Bird is the Word is value his weight in gold. Not due to his first profession as a racehorse or due to his FEI document, however together with his latest job title of “Teacher,” Bird is the Word has discovered a profession by which he shines.
We typically concentrate on the highest skilled riders with their high-dollar horses and costly tack, when in actuality, this sport thrives on the backs of grownup amateurs and young riders. We dutifully pay our present charges and join classes with our trainers. We grind at work all day and get to the barn after the solar goes down. We do all of it for the fun of crossing that end line on the one or two occasions a 12 months we handle to get to.
The horses that enable us to dwell our grownup novice desires are priceless. Bird is the Word, barn identify “Goose”, is one such horse. Formerly owned and piloted by FEI rider and #supergroom Courtney Carson, Goose is now part of the household for grownup novice Lauren Davis, Goose is extra valuable to her than any 5* winner. A dream 5 years within the making, the 2023 season marked Lauren and Goose’s first Training degree completion and topped them general factors champion for the Stable View Eventing Academy.
The Stable View Eventing Academy is designed to make eventing extra accessible for riders of all ages and backgrounds. The occasion covers three days: the primary day is open for riders to high school the cross nation course, the second day permits riders to follow their present leaping or dressage, and on the third day all three phases are judged in present format.
Bird is the Word and Courtney Carson. Photo by Shannon Brinkman.
It’s been an extended street to being topped champion for this pair. Lauren purchased Goose roughly 5 years in the past with plans to make the transfer as much as Training that season. Fate had different plans. Goose spent that first season bucking Lauren off and was recognized with kissing backbone. After six months of rehab, Lauren and Goose have been able to get again to their plans… however then Goose developed anhidrosis. After one other six months of attempting to determine the right way to handle his anhidrosis, Goose was again and going once more — solely to tear his hind suspensory six months after that. A full 12 months of rehab later, Lauren and Goose have been lastly cleared to get again to their unique objective.
“I had bought him five years ago with the intent of going Training that year, and it took five years for us to get to that goal,” Lauren mentioned. “It almost makes it better, to be honest. I mean, the immediate win would have been great. But the four years of rehabbing just made it so much more rewarding.”
Goose takes his function as trainer severely. Lauren can’t simply sit there and permit him to hold her round. “He completely knows his job. He won’t give it to you unless you ask for it, so he’s a perfect teacher. There were many times where I ended up on the ground because I did something that he knew was incorrect. He’s not just gonna deal with you sitting up there and flopping around. But if you ask correctly, he’ll give you the right answer.”
Lauren and Goose began the season with the Beginner Novice Eventing Academy at Stable View after which moved up from there. In the course of three occasions, they went from Beginner Novice to Training. “Novice and Beginner Novice, he and I can go around just fine, but as he was coming back from the suspensory injury and he’s older, we were trying to be very cautious of what we’re asking of him. The Eventing Academy gave us a really, really good spot to kind of get him out there and test that leg and make sure that it was going to hold up without having to spend the extra money on the recognized show.”
“I think the Eventing Academy is just such a nice way to move up. It gives you the opportunity to do a little bit of practicing, get the nerves out, and then you know, keep on going,” Lauren mentioned. “I also really like Stable View because they really do treat it as if it’s a recognized event. The jumps are usually technically appropriate and decorated and it’s got that environment of a recognized event. It’s just the perfect opportunity to have your trainer there with you. To me, it’s about as good as you can get.”
While dressage isn’t both of Lauren’s or Goose’s favourite phases, they nonetheless had a superb dressage journey and an amazing stadium spherical. But for this pair, the “pinch me” second got here on the cross nation course. “He was just absolutely perfect to every fence. He came back to me when he was supposed to, galloped forward when he needed to. He just gave me that perfect round and it was definitely a pinch me moment at the end,” Lauren mentioned. “I grew up riding but my parents were insistent that I was not going to own a horse. So I didn’t buy my first horse until I was 23/24 and had started eventing. And he’s only my second horse. So it’s one of those moments where you sit there and you’re like, ‘Man, I really did it.’”
Lauren isn’t any stranger to magical moments on the Eventing Academy. Only an hour away from Stable View, Lauren has been coming right here because the Eventing Academy first began within the early 2010s. All of her seasons of competing within the Eventing Academy have taught her quite a bit. “I think the thing that I learned the most was that taking the time and doing it the right way is really beneficial,” mentioned Lauren. “I had tried to take my old horse across the coaching course and it was only a nightmare. We ended up getting stops left and proper after which bought excused. And that was the tip of it.
I believe in my head, I used to be nonetheless considering that is going to be onerous. This goes to really feel onerous. We’re actually going to should work for it. And the day of the present was not onerous in any respect. We completed the cross nation course and I used to be like, ‘that didn’t really feel huge in any respect.’ And it’s simply because we took the time to do it proper.There was completely little question in my thoughts that the 2 of us might roll across the course with none points versus the primary time– which was like ‘hold your breath and maybe you’ll end.’ So I believe that to me, the most important lesson I’ve discovered from the Eventing Academy is that preparation is so crucial,” Lauren mentioned.
This 12 months, Lauren and Goose have been topped finish of 12 months general factors champion throughout all divisions with a complete of 21 factors. The award is especially cherished as their memorable 2023 season was 5 years within the making. Lauren says that she’ll be again subsequent 12 months to contest the award once more. “We’re headed back there to run the training course again, and this time, the hope is to not practice on Saturday and to really treat it as a true show.”
Happy driving and a giant congratulations to Lauren Davis and Bird is the Word for actually demonstrating what eventing is about in any respect ranges: resilience, grit, and pure pleasure for the game.
Go eventing.
This article was sponsored by Stable View, host of the Eventing Academy. The Eventing Academy is a part of Stable View’s initiative to make eventing inclusive to all, financially and in any other case. If you’d like so as to add the Eventing Academy to your 2024 season, check out the calendar.
