The "we" in Medal/Maclay is actually just me, a longtime participant and fan of the equitation divisions! It all started during my last junior year in 1998 when I visited horse shows around New England toting an SLR film camera and photographing my fellow junior riders. At home I played with early image editing programs on the computer and surfed the web. The internet had just materialized and I used to visit the now-extinct AltaVista search engine and try to look up information about equitation. There was none. So I created it.

A little website named "Big Eq Net" was born in early 1999, which was quickly re-named Bigeq.com. I began posting my photos (all individually and painstakingly scanned from film), doing interviews with junior riders, and recording and electronically drawing up equitation courses. I also began typing out every equitation result I could find and created a comprehensive archive of equitation champions - including the horses. I love equitation horses!

Years later when Bigeq.com transitioned to its current focus on hunter/jumper sales, I created this sister site fully dedicated to hunter seat equitation. From the beginning I envisioned Bigeq and then Medal/Maclay would be a resource for young riders hoping to train and qualify for equitation finals. Meanwhile, the results archive is designed to record and honor in perpetuity those horses and riders that did achieve the dream - my dream, and that of so many others - to win a ribbon at an equitation final.

 

To any young riders who may read this, I wish you all the very best in your own equitation journey and hope this little website will inspire and aid you along the way. Regardless of whether it leads to the finals or not, I know these experiences will be meaningful and worthwhile!

 

Caraneen Smith
Bigeq.com & Medal/Maclay Creator

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In Memoriam

Dream

1989-1997

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