Jumping the Moon

By Meredith L. Mills & Rachel Cook

Jumping a horse is like nothing else. Gathering speed, tensing muscles, lining up with the jump and then you’re airborne. That one moment is all about the trust between you and your horse. For that small amount of time, you feel as if you could soar into and above the clouds. As the saying goes, aim for the moon because you’ll always land in the stars.

Imagine being 13 years old and at the top of your game. Sarah Owen and her 17-hand Dutch Warmblood gelding, Arko, know all about stars. They hung theirs at the Barry Lane Memorial Grand Prix in Atlanta last fall. In fact, they out-jumped 98 competitors to make Sarah the youngest rider ever to win the $25,000 grand prize.

“It was a big, well laid out course,” said Sarah of the course designed by Jeff Smiley. “The only jump I worried about was the big Liverpool, but Arko had no problems!”

“Barry is certainly smiling down today!” said Bob Bell, president of the Barry Lane Memorial sponsor. “She would love seeing someone so young do such a great ride,” he said of Sarah’s clear first round time of 76.172 and clean final jump-off time of 37.269.
“It was nerve-wracking at first, but I was okay after I got around,” Sarah said. This eighth-grader has a great love of the sport to be competing at this level at her age. When asked what she wants to do now, her reply is simple: “keep riding.”

To meet and talk to her, you would never know Sarah is a national jumping star. She enjoys competing at shows with a lot of friends her own age, and the modest teenager says they take turns winning. And yet, she competes and wins against riders much her elder. In fact, she goes head-to-head with some of the veterinarians who look after Arko and other horses at her home farm, Muny Sunk Stables (www.munysunkstables.com).

It helps that Sarah comes from a long line of horse jumpers. Sarah’s mother, Christine Vanneck, has been riding, reining and jumping since she was 6 years old. Christine’s grandfather was also an experienced horseman, who instilled an “old school” theory of riding in Christine. Christine has worked hard helping Sarah follow in her footsteps.

It’s also not bad that Sarah’s life revolves around riding. She is home-schooled to allow time for traveling to more than 30 shows throughout the year, not to mention training in between. Her trainer, Judy Young says of Sarah, “she likes riding and has time to devote to it, but even more, she has natural talent.” Judy doesn’t fail to mention that Sarah has a great horse in Arko and he certainly helps bring the ribbons home.

When Sarah and her mother are not on the road, they reside in Hendersonville, NC, at their recently acquired 20-stall full-board facility. Muny Sunk Stables is a great place to train and ride performance show horses in the beautiful shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains. To walk out your front door to a beautiful ring atop a hill with views for miles and then have your horses in the barn at walking distance behind your house is a great way for a 13-year-old girl to spend her time.

When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, Sarah’s reply is “I don’t really know yet, but I would like to stay involved in horses in some way. I know I don’t want to be a vet, though, because I don’t like needles!”

You can see Sarah and Arko compete in horse shows along the East Coast this year, in USEF (United States Equestrian Federation) Zone 3 shows. Throughout the past several years, she has qualified and competed in many national and final Hunter and Jumper associated events in the Pony Hunters and Pony Jumpers as well as the Equitation finals and Children’s Hunters finals. And now she’s added competing with adults on her 16-year-old Warmblood. It’s safe to say there’s a lot to look forward to during the rest of Sarah’s junior riding career and beyond. The future is promising for this young star and we can’t wait to keep watching her jump ahead!