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olivia murray, 14, has been riding horses for nine years.
She had her first encounter when she noticed a sign on the
side of the road advertising a riding camp. Murray’s very first
day, she fell in love. Over the years, Murray has worked with
and successfully shown several of her own horses, but her
biggest accomplishment came last year when she competed
in the Interscholastic Equestrian Association. The program is
designed to develop middle school and high school athletes
for collegiate level riding with the Intercollegiate Horse Show
Association. In both the equestrian association and the horse
show association, riders do not compete with their own horses.
They travel across the country to the horse barns hosting
competitions where they’re paired with a horse they’ve never
ridden before. The idea is that horsewomen have to form a
rapport with their new mount and, as Kazemi puts it, “solve
the puzzle of each other’s language” as quickly as possible to
perform successfully in the show ring. As it turns out, Murray is
a linguist. In 2012, in her first year competing in the equestrain
association with Old Homestead, she made it to nationals in
Syracuse, New York, a feat that followed showing successfully in
five local competitions then placing in the top two at regionals.
She credits her accomplishments to training six days a week with
her 17-hand thoroughbred/quarter horse cross and her teacher,
Kazemi, who keeps her skills sharp with weekly lessons on
different horses to focus on equitation, the position of the rider
and the beautiful art of learning how form meets function.
Of her dream, Murray says, “I guess every little kid’s dream
is to become a professional and go to the Olympics. But I’m
realistic. That’s really hard. But I’m still going to try.”
Olivia Murray jumps with 5 O’clock Phineas at Old Homestead Farm.
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