By JESSICA SHANNON
If a lifetime of showing has taught Texas Aggie freshman McKayla Brombach anything, it is to be flexible and ready for plans to change without notice. At this year’s Capital Challenge, her travel plans changed, and she added another valuable lesson. The Plaid Horse got a window into what a day was like for her, including what her new outlook on winning is.
Brombach rides at Silver Fox Farms out of Wimberly, TX. She and her sister, Brooke, are trained by their mom, Colleen, and they have spent a lot of their childhood and teen years at horse shows. Only a couple months into her freshman year of college, Brombach is already juggling college coursework, showing and practicing with her college equestrian team, and horse shows, including indoors as an equitation rider. Originally, Brombach anticipated flying back and forth from College Station, TX to Capital Challenge multiple times throughout the week, but that plan changed almost immediately after she landed in Maryland.
Brombach arrived on Tuesday and was met at the airport by her mom. She settled into her hotel and prepared for the week ahead. Looking at the schedule, flights, and school work she brought with her, the decision was made for her to stay in Maryland, as opposed to flying back and forth. In fact, she remains in a hotel on the East Coast as she awaits her time in the ring in Harrisburg. On Saturday, October 5, she jotted down what her wild day looked like.
- 6am: Rise and Shine!
- 6:30am: Arrived at Prince George’s Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, MD.
- Once she arrived, Brombach checked on her beautiful, grey mount, “Enzo” (Actionable). Enzo’s eye was swollen. Brombach attempted to bring down the swelling by icing with an ice boot, which did not work well. She then tried a cold compress. Enzo wasn’t having either of those options!
- Brombach then headed to the arena where she would later show to walk the course. She walked with her mom, and they joined up with Frank Madden, Jen Madden, and Madden’s other students during the course walk. Brombach has been able to work and learn under Madden’s tutelage a lot over the last year, both at shows and in Wellington. During the walk, Brombach was able to ask both her mom and Madden questions about the course and certain lines. Per Brombach, Jen is really good at adding little details to the big picture and complementing advice that Madden and Colleen Brombach provide. The three collaborate incredibly well to guide Brombach in some tough classes.
- Brombach then went to the rail to watch a rider from Silver Fox Farms go 8th in the rotation.
- She next left the rail but stopped to watch one of Madden’s students ride the course on the video monitor.
- Back at her barn’s stalls, she and her fellow rider from home discussed the other rider’s round. Brombach enjoys peer review at shows, complimenting each other, and both encouraging and comforting younger riders.
- Brombach then attempted to cold compress Enzo’s eye again before the vet came. The vet was able to flush the eye, and it seemed that Enzo may have had hay in his eye. All was well after the eye flush.
- Next up: studying. Brombach sat in the back of her rental car and locked the door so she wouldn’t be interrupted while she studied and took a biology quiz. The quiz was video recorded, and it would affect her grade if anyone popped into the video. Her own computer had problems, and she had to switch to her mom’s laptop. Tech issues in a rental car at a horse show. That’s a new one!
- Jen Madden schooled Enzo to tune him up, and Brombach watched.
- Snack time!
- Brombach then watched a couple rounds of riders in her class. She does not like to watch too many rounds, because that can create too many questions for her. She watched just enough riders go to answer some questions she already had about the course, and then she did more school work.
- 12:38pm: It’s only 12:38?! Show time! She thought her round was “almost good.” Brombach noted some people before her added in the last line. Enzo locked onto the wrong jump, they went too wide, and they did 8 ¾ strides instead of 9. That ride kept her out of the next round.
- She cleaned up Enzo. She pulled tack, and their groom gave Enzo a well-deserved bath.
- It was damp out, and Brombach took extra care in cleaning her tack to help keep the leather in good condition with the damp air. While tack cleaning, she spent some time reflecting on her round and, admittedly, was hard on herself.
- 2:00: Brombach packed up her tack trunk and started separating things out that she needed for the next few days, as she could not take everything with her to New Jersey.
- 3:00: She paused her packing and cleaning for schoolwork on the biology discussion board, which includes writing down your own reasoning for a concept, defending your thoughts, reading other people’s paragraphs, and offering critiques on other students’ work.
- 4:00: Packing for New Jersey continued. Brombach was going to head to Frank Madden’s NJ farm for a few days before going to USET in Gladstone, NJ for the Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Program.
- 5:00: She wrapped Enzo’s legs, and he loaded onto Madden’s trailer.
- 7:00: Brombach started the 3 hour drive to Madden’s farm to unload the trailers, blanket horses, and fill water buckets.
- 10:30: She arrived and helped unload at Madden’s farm and checked into her hotel.
That was all one day for McKayla Brombach. She cared for her horse, studied her course with 3 trainers and fellow riders, watched and supported others, did college biology schoolwork, showed, cleaned tack, packed, and drove to another state to prepare for the next adventure with Enzo.
In the midst of all that craziness, she reflected a lot on how to be okay leaving without a ribbon, particularly from Saturday’s class. She had good rounds coming into Saturday. She got an 82 and didn’t ribbon, and she was frustrated. Brombach had a good round in the outdoor arena during another class, placed 8th, and had a better score. She reported that she is normally in the top 3 in flat classes, but this time, she was called back in for the second group yet didn’t place. Brombach was confused and disappointed with the results.
Brombach feels a lot of pressure in equitation and is working on dealing with failure. Not winning is a big frustration for her, and, when analyzing her ride on Saturday, she felt she made a big mistake and disappointed the people in her corner. She took time to process her mistake, and she was able to remind herself that she is talented and not the bad rider she was convincing herself she was at that moment. She realized she was in her head and really stuck on one part of her ride. Coming to that realization helped Brombach release her own frustrations and disappointment.
Brombach does not want to disappoint her trainers or anyone else. She also is making a conscious decision to learn from every stride. She says, “You shouldn’t go into your next round afraid while still able to take responsibility and learn from each ride. You can’t learn how to not make a mistake if you don’t make a mistake in the first place.” Brombach says that “Final season is so hard because there is increased pressure, and Capital Challenge made USET easier.” Even though she was disappointed in her mistake, she learned from it and was able to see how well Capital Challenge prepared her for USET.
The combination of Equitation Finals, disappointment, analyzing her rides, and USET helped remind Brombach of her gifts and goals. At some point, she wants to be able to do 1.50 m. First and foremost, however, she wants to focus on what she does to help her horse and not think so much about the ribbon. “That whole week taught me how to be happy and ride well, and to think about my goals.” She is confident she will be more prepared in the future. Brombach says, “Don’t let your mistakes take away from what you did beautifully.” Brombach knows how lucky she is to show a horse like Enzo, and she wants to help and support him and all the horses she is able to ride.
