32 • THE PLAID HORSE
California-based amateur rider, Emily Goldberg, has a message for young riders: there is life after the Junior Divisions! Goldberg is an extremely successful rider in the Amateur Owner Hunter and Adult Equitation Divisions. Aboard her horses Sambuca and Sinatra, Goldberg has garnered numerous top ribbons and championships, ranking her high in the USEF Horse of the Year standings. A full time student at Pepperdine University, she is a part-time rider who juggles the rigors of academia and high level equestrian competition. Like many who participate in equestrian sport, her life is a balancing act of time, concentration, and energy. “A less-than-fulfilling junior career doesn’t mean that you can’t be a top amateur,” Goldberg explains. “I rode a lot as a junior, but never really got going until I was an amateur.” Her junior career was spent primarily in the hunter divisions, culminating with the positive experience of making up a young horse into a reliable, seasoned competitor. Solomon’s Mines is a horse that Goldberg bought as a six-year-old. She brought him up through the Junior Hunters, and he is still today competing in the Equitation Divisions in California. She fondly refers to him as a “schoolmaster.” As her junior career ended, Goldberg moved into the next phase of her riding career with a new trainer, new location, and new horses. She began to ride with Victoria LaCagnina at Storia Stables in Santa Susana, CA. On her old junior hunter, Goldberg competed in a few Adult Equitation classes. “I knew it was time
Emily Goldberg Shines as
an Amateur to look for a top Amateur Owner Hunter horse,” she states. “I was ready to really break into the hunters with some amateur horses.” Her first foray into the A/O’s was on Emma Snow, described as her “starter” horse. As her skills and success grew, so did her ambition. With the guidance of LaCagnina, Goldberg traveled to Europe and purchased a six-year-old, Sambuca. Shown a few times in 1.10 meter classes in Europe, the beautiful bay gelding proved to be a quick study in the hunter discipline. Arriving in September, 2015, Sambuca began his career that fall in the Baby Green division with LaCagnina in the irons and the Low Adults with Goldberg aboard. The next few months saw the horse move up to the 3' Pre Green and 3' Adult Hunters. Early in 2016, Goldberg began to show Sambuca in the 3'3" Amateur Owner Hunters, a quick ascension for a young horse. “It is easy for him and he uses his body well,” she says proudly. “He is like a puppy until it is show time; he knows when it is time to win!”