In the News: One Hunter Jumper’s Epic Cross Training Lesson with Meghan O’Donoghue
"You can ask my family, I am probably the most unlucky person on the planet. I can’t even win a free ticket on a scratch-off, but despite the handful of lemons life throws my way, every once in a while I manage to land a big win. So when on a wild hair one morning I decided to message pro eventer Meghan O’Donoghue to see if she could squeeze me in for a lesson while she was home for the winter, I never expected her to message me back with an enthusiastic, ”Happy to help!” There I was two Saturdays later loading up my mount Joey into a trailer and making the trip to Le Cheval de Boskydell, Meghan’s home barn, for the lesson of a lifetime.
While in college, I rode for my University’s IHSA Equestrian Team and we would travel to compete against nearby colleges, which is how I met Meghan’s mom, Jill O’Donoghue (coach of the SIUC team). Jill is one of those coaches who always dons a smile, despite your placing, and supports all the riders in our region. With Le Cheval being just a short hour from our home base in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, we were regulars at the schooling shows they host. Even after coming back from my hiatus from riding, Jill spotted me in the crowd and made it a point to give me a big welcome and a hug.
It is easy to admire Jill and in my time getting to know her, I also learned of her family, including her two daughters Meghan and Kelty who were in the pursuits of establishing professional riding careers. It was my junior year in college when Meghan took her own Pirate to their first Rolex and several of us on the team would ooh and ahh when we saw him in the barn on our visits to Le Cheval. I was mesmerized by her success and small-town roots and challenged myself every day to work as hard as she had to make her dreams come true. So when I saw Meghan at one of the Le Cheval schooling shows shortly after my return to the saddle, I decided to get in touch with her in order to help take my big dreams to the next step of becoming reality.".....
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