Eventer Amy Tryon and Her Mountain Horse Poggio II

August 6, 2008

2004 Olympic bronze medalist Amy Tryon has a past almost as colorful as her horse, Poggio II’s. Unlike the majority of the other Olympic equestrian competitors, Amy hasn’t always made a career out of horses – and Pogi wasn’t bred to be a top international eventer.

From Firefighter to International Competitor

Amy grew up in Duvall, Washington, riding her family’s pleasure horses and getting involved in the local pony club and 4-H. She was also active in the Pacific Northwest (Area VII) Young Riders Program, which offers young people opportunities to be coached and participate on national teams.

After graduating high school in just two years, Amy headed to the East Coast to pursue eventing. At age 20, she returned to Washington to finish college, following which she decided to become a professional firefighter. After two years as a volunteer, she was hired full-time as career EMT and firefighter. Despite having a full-time job outside of horses, Amy stayed active with horses running the 20-stall Upson Downs Farm, teaching lessons, training horses, and competing internationally in eventing.

After the terrorist attacks on September 11, Amy stayed in Washington to cover for her local colleagues who were sent to New York City to partake in the massive recovery effort. Three years later, when Tryon was vying for a spot on the 2004 Olympic team, she was denied leave by the fire department to compete in the final mandatory outing for the Olympic team because of budget concerns. But two of her coworkers organized 35 shift trades to cover her hours so she could compete. Amy retired from the fire department in 2006 so she could focus solely on training.

From Racetrack, to Mountain Horse, to the Olympics

Becoming a successful international eventer was one of the last things anyone would have imagined for Poggio II, known around the barn as Pogi, when a friend of Amy’s bought him for just $2,500 after seeing an ad for him at a local tack shop. The thoroughbred gelding was originally bred for racing and then was used as a trail horse in the Cascade mountains. Amy saw some incredible potential in the five-year-old horse, and traded another horse for him with her friend. It was the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership.

Now 16, Pogi and his rider Amy already have one Olympic team bronze medal to their names, where they also placed 6th individually. In 1999, they finished fourth in the individual event at the Pan American Games, and helped the U.S. team win gold. In 2002, Amy and Poggio II were on the U.S. team that won the Gold medal at the Eventing World Championships at the World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain. At the World Equestrian Games in 2006, Amy rode Pogi to an individual bronze medal finish, while the U.S. team fell just short of the podium, finishing in fourth place.

Competing In a Dangerous Sport

In the spring of 2007, Amy faced heavy criticism for an unfortunate turn of events that occurred at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day event with her horse, Le Samurai. Amy was approaching the last cross-country fence when Le Samurai tripped. Instead of pulling up on the horse, she continued to the finish line, where it became apparent something with seriously wrong. Four days later, he was humanely euthanized after it was determined the extent of his injures were too grave. What followed was an investigation of abuse by the FEI. Amy maintained that she was unaware of the damage to the horse at the time, and if she had known, she would have stopped. “While I am incredibly remorseful of the decision I made on course at the time, and it was clearly the wrong thing to do, I don’t have 20-20 vision when it’s happening at the time,” she told the EquiWire News in 2007. “This was an accident, and I take full responsibility for that accident, but it was an accident.” The FEI agreed that she had no intent to cause harm to the horse, and she was suspended for two months.

Amy and Poggio II have some interesting history, that’s for sure, and one that could help them to stand out in Olympic competition. Hopefully they will be most remembered for back-to-back Olympic medals!

• Get the TRUE story of Poggio’s past, NOT as a pack horse, straight from his previous owners
• Read about Team Tryon’s Olympic experience first hand on their blog
• Read Olympic equestrian rider profiles, overviews of events and Hong Kong facilities, and other Olympic equestrian news on RegardingHorses.com. Complete coverage of 2008 Olympic Equestrian events.

Posted in 2008 Olympics, Olympic Eventing