It’s been a great honor and pleasure to spend six weeks in training with Dutton eventing at their winter hideaway in Wellington, Florida. Close to the Wellington Environmental Preserve with an abundance of hacking opportunities (and alligators — oh my!), the horses all enjoyed a rigorous — and sunny! — month of cross-training in the Turf Tour hosted by The Ridge at Wellington. I’d like to extend a personal thank you to Phillip, Olivia and Evie, as well as Emma Ford and the entire team at Dutton Eventing for taking me under their wing. And to the incomparable Scott Hassler for teaching Hendrix and I how to “slalom and dance.” Having just turned 40, as an adult amateur in the sport, it was the opportunity of a lifetime to learn under all of your care, belief and guidance.

The year 2020 will certainly go down as a memorable one, mainly because of the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences. At a time like this, it’s important to keep a perspective of our sport’s importance in everyday life. I was raised and taught that when I was competing or playing a sport to give it everything I had — total focus, concentration and commitment—but once it was over to remember that it is just a sport or just a game. So as sad as it was to have a lot of the major events canceled, it pales in comparison to other tragedies that we’ve witnessed this year—over 375,000 U.S. deaths related to COVID-19 at the time of writing; ICU beds are near capacity in many hospitals; food lines increasingly long; mass unemployment and many businesses lost; the list goes on and on. Taking a break from competing was not a big sacrifice compared to what a lot of people in this country and around the world were going through.

It was an incredible week throughout the world, like none most of us have ever experienced. The horse community and its leaders have embraced the seriousness of this pandemic, which will hopefully aid and help slow down the spread of COVID-19. It seems that a vaccine is at least 12 months away, so the immediate goal is to slow down the spread of the coronavirus, which will help to not overburden the hospitals and caregivers throughout the country. Unfortunately, it looks like this pandemic will be with us for a while, so it seems like we need to plan our lives around this new norm. Most of us have family or loved ones that are at a higher risk for this virus, which could have disastrous consequences, so while most of those who are infected recover quickly, the main concern is for those who have suppressed immune systems.