The first rider in our “Up & Coming Rider” series is Emily Przyborowski, a 16 year old eventing rider that is making her mark on the eventing world. She came in fifth at Paradise HT in the open training with the only riders ahead of her being competitors at the four star level.
Photo Courtesy of Emily Przyborowski.
Emily has been riding since she was five years old and owes her “start” in the sport to her mom, who is a lower level event instructor. Emily’s love for eventing began when she started competing and serving as a groom at bigger events.
“Watching your idols out on course really inspires you to rider better!” Emily said. “Now all I think about is the Olympics!”
Emily currently has a horse named Mudville, or Sasha for short. Sasha is an 11 year old OTTB that she has owned for about 4 months. Before Emily owned Sasha, she competed through the preliminary level. Emily described Sasha as having “big movement” for dressage and an “incredible jump and an amazing feel on cross country.” However, Sasha also tends to be a bit high-strung and mareish which Emily thinks makes it more interesting. Emily and Sasha currently compete at the training level. She hopes to compete at the preliminary level with Sasha, as well as in two one stars, this year and move onto intermediate next year.
Emily said she loves the adrenaline rush when she is competing. To her, it feels like the entire world melts away, especially when galloping towards fences that are bigger than she and her horse are. Emily loves the cross country phase of eventing, describing her horse as “unstoppable.” However, just like all of us, Emily has her own difficulties when riding. Emily describes herself as a “get it done” rider, so she has trouble with the perfection side of eventing which is the dressage phase. And, on the cross country phase, Emily stated she and Sasha often get a lot of speed faults for coming in over a minute under the optimum time. However, on the positive side, Emily and Sasha always navigate the most difficult parts of the course with ease.
Additionally, Emily stated that Sasha sometimes has trouble with the show jumping phase. While it is Emily’s favorite part of eventing, Sash doesn’t have the same confidence in show jumping as she does in cross country. Emily is optimistic about their future in the show jumping phases, as she thinks she has discovered how to careful what she terms “the careful and the aggressive” which will enable Sasha to jump both cleanly and confidently.
Photo Courtesy of Emily Przyborowski.
Emily takes one lesson a day and also rides about 1 – 6 horses each day, depending on the season. How does Emily have time to do other things?
“Honestly, I don’t really!” Emily said. “Other than riding, I do cross training at the gym, for riding, in the morning and then pass out at night! I’m so invested in the horses and my job.”
Emily currently works for Kate Chadderton as a working student. Kate is also Emily’s riding inspiration.
“Katie took me in as a working student, barely competing novice and has nurtured me into a great rider and all-around person,” Emily said. “She defied all the odds and left her home country of Australia to give her shot at American eventing! And she made it!”
Along with being a working student, riding every day, and competing with some top level professionals, Emily is a brand ambassador for Kerrits, Ogilvy, and Just World International. Emily uses Ogilvy and Kerrits products everyday. She loves Just World International because it is a charity organization, run exclusively by riders, that benefits third world countries.
Photo Courtesy of Emily Przyborowski.
Emily has some advice for young riders who would like to get to where she is.
“Get with a trainer who is either competing or has competed thoroughly in the upper levels. And stick with them!” She said. “The bond between a young rider and a trainer should be basically sacred!”
Aside from eventing, Emily competes in the jumpers at HITS almost every year. When she retires from eventing, she hopes to do a lot of jumper classes because she loves the speed and care needed to win.
Emily is certainly on her way to becoming a contender in the eventing world! If you want to keep up with her progress, you can find her on Twitter, Instagram (@empeventing), Facebook, and her two blogs: EMPEventing & The Optimum Times.
Photo Courtesy of Emily Przyborowski.
Did you like this spotlight or know an up & coming rider we should interview? Let us know in the comments below, on Twitter, or shoot me an email!
Stay tuned for the next rider in our “Up & Coming Rider” series!