Allison was part of the bronze medal winning US Olympic dressage team at Rio in 2016. Her story is amazing. She’s a “normal” person doing extraordinary things so she’s a good one to pay attention to.

Having grown up in Hawaii, she left home as a teenager to pursue her riding dreams and through sheer hard work, she reached the top of her sport.

In this interview Allison talks about how being highly motivated, hard working and driven can find you quite a few fairy godmothers on your journey to the top. She gives her opinion on why the Germans are so good and getting horses into the competition arena happy and healthy. Speaking of which, she talks about her Olympic partner, the Dutch stallion Rosevelt. Allison has been coached and inspired by some great trainers and it’s interesting to hear about the problems she overcame to get a Rosevelt to the top.

We also get an insider’s opinion on why Team USA has become so successful, why you need to compete overseas and why it’s best to train horses all the way through from babies. And I had to know what it was like for her to take on her first Olympics. For me though her best bit of advice was: You have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Cool, huh?

Interview with photos: http://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2016/11/making-it-on-your-own-rebecca-ashton-profiles-allison-brock/