Avery Glynn is a junior for Auburn Equestrian, coming from Petaluma, California. A rider with a collegiate honors list for both riding and academics that is a mile long, she is currently undefeated in both Jumping Seat events in her junior campaign. She has collected a total of six MOPs thus far on the season. The Californian is studying Marketing at Auburn. This is her story.

I grew up in the horse show world. As a “trainers kid,” horses were a part of my life from my very first memories, but so were all the animals that I grew up with as a child. When I was very young, I was not completely invested in competing constantly or riding all the time. My parents encouraged me to just enjoy spending time with horses which was what I loved the most. I was as interested in watching the vets work on the horses and understanding how horses learned and behaved as packing up and going to a horse show. It was not until a little later that my focus turned more towards competing and I set my goals towards the big eq and catch riding. I believe that my early love of horses and animals has shaped me into a rider that rides more from the perspective of a horse than the perspective of a rider. 

As the daughter of two well-respected horse trainers and riders, it may seem like I was destined to follow the path that I have, but really my parents made sure that I always had a choice. They encouraged me to look at all my options and to go to college before I made any important career decisions. Really, they actively pushed me to try life outside of horses. Other people would just assume that I would do horses because that is what my family does, but I wanted to make sure that I wanted to work in the horse industry for the right reasons - because I loved horses not just because that's what I have always known.
 

Growing up as a West coast kid, I was lucky enough to have a junior career that was both rewarding and challenging. I was sent to be a working student on the east coast and rode with several top professionals and barns, which meant that I was constantly traveling back and forth between the West and East Coast. Every program does things differently and there is a very unique culture between the different coasts and the different show barns, so being able to experience it all first hand always made me feel grateful and excited to learn. Whether I was riding on the West coast, the East coast, Europe, or somewhere else, my goal always stayed the same: to learn more and absorb everything I could from every professional I was able to work with and every horse I was able to ride. Even more than the riding itself, I found that one of the most valuable things for my growth was simply being in the warmup ring around other coaches and riders and getting to watch how different horses react to different riding and training styles. Being able to see training and riding from an outside perspective has made me a better and more complete rider.

I think it was my desire to be a complete rider and a complete person that also guided my recruiting process for the NCEA. I knew that I wanted to ride on a team in college and have that very valuable experience before I decided where exactly I wanted to go with my riding career. Long before I was old enough to be recruited, I already had the impression from friends and older juniors on the circuit that Auburn was one of the top teams in the league. I visited four schools during the recruitment process, but for me Auburn had always been my dream. Auburn stood out immediately, and from the moment I stepped on campus, I felt at home. I wanted to experience what it felt like to be part of a strong team culture and sports culture on the Auburn campus. The girls on the team felt like people I could grow alongside, and I could truly picture Auburn becoming home. I made the decision to commit to Auburn and I never looked back. 

It may surprise people that I was a nervous wreck freshman year. I was used to the pressure of having to perform on the biggest stages and switch horses for the final four at USET finals, but the team concept was completely foreign to me. I felt lost in a new format and didn’t want to make mistakes and let my team down. I was riding with many of the greats who I had looked up to as a junior, and did not want to let my older teammates down. As a junior I had put the most pressure on myself to win, but as a college athlete I felt the pressure to meet the standards the girls before me had set and to represent Auburn’s commitment to excellence. I wanted to represent Auburn to the best of my ability in all aspects of my life. Auburn winning the SEC championship was my favorite memory of freshman year for sure. My freshman year, I had a great group of 4 other girls that I consistently competed with all year, practiced with nearly every day, and won a championship alongside. Getting to compete with and be on a team with girls I had always looked up to as riders and as people was an opportunity I will forever be grateful for, and I am so lucky to have all of them as some of my closest friends. We always say that if you love Auburn it will love you back and I can confidently say that I agree. 

My second year riding on the team was definitely a growth year for me. My freshman year I tried to do what everyone else was doing because it worked for them, but it wasn’t always working for me. Instead, I focused on the horses and finding my consistency in the ring. I found my true love for the horses on this team, helping to make them better and more confident both in the barn and in the ring, and investing my time into them. Focusing on the horses and their care and training made me a more complete rider and a more consistent competitor. I wrapped up my sophomore year by winning both NCEA and SEC Fences Rider of the Year with an undefeated season in the event and my teammate Ellie choosing me to be the next person on the team to lead the team cheers for the next year. 

Now, my junior year has been focused on learning how to be a leader. Many of the upperclassmen I practiced and competed with every day during my first two years graduated, and while I felt prepared because of the example they set, stepping into that role still felt intimidating. I have always wanted to be the teammate that others could turn to and look up to as a rider and a person. I truly believe that leadership is not about holding a title, but about setting an example through work ethic, consistency, and support. Our team shares the goal of winning a National Championship, and I hope to help contribute to that goal by creating a strong team that supports one another inside and outside of the ring. 

I am grateful for every person and horse who helped build me as a rider because it challenged me to adapt to different styles and find a place in whatever program I was a part of and to any horse I was given to ride or help develop. Looking back, I think that it has been equally valuable to learn from every horse as it was to learn from every person along the way. I was taught early on that some of the worst rounds or practices, or the horses that I didn’t get along with instantly, are what have taught me the most and most helped me prepare for riding on the NCEA level. The mindset that difficult things could help me improve has instilled a work ethic that enabled me to transition from a junior rider to a Division 1 NCEA college athlete. 

I have also worked hard to overcome the assumption that as a trainer's kid I got everything handed to me. People assumed that because I had natural talent and my parents were connected to the industry, I didn’t have to work hard. Being on a college team gave me a chance to prove myself in a different way. I was given the opportunity to truly work for my position and earn my accomplishments. Riding for the team quickly became riding with the team, a mentality that helped me overcome my team nervousness from freshman year. It is not about individual wins because respect is earned through long hours at the barn, consistent hard work, being a good teammate, and being a positive role model and mentor for the younger members of the team. Being an all-around horseman matters just as much as being a talented rider. 

Even though I had experienced riding on a “team” in the jumper ring before, I didn’t fully understand the culture of a true team sport until I came to college. Overall, my college experience to this point has been another amazing opportunity to learn a completely new side of the horse industry, and I am grateful for what it has taught me as a rider and a person. I hope that after graduation I can piece together everything I learned from each program and take the best parts of all of them to create something of my own.