Win A Day With Boyd Martin

Solidifying rider positions and focusing on rhythm and balance were key points during this Olympic eventer’s clinic for a contest winner and her friends.

- Amber Heintzberger

After a thought-provoking dressage lesson with Silva Martin and lunch with Silva and her husband, Boyd, Daphne Soares was excited for her cross-country schooling lesson with the 2016 Olympic eventer.

And then her horse pulled a shoe. To make matters worse, the shoe was missing, somewhere between the dressage arena and Daphne’s trailer along the driveway at the Martin’s stable, Windurra, in Coatesville, Pennsylvania.

“I can’t believe this,” the 44-year-old amateur eventer said as she walked along the grass looking for the shoe. Daphne had won Practical Horseman and Dressage Today’s Win A Day Clinic, sponsored by Purina, and she, along with her son and six friends had trailered their horses to the Martins. Daphne eventually found the shoe and farrier Doug Neilson put it back on in time for her lesson with Boyd.

More than 700 applicants had entered the Win A Day contest by explaining why they should enjoy a day of coaching for themselves and up to nine friends with Boyd, a member of the U.S. Eventing Team who competed at the Rio Olympics and was also on the squad that won team gold at the 2015 Pan Am Games, and Silva, a Grand Prix dressage rider who represented the United States on the gold-medalwinning team at the 2014 Nations Cup in Wellington, Florida. In her essay, Daphne, of Long Valley, New Jersey, wrote, “Because I just turned 43 and still get excited—every single day—about riding, like I was a kid; because I was a show jumper, then dressage rider, who found eventing in the last 10 years and became even more excited about riding (if that is possible); because I have the horse of a lifetime.”