116 SIDELINESMAY 2014
FORHORSEPEOPLE • ABOUTHORSEPEOPLE
ByDani Moritz
A
graduate of Pony Club and a Colorado native, Vicki
Baker is an eventer who has earned the attention and
respect of eventing idolssuchasCapt.MarkPhillipsand
David and Karen O’Connor. Vicki has accomplished much and
endured the toughest of circumstances– includinga rotational fall
in1999 that couldhaveendedher ridingcareer.Yet,Vicki haskept
her head high and has pushed on to become an internationally
recognized event rider and coach. Sidelines caught upwith Vicki
andasked her a few questions about her eventing career.
What do youconsider your greatest strengths as a rider?
My greatest strength as a rider is my scope in being able to
adjust to a variety of horses. As a kid I rode anything I could
get my hands on, which meant a lot of horses with challenging
habits, but I was also given an amazing opportunity by one of
my first trainers, Nancy Chesney. She allowed me to ride some
of her high-level dressage horses. At first, it was on trails and
a little jumping just for some cross training and mental release
from their gruelingworkouts, but soon I got theopportunity to take
dressage lessons on them. I learned so much about impulsion,
collection and self-carriage. My devoted parentswould videotape
my lessons and I would study them over and over again, often in
slowmotion, reliving the feelings and seeingwhat I was feeling. It
really developedmy feel andeye.
Whowould you consider your greatestmentor?
That’sa toughquestion.Throughoutmy ridingcareerand travels
throughout the U.S., as a groom at the Sydney Olympics and
when I worked for theUSET as the assistant director of eventing,
I’ve had the unique opportunity to spend a lot of timewith a lot of
amazinghorsemenandhorsewomen.Someof themost influential
people inmy lifehavebeen theO’Connors,GeorgeMorris, Jimmy
Wofford,Capt.MarkPhillips, JimGraham,BeckyHolder andSally
Ike.My careerwasbuilt on the skills theyhelpedmedevelopboth
in ridingandhorsemanship, and the inspirationandguidance they
gaveme to the top levels of the sport.
We understand you had a bad fall in 1999. How has that
affected your eventing career?
Yes, I fell at the Radnor CCI** in 1999 on a young prospect. It
was a simple gallop fence right in front of the trade fair. I think he
got distracted on takeoff andwe ended up having a rotational fall
at a high rate of speed. My horse was fine; I broke his fall well.
I, on the other hand, did not fare so well as you might imagine
in a fall that broke the tree of my saddle withme in it. The worst
part of it for me was missing out on the chance to compete at
the next weekend’s Olympic qualifying event at Fair Hill. I was
a rookie hopeful for the 2000 Sydney Games. I was told by the
Olympic selectors that if I couldmake it to Rolex the next spring
that I would still be considered. So, with that deadline looming,
my rehab began. This wasmy first real experience with physical
therapy and I put everything into it I could. Unable to care for
myself, I moved back in with my folks and they diligently took
me to PT and to the pool so I could rehab a severely dislocated
hip and fractured pelvis among other injuries. Looking back now,
therewas really noway I could have been ready to ride at Rolex
even if all my rehab had gone well, but I wasn’t about to give up
onmy dream of going to theOlympics.
In February, although my rehab was going well, I began to
question whether I’d be brave enough to go cross-country again
after all this time off. I’d never had a fall that I didn’t “get back on
the horse” right away and certainly never a fall or injuries of this
magnitude. So, against doctor’s orders, I snuck out to the barn. I
wasn’t even supposed to be driving yet, but I hobbled around on
mycrutches to tackuponeofmymares. I just had tosee if I could
do it again. I was still so weak, but I grabbedmane and clucked
andmymare packedme around our cross-country course. Tears
of joy for knowing I still hadmy cajoneswere quickly replaced by
excruciatingpain. I hadundonefivemonthsof rehab. Soalthough
I knew I coulddo itmentally, now I knew I couldnot do it physically.
Sydneywasout. But, I didendupgoing toSydneyasagroom for
BeckyHolder (Douglasback then). It wasanamazingopportunity
and almost as goodas I had imagined ridingwouldbe!
After your fall you became a physical therapist. How does it
impact your equestrianbusiness?
Becoming a physical therapist was always my “plan B” should
Vicki getting ready togo cross-country at FoxRanchHorseTrial
inWalden, Colorado in 1997.
Photo courtesy of Vicki Baker
Continued on page 116
VickiBaker:
In It toWin It
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