FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
SIDELINES DECEMBER 2013 93
Elisa cuddling with Rune. She is always happy to spend some time with her
Mustangs.
Photo by Aly Rattazzi, Rather Be Riding Photography
Elisa and Fledge during The Mustang Makeover. Elisa was the only
competitor to wear a helmet and she received an award from Riders For
Helmets for it. She always wears her helmet – whether she’s reining, eventing
or hopping on bareback!
Photo by Aly Rattazzi, Rather Be Riding Photography
Nimh tracking a cow. Elisa’s Mustangs can do just about anything!
Photo by Aly Rattazzi of Rather Be Riding Photography
However, that’s not to say her heart doesn’t still
belong to eventing. After losing both her upper level
horses to injuries in 2007, this once Olympic hopeful,
waitlisted for the 2008 Beijing Games, is now working
hard to strategically and carefully move back up the
levels with two new horses. She has high hopes for
Corteo, owned by Rosemarie Spillane, and Simply
Priceless, owned by Jill Hopcroft.
“It’s always a goal of mine to make the Olympics,”
she said. “That’s been a goal of mine since I was
a kid. But often times horses tend to give you a
different path. Those are my goals (the Olympics,
Rolex and Pan American Games), but right now
I’m just going to focus on producing my horses
correctly.”
Of course, Elisa also enjoys spending some
time working with her Mustangs: Fledge and Rune
(adopted for the Mustang Million). Elisa also enjoyed
working with Nimh, but they parted ways after the
Mustang Million in September. Unfortunately, as
Elisa explained, “you can’t keep them all.”
Although Elisa did need to sell Nimh, she fully
intends on keeping Rune as an eventing prospect
with the ultimate goal of showing him to the
advanced level. While some may balk at the idea
(there was also a time Elisa was unsure of just
how far Mustangs could go), she now swears the
sky is the limit for some of these horses. “Some of
the Mustangs I’ve ridden have been easier than
some of the domesticated horses I’ve worked with
because they have human baggage,” she laughed.
She commented that it’s amazing that a three-year-
old Mustang will do things her other six-year-olds
won’t do.
Working with the Mustangs has changed Elisa’s
perspective and now she has made it her mission
to help home the thousands of Mustangs in holding
facilities. Elisa estimates there must be about
40,000 horses “just sitting there.”
While she doesn’t want to argue about whether
Mustangs should remain wild or not, she does
encourage people to adopt those already in holding
facilities – and, most importantly, forget about a
wrongful stereotype that labels Mustangs as strictly
Western athletes. “My mission is to show people
that there are so many different kinds of horses,”
she said. “They have great minds and great hearts
and they can be amazing athletes and it’s silly to let
these horses be wasted when they can be used and
they’re happy to be worked.”
But at the end of the day, Elisa’s ultimate goal
is simply to the best horsewoman she can be –
much like her dad Rick Wallace, who has been her
trainer, role model and fellow competitor. “My goal
is to always better myself and communicate better
and for the communication to be correct,” she said.
“Sometimes you learn from doing something the
wrong way how to do it right and that’s what’s great
about horses – they can be forgiving.”
About the writer: Dani Moritz is a graduate of William
Woods University with majors in Equine General Studies and
Communications and is currently pursuing a Masters In Strategic
Leadership at Stephens College. She is very happy to be a staff
writer and distribution manager for Sidelines Magazine and the
proud owner of a beautiful Paint/Arabian mare named September.
She is also the 2012 American Horse Publications Student Award
winner.
