team where the other girls were a few years
older than me and I was so excited about that. At the show you
were able to ‘bribe’ the judges. I was handing the judge my bribe,
and the pony I was on spooked and dumped me before I even had
a chance to get started.
What is the most delicious thing you know how to cook?
Oreo balls. You take a bag of Oreos, a container of cream
cheese, and roll them into balls. Then you dip them in chocolate.
You don’t even have to bake them.
Alexa Cheater is an avid horse lover who spends an inordinate amount of time at
the barn for someone who doesn’t own a horse. When she’s not enjoying the com-
pany of her favorite four-legged friends, she’s writing about them as Communications
Specialist for Starting Gate Communications Inc., a public relations agency special-
izing in equestrian sport. www.startinggate.ca
Kaitlin Campbell
and Rocky W
won the $30,000
Vermont Summer
Special Grand
Prix at the 2012
Vermont Summer
Festival in East
Dorset, Vermont.
Photo by David Mullinix
Photography
e