Author Archives: Carleigh Fedorka

I got the text message last week. “Do you want to run barrels after you’re done judging the hunter show?” My friend Amy wrote. I was traveling back to my...

I can remember the woman striding towards me down the cement aisle way, the heels of her paddock boots clinking with each step. Her bright blue eyes squinting into the...

I got the text message Monday afternoon. I had known about the neglect case for quite some time as my good friend Carrie Gilbert had been in the thick of...

I was at a dressage show a few weeks ago, and after schooling in the ring on Friday night, I took Nixon for a hack around the Kentucky Horse Park....

So an eventer, a dressage rider, and a hunter walk into a bar… Just kidding. It was only me, and I did walk into a bar, only the bar was...

I was emailed by the United States Equestrian Federation last week with an inquiry. Someone had filed a complaint into my amateur status and they were asking for a rebuttal....

I knew the news was bad about Philippa Humphreys hours before it was ever released. I was doing what I always do on the weekends of the “big ones.” Scrolling...

I made one of the hardest decisions of my life last week. My own personal "Sophie’s Choice"—choosing between two beings that I considered sons—with no real perfect answer. I sold...

The days following last weekend's wreck of an event were spent in a bipolar state of emotions. I was bummed with Nixon ("Called to Serve") for getting eliminated, proud of...

I walked off the cross country course yesterday with my head hanging low and my reins swinging on my horse's neck. Without breaking a sweat Nixon strode out strongly, not comprehending...

Yesterday was the first show of the season for many of us here in Kentucky, the Paul Frazer Memorial Combined Test at the Kentucky Horse Park. The show has become...

I can remember being 17 and sitting on my horse in the entrance to the arena in Harrisburg. It was 10 o’clock at night and I was getting ready to...

As an entrant in the Retired Racehorse Project’s 2016 Thoroughbred Makeover I have joined a Facebook group for the competing trainers. While entries were finalized only a few weeks ago many...

The Retired Racehorse Project recently released the list of trainers for this year’s Thoroughbred Makeover, and as the winner of one of the disciplines from last year I was at...

A few months ago, dripping in sweat and battered and bruised, I came home and text messaged my best friend Meghan, telling her that I thought it was time to...

I walked off of the cross country course in tears yesterday. Sweat poured off of my face, and the tears caught into the black mane and glistening neck of my...

"He is now 8 years old and has career earnings of $430,000, but only $1,500 of that is from this year. He has only one win since the Excelsior in...