48 SIDELINES JUNE 2014
FORHORSEPEOPLE • ABOUTHORSEPEOPLE
a long period of time did driveme to do some inadvisable things
along the way, though. I rode several times one summer with an
external fixator onmy leg, and I showed twoweeks post surgery
when I was still on crutches andnon-weight bearing. I’meternally
indebted to thehorsesandponieswho tolerated suchnonsense!”
Mindy’s 2014 show season got off to a better start than she
could ever have imagined, and her strongwill, determination and
passion for thesport ispayingoff.Shecompetedher threehorses,
Stone Town, Gretta and Classic Contender, in the 3’3” Amateur-
Owner Hunter 18-35 division at the Winter Equestrian Festival
(WEF) inWellington, Florida, for the first time ever. Mindywas all
smiles as she took home tri-color ribbonswith all of them. “Lucky
for me, all the stars sort of aligned and everything went right,”
she said. “I had the right group of horses, the right collaboration
of trainers, incredible support from my parents, and the right
schedule at school to allow for so much traveling. I couldn’t be
happier with how it went!”
Libbywas also unable to trainMindy atWEF, and arranged for
her to trainwithVal Renihan for theseason.Whenher horseshad
weeks off atWEF,Mindywould joinLibby at theGreat Southwest
Winter Serieswhere she showed one of her sister’s horses. “The
opportunity to trainunder twosuchesteemed trainerswhoworked
together so well was incredible – and, from what I’ve seen, it’s
also quite rare – so I’m really lucky to have the team that I do,”
she said.
“Unfortunately forme, somuchgoing ‘right’ didmean thatStone
Town, my winning mount from the NAL Finals, did his fair share
of winning and tri-coloring at WEF, which resulted in him being
noticed and sold,” saidMindy. “It’s hard to believe he’s no longer
mine, but hewent toaphenomenal homeand I knowhe’ll bewell
taken care of.”
Mindy is a sophomore at the University of Tulsa, majoring in
Business Management. She stays focused on her grades and
improving her riding every day, and is indebted to those stirrup-
less lessons that she used to dread. “I love thinking into the
technicalitiesof riding, so I lovedoing something, critiquing it, and
thendoing it again, better,” saidMindy. “Even ifmyankle failsme,
I’ll always be involved with horses one way or another. They’re
all I ever think about. My dad has always toldme to ‘dowhat you
love, and lovewhat you do,’ and ultimately, that’smy goal in life!”
Mindy didn’t let her broken ankle slow her down, and figuredout
how tomaster themounting blockwithher crutches to catch a
rideonGretta.
Photo courtesy of MindyCoretz
Mindy, a former
Sidelines
Magazine intern (center), with Elle
Mullendore (left) and Marissa Degner at the Go Tulsa Spring
Show.
Photo courtesy of MindyCoretz
Mindy andGretta compete at the 2014FTIWinter Equestrian
Festival.
Photo byAnneGittins
