Horse And Rider: 2 Make A Century

‘HORSES GIVE ME PURPOSE, TOTAL ENJOYMENT — PLUS HORSE LIFE IS VERY, VERY SOCIAL’

- Susan Lagsdin

Contemporary culture gives a polite nod to senior citizens; store discounts are nice but not laudatory, ditto the “sir” and “ma’am,” but in the world of equine eventing, it’s very good to get older.

All it takes to gain cheers, prizes, publicity, the awe of your peers and a measure of local fame is to be 100 years old. That is, in conjunction with your horse.

This year Mary Stewart, 72, and her 28-year-old horse Broker’s Joker rode the United States Eventing Association course to great applause in a coveted Century Club ride in Spokane in May and reprised her celebratory appearance at her hometown’s Appleatchee Riders arena in June.

Mary has competed for years in this demanding sport that includes dressage (the ballet of arena performance), rigorous cross-country obstacle jumping, and the more formal stadium jumping.

That’s as hard as it sounds, translating to full time precision, stamina and strength from both horse and rider.

Notably, in 2010 Joker broke a bone in his foot the same week Mary broke her femur (not related, maybe in sympathy?). Rehabilitation goes faster for humans typically, so for six years Joker was sidelined from performance and did a stint as her husband’s trail horse, while Mary was soon up and at ’em working with her two mares.

When she considered the Century Ride, however, she decided to rehabilitate Joker, and with a year of supplements and very focused conditioning, she got him in shape to gallop and jump in the 2017 Spokane milestone and then complete the dressage course in Wenatchee.