The Event: Teamwork makes dream work

“Great job out there! I thought he stayed really nice and calm. You recovered really well. He looked very pretty,” Kurstie Hammel said to her daughter, Alyssa, who rides away to her respective barn on a gorgeous Friday morning at The Event at Rebecca Farm after her dressage routine atop Motomaji.

It’s one of the rare moments the two have together at The Event.

Alyssa, 17, will later climb onto Ben — her second horse in the Junior Open Training division — for another dressage performance before taking on the cross-country course with both of them.

Meanwhile, Kurstie, who is riding Dante’s Paradiso in the Senior Open Novice division, attends to her duties as barn manager at Rebecca Farm and volunteer coordinator for The Event — organizing hundreds of volunteers such as cross country jump judges, crowd control and score runners.

Kurstie, who grew up riding horses with event organizer Sarah Broussard, has many titles at Rebecca Farm, but when her kids climb into the saddle only one title matters — mother.

“It’s kind of sad when your kid rides more than you do. I’m a novice lifer,” she says with a laugh. “For me, for my riding, it’s just to know I can still do it and have fun. This is the only event I do every year. My kids are now the focus. For Alyssa, with the eventing, this year has been our first year that we really have focused hard on it because she has high goals and we want her to achieve those.”

Alyssa has her eyes set on a promotion from the training division to the preliminary division. A goal she’s working hard to obtain by participating in as many events as possible.

“This year I’m going to do five. Last year I only did two. I’m trying to get all of them, but it’s hard to travel that much,” she said.

“I actually like traveling because he (Motomaji) doesn’t think he’s at home. When he’s at Rebecca Farm he knows where the barn is, he knows everything else is, so he kind of gets comfortable.”

But Alyssa isn’t getting a free pass to her traveling events. With a hard-working mother, Alyssa earns her way across the nation while Kurstie rewards her dedication and work ethic.

“It is very time consuming. It involves lots of money, but we have a great support system that helps,” Kurstie said. “Alyssa worked. She paid all of her entry fees this year. I promised to pay for gas to get her there and to feed her. I want her to know that this isn’t just something she gets to do. She has to work in order to do it. Right now, Alyssa has this goal of doing preliminary next month, which makes me nervous, but I want to help her achieve her dreams.”

At the moment, those dreams are to move into a more advanced division, but the dedicated Alyssa Hammel hasn’t put a ceiling on her career.

“I’d just like to go as far as I can and take whatever opportunities come up,” she said.

There will be plenty of opportunities in the future, especially if she continues a rigorous two-horse schedule in the same division. Motomaji and Ben are giving Alyssa all the confidence — and skill — she needs.

“This one (Motomaji) is a thoroughbred, so he’s not as into the dressage, but he’s super fast and super precise with the jumping,” she said.

“It’s a lot different because the other one (Ben) is a warmblood. He has very big movements and is very dressage-like. It’s the complete opposite. His (Ben) canter is a lot bouncier and flowing, and he has competed in the upper levels so it’s difficult containing him down to training since he’s use to going so fast and he’s not going to do that in this division.”

Alyssa is well on her way to a successful eventing career and has the resources to take her abilities to the highest level.

Both Motomaji and Ben call Rebecca Farm home and are owned by Sarah Broussard, while Kurstie’s friendships throughout the Kalispell equestrian community continue to benefit both her busy schedule and family — practicing the theme for this year’s The Event.

“Our theme this year is teamwork and we have a team,” Kurstie said.

“I lease my horse, and his owner helped me all day yesterday. She’s here today helping. Jen Johnson, our trainer, comes out and helps warm Alyssa up so she doesn’t have to listen to Mom. It’s a team. We all help each other out. Without that I couldn’t do it all by myself — riding, training, working and taking care of the kids.”

Wherever her career takes her, Alyssa is in good hands. And her mother, well, she is, too.

NOTE: For full results, visit the www.rebeccafarm.com website.