El Primero back on top

Mittleider rides former race horse to eventing glory

El Primero wasn't always first.

The 12-year-old thoroughbred entered six races as a colt, finishing dead last each time. But he was given new life nearly a decade ago, and he has rewarded and inspired his rider ever since.

Sara Mittleider was beginning to outgrow her pony nine years ago when her parents - then in the horse racing business - purchased the diminutive El Primero for $300. The horse's trainer told the family the lovable loser would make a nice 4-H project, and he would be delivered the next day.

"We bought him to resell, but nobody wanted him," said Mittleider, who began jumping horses at 4 and eventing at 6. "And I wanted him, so from there on out he was my horse.

"I've done all the work with him since then, riding with various instructors along the way."

Mittleider's passion for equestrian sports began at Rocky Hollow Farm - her parents' training facility in her hometown of Kuna, Idaho. It now takes her all over the world as she and El Primero compete at eventing's elite venues, including Kalispell's Rebecca Farm, where Mittleider is competing this week among nearly 500 riders.

The Event, which began Thursday and concludes Sunday, is one of four American qualifiers for the International Equestrian Federation Eventing World Cup Finals for CIC three-star riders. Rebecca Farm is one of just 15 United States Eventing Association Gold Cup Series venues in the country.

This year's field includes five Olympians and 14 CIC three-star riders, including Mittleider and Hawley Bennett - a Langley, British Columbia, native, who returns after finishing third last year atop Livingstone.

Eventing is the triathlon of equestrian sports, including dressage, cross country and show jumping. Competitors must ride the same horse for all three disciplines, showcasing endurance and versatility for horse and human alike.

Mittleider's impressive rise in eventing - she is entering her third World Cup and using The Event to prepare for England's Burghley Horse Trials while hoping to make the United States Olympics Team - is all the more remarkable considering the adversity El Primero has overcome.

Though much smaller than most elite eventing horses, the 1,050-pound El Primero reached his sport's pinnacle as a four-star horse before his entire right, front leg became paralyzed following a 2005 pasture accident.

Mittleider spent the next year training on her younger horses as El Primero battled back. The horse's damaged nerves slowly healed, and he rebuilt his atrophied muscles while dealing with his other front leg's compensation symptoms.

"My horse impressed me to no end the first time he came back," Mittleider said.

He also made quite an impression on Mittleider's mother.

"Usually, like with race horses or other kinds of competition horses, if they have a significant injury that lays them low for that long, and the recovery is that long, it's hard for them to come back to the same level," said Brenda Mittleider, who travels with her daughter and husband. "It seems to take something out of them, like anybody."

El Primero's second brush with death came less than a year later when his trailer and the Mittleider's truck were hit by a semi while traveling south on I-75 through Georgia.

"It completely totaled my truck and trailer, and he managed to walk away from that unscathed and did his next competition, and he was the best-conditioned horse and (I was) the highest-placed young rider for the second year in a row," Sara Mittleider said.

Following that outing, Mittleider and El Primero were short-listed for the World Equestrian Games in Germany. They trained in England for eight weeks, but El Primero pulled a muscle on his last gallop.

"I wasn't able to compete there, and he had to have the winter off repairing that," she said. "And now he's come back again and went back to the four-star level. He just keeps bouncing back.

"It makes me appreciate him even more because of how hard he does try to continue on with his job. He tries his heart out every time he goes out there, which is good because he's not the easiest thing to be around when you're not in the saddle."

Like many world-class athletes, El Primero has a bit of an ego, making for a love-hate relationship with his rider.

"He's the most arrogant animal you will ever meet," Mittleider said. "He wants to be the boss and he doesn't take kindly to you telling him what to do. He stares at you right in your eye and he doesn't blink."

But El Primero's cocksure disposition has helped him overcome his humble beginnings and relatively small stature.

"My horse definitely thinks he belongs out here," Mittleider said. "But we've always been dubbed the underdog since the very beginning, so we've have a lot of things to persevere and overcome.

"He beats big horses all the time, so I wouldn't trade him for anything."

And Mittleider wouldn't trade her eventing lifestyle for anything. She even home schooled herself through high school, studying in the back of the truck while her family traveled from event to event.

"We never pushed," said Sara's father Gary Mittleider, another standout rider, who is competing this week. "We always thought this type of lifestyle was quite a commitment, and if somebody wants to do it, it needs to be their own idea."

Mittleider's parents encouraged her to participate in other activities growing up, including karate and soccer, but she found they required too much time away from eventing.

"I do things outside of this on occasion, but for the most part, this is my life and I'm pretty used to it," she said.

Brenda Mittleider embraces her daughter's enthusiasm.

"I think it's great when a young person finds a passion in their life that they can pursue and really fulfills them as a person," she said. "There's a lot of life lessons to be learned in the sport, too."

Today's competition begins at 8 a.m. with dressage and novice cross country. Training cross country begins at 12:30 p.m. while dressage lasts until 5:20.

Dressage Results

Division: CIC*

Thursday

Rider Horse Penalties

1. Alexis Bramley Dante 42.4

2. Leigh Mesher Mar De Amor 49.1

3. Brooke Phillips Razzmatazz 51.7

4. Stephanie Parker Debonair 52.4

5. Kristi Nunnink R-Star 53.6

Division: Young Event Horse 4-Year Old

Wednesday

Rider Horse Points

1. Sarah Haff Cyr 72.83

2. Michele M. Pestle Zephyrus 71.41

3. Suzy Elliott Ideal Life 69.66

4. Alexis Bramley Forest 65.44

5. Barbara Crabo Libbie 64.77

Young Event Horse 5-Year Old

Wednesday

Rider Horse Points

1. Nancy Roche The North Wind 76.47

2. Michele M. Pestl Miles Away 76.08

3. April Gerlicher Point and Shoot 75.14

4. Chelsey Sevigny Independence 69.77

5. Sarah Keppner What's Up? 67.58