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Meet SallyWhen I was five my parents bought a farm in Oxford, PA and I started riding. I soon joined the local Pony Club and was introduced to the sport of eventing. Additionally, I showed ponies in the hunter divisions and also fox hunted; both sports helped me develop as an all-around horsewoman. By my mid teens, I completed my first one-star three-day event and continued to move up the levels. At 20, I traveled to England to compete at the Badminton Horse Trials, stayed in England that year, and completed the Burghley Horse Trials in September. During that stay in England I bought Strike-A-Light following Spring. When I returned home in 1986, I took and then completed the Badminton Horse Trials the a job working as a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch, while continuing to compete at the highest levels of the sport, including numerous runs at the Rolex Kentucky four-star event.In 1991, I won the Essex Three-Day with Castle Cay and soon after, announced my engagement to Nat Cousins; we were married on July 6th (needless to say there were no competitions that weekend). I continued to produce event horses and started catch riding horses for other riders, winning the Bromont Two- Star on Drizzle, and competing him successfully in many three- star events. After 16 years at Merrill Lynch, I decided to become a professional and devote myself exclusively to my riding career. In 2005 I purchased property in Aiken, SC so I could compete and provide instruction for the three months of winter when Pennsylvania is covered in snow and ice. Thanks to a successful competition schedule and the depth of experience I garnered as an amateur and a professional, I have been ranked among the top 10 riders on the US Eventing Leaderboard for the last six years. I have relished competing at the top levels but I have equally enjoyed the time spent training and instructing students and their horses. Quite often I draw from my own lessons with Mike Plumb, Bruce Davidson and Torrance Watkins, and because I believe in drawing on other disciplines’ strengths, I have also ridden with Frank Chapot, Anne Kursinski, and George Morris. My dressage training has been with Gunnar Ostergaard, Donnan Sharp, and Scott Hassler. |
