Lillian Heard and Share Option. Photos by Shannon Brinkman.
Gladstone, NJ – July 19, 2014 – The USET Foundation is pleased to announce that this year’s recipients of the Jacqueline B. Mars Competition and Training Grants are Lillian Heard and Kurt Martin.
Heard and Martin were identified and recommend by the USEF Eventing Selectors for their impressive records and potential to represent the United States in future international competition.
As recipients of the Jacqueline B. Mars Training Grants, Heard (Hamilton, VA) will travel to France to compete her gelding, Share Option, at the Les Etoiles De Pau CCI****, and Martin (Middleburg, VA) and his mare, Anna Bella, will travel to the Netherlands to ride at the Military Boekelo CCIO***.
“This is a really, really big deal for me,” said Heard. “I actually lived abroad for a little while, and I always had dreams of coming back to the United States, getting [Share Option] back in action and bringing him back to Europe to compete at a 4*. It was one those things that you hope could happen, but you don’t actually think it could happen. I’m just over the moon.”
Throughout her eventing career thus far, Heard has had the opportunity to train with internationally ranked rider Jan Byyny, show jumper Katie Prudent and her current trainers Boyd Martin and his wife, Silva. In 2013, Heard and Share Option finished fourth at the Jersey Fresh CCI*** and 10th at the Fair Hill International CCI***. This spring, Heard achieved one of her biggest goals to date, competing successfully with Share Option at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, the pair’s first 4* competition.
“Once you get to this point there aren’t a lot of moments in your career where you get to do something that you’ve never ever done before, and this is one of those moments for me,” Heard said. “I did my first 4* this spring, and now I’ll get to do another first which is competing abroad at that level.”
Heard continued, “I applied specifically to be able to go to Pau. I’ve watched a ton of video of Pau because I was trying to get my head around it before I even applied for the grant. Boyd recommend that that would be a really good event for me and my horse.”
For Kurt Martin, Military Boekelo CCIO*** was the event that he felt would be the best fit for Anna Bella, the talented 8-year-old Holsteiner that he has been bringing up the ranks.
“She’s a really special horse that’s just getting started,” Kurt said. “I really have high hopes for her, and I’m really honored to have received this grant for her. I feel like this is a huge step in the right direction for our long-term goals. I work hard every day to get better, and I’m going to continue to do that.”
Kurt and Anna Bella finished off the 2013 season with a second place finish at the Plantation CIC**, before kicking off the 2014 season at the 3* level, winning the Fair Hill International CIC*** and finishing in sixth in the Jersey Fresh CCI***.
Over the years, Kurt has trained with Jimmy Wofford, Phillip Dutton, Boyd Martin and David O’Connor, among others. He presently operates his own training and sales business, based out of The Plains, Virginia, and the fact that he does so much on his own, is part of what makes being named a grant recipient all the more meaningful and valuable to Kurt.
“It’s unbelievable because I own my own horses; I pay for everything,” Kurt said. “I’ve had my parents, but this the first time in my entire life that anyone else has gotten behind me like this. That’s really just a real turn in the right direction for my career and the longevity of wanting to ride for a living. It’s just such a huge gift.”
And it is a gift that came at just the right time for Kurt.
“A lot of people have wanted to buy this horse from me recently, and just this week, I said no,” Kurt said. “When you go to make those financial decisions and then in the same week you get a grant to go to Europe – to have it come the same week that I passed up the sale is really, really exciting. I think it definitely shows that I’ve made the right decision. I really think that she’s going to teach me a lot of things and there are so many things that I can learn from all of these people that I’ll be surrounded by in Europe.”
Kurt and Anna Bella will head to the Netherlands in October with the Military Boekelo CCIO*** running October 9-12, 2014, while Heard and Share Option will compete in France later in the month at Les Etoiles De Pau CCI****, running October 22-26, 2014.
“We can’t thank Jacqueline enough for her support of these talented eventing athletes who, because of her grant, are able to get the international experience to put them in a position to ride for a place on the U.S. Equestrian Team in the future,” said Bonnie Jenkins, Executive Director of the USET Foundation.
The United States Equestrian Team Foundation (www.uset.org) is the non-profit organization that supports the competition, training, coaching, travel and educational needs of America’s elite and developing international, high-performance horses and athletes in partnership with the United States Equestrian Federation.
For more information on the USET Foundation, please call (908) 234-1251, or visit USET ONLINE at www.uset.org.
Contact: Rebecca Walton
USET Foundation
phone 561.753.3389 fax 561.753.3386
rjw@phelpsmediagroup.com
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