An Inside Look: How a Show Jumper Ended Up In the Running for the Olympic Eventing Team

Perspective is a funny thing. Ask any rider; a five-foot show jump is a world removed from the solid coop/ditch obstacles that event riders make careers of tackling.

Scratch that. Ask most riders.

Thirty-year-old Marilyn Little-Meredith is not most riders. And if she hung up her spurs right now, she could do so knowing that she’s already proven her talent in the saddle via a notable and thoroughly successful record as a grand prix show jumper.

Competing in the grand prix ring with Unika, circa 2007

But that would just make her another grand prix rider who’s won lots of ribbons. And while her accolades in the show jumping ring are illustrious, to say the least, she stands apart from other jumpers with a unique distinction; for she’s now a successful four star event rider.

Game Changer
In 2010, Marilyn became a beacon for attention from throughout the horse world when she began to shoot up the levels of three day eventing. She began at the lower levels with an ex-grand prix show jumper, but quickly, and boldly, moved up to advanced competition. She encountered a few naysayers along the way, who were quickly silenced when Marilyn not only began competing, but winning. Most event riders train for years with the hopeful goal of one day winning CIC2* and 3* events. It took Marilyn just one year.

Most event riders spend their careers trying to qualify for, and compete at The Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event, the United States’ only four-star event. The holy grail of American eventing, it’s so difficult that every year, a large percentage of the entry list fails to complete all three phases.

This April, Marilyn powered around Rolex on two horses, finishing the weekend as the highest placed Rolex rookie, in 9th place.

It was a little like a professional figure skater taking up hockey, and playing in the Stanley Cup Finals the very next year. Same skates, completely different game.

For Marilyn, what started as a “let’s try this and see how it goes” experiment has evolved into a very real shot at the 2012 London Olympics – on the U.S. Eventing Team.

How? Why? Both questions are simple, according to Marilyn.

She downplays the crossover between sports, relating that for her, a jump is still a jump, even if it’s a solid table preceded by a six-foot ditch that would make most show jumpers weak in the knees. It’s her definition of confidence, and her problem solving abilities, that are the real crossover talents.

And why not? It’s a blast, Marilyn says.

Focusing On the Positive
She is blessed with a supportive family, a successful show jumping business, the funds (and brains) to go out and purchase experienced and talented event horses, and excellent mentors. But even with all of that going for her, the challenge of proving herself as a real contender in eventing has been a mighty one.

“Certainly for me as a newcomer to Rolex, I knew that the confidence many riders were walking onto the XC course with due to previous successful runs was something I wouldn't be able to match - or talk myself into - because obviously I have never attempted such a course before,” she explains. “However, to let that make me feel less equipped or adequate would have been the beginning of the end. So I focused on the things I WAS sure about - the qualities I have as a rider that would help me to keep myself and my horse safe and solve the problems as quickly as they were coming up. Confidence comes from focusing on the positive.”

Marilyn approached cross-country day at Rolex with the same mental mindset she’s used in the past to tackle a next level show jump course. Not to say that she wasn’t nervous about her first go at a four star cross country track. She confesses that her inner voice was saying “Yes, you’re terrified, and rightly so.”

But also: “That said, you’re going to rock this. You’ve never rocked something like this before, but by Saturday night, that will no longer be the case. Get ‘er done.”

And she did. With RF Rovano Rex, a 15 year old Hanoverian gelding, she became the first clear of the day on cross country at Rolex. Later that afternoon she followed with another clear on RF Demeter, a 10 year old Oldenburg mare.

On course at Rolex with RF Rovano Rex. Photo ©Abigail Lang

Camera shutters buzzed as she galloped over the course at Rolex, and in every shot the expression on her face is relaxed, determined, and focused.

The Process
Marilyn found success by having a solid thought process, and in that way, little has changed since she was at the ingate of a major international grand prix. She describes her stream of consciousness as one thought that built upon the next, and at the end of the day, those thoughts carried her to the ultimate success of completing the event. As she walked the course, she relates that her inner voice sounded like this:

“I have never jumped a course of this magnitude and length, but I don't have to - I only have to jump one jump at a time, and solve one problem at a time. I can do this because...

I am certain that I am capable of jumping each of these jumps individually, so I will ride the course as a series of individual problems to be solved. I can solve these problems because...

I have 14 years of competition experience at the international grand prix level all over the world - this is problem solving experience, regardless of the name by which we call our given horse sport. Many of the questions I have already solved in my years of experience required skills I won't require today, but my collective knowledge bank is strong. This means that...

Though some problems I encounter today will be new questions I feel I haven't encountered before, I am confident in my 'feel', my sense of balance and momentum, my ability to accurately place the horse where I want, in my body's ability to control its own balance and affect the horse in a positive way on demand, and in my foresight for what is about to happen in a moment of crisis management. Knowing this...

I may not have confidence because I have successfully completed this track before, but I believe that the collective abilities I possess - obtained through other but equally viable avenues of experience - are equal to the demands of the task at hand. Therefore...

If I correctly read the problems as they come, draw on my abilities clearly, they will allow me to keep my horse safe and bring him home clear.”

The Road Ahead
The experience across disciplines, and the method that she focused on for success became her crossover story. 

After her impressive result at Rolex, Meredith’s top placing horse was asked to remain on the grounds for a Monday Inspection – only horses that are in consideration for the Olympic Team have this request asked of them, and as of now, all signs point towards a real shot at London.

“I’m so blessed to have some incredible horses right now,” she says. “I owe them my undivided attention to give it 100% and see how far we can go.”

While Marilyn gives her focus to her event horses and a few more important competitions that stand between her and London, her husband, Australian show jumper Ben Meredith, keeps their hunter/jumper barn Raylyn Farms humming along in Maryland.

“My husband and my parents are the unsung heroes in all of this, really.” Marilyn adds. “Their support has been incredible, and none of this could have been done without them.”

As her story continues to play out, riders across many disciplines can appreciate the logistics, the planning, and the addiction to challenge that is driving the journey. It’s too early to tell if she will land on the team with a ticket to London, but Marilyn will give it her all, every step of the way.

“If I were to give the endeavor anything less than it deserves, I would always be wondering what might have happened,” she says. “And that’s just not the way I was raised.”