Photo provided by Andrea Benjamin
Sophie Benjamin is learning from Olympic gold medalist Beezie Madden. |
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Sophie Benjamin may be the most dedicated athlete at La Jolla Country Day, but she probably won't be invited to the spring sports awards banquet.
Didn't attend the fall or winter banquets, either.
Although her training routine begins well before sunrise and usually ends by midafternoon, often thousands of miles from her Rancho Santa Fe home, the Torreys senior doesn't own a high school letterman's jacket.
Never earned a letter.
That's because Sophie Benjamin's sport is equestrian show jumping. It's nowhere to be found on the California Interscholastic Federation's list of approved sports.
But don't try convincing the 18-year-old senior it isn't a sport, requiring all the physical and mental steeliness of a quarterback or a pitcher.
Like many other athletes, Benjamin has had her share of bumps and bruises. Instead of dodging linebackers and line drives, she has to assess the mood of her horse.
“I've been lucky because I haven't had a major accident,” Benjamin said. “Of course, I've fallen off and landed on my butt and I did injure my back, but nothing major.
“When I think back to when we used to race ponies in our backyard and out onto Morgan Run Golf Course without a helmet, bridle or saddle, now that was crazy.”
Naturally, Benjamin has had balky horses that took a dislike to one of the eight to 12 barriers in the show ring she confronts during competition.
“There are times when the horse refuses, when you jump and they don't,” she said. “It's just luck that I haven't been hurt.”
That doesn't count the times ornery horses having a bad day have tried to buck her off.
“You can tell when you've done this for a while if the horse isn't ready,” Benjamin said. “If you're in a competition, though, you have to just suck it up.”
She is about to finish a three-month stint at Beacon Hill Stables in South Florida, where she's training and riding Marga, a syndicate-owned horse. Benjamin was befriended by Olympic gold medalist Beezie Madden and her husband John in Canada last summer, which helped her land the job in Florida.
Benjamin has been competing in the Junior Jumper division of the Winter Equestrian Festival, a 12-event series in which she stands fourth among 60 riders and has won three classes. If she finishes in the top 12, Benjamin will be able to compete for the championship that offers $30,000 in cash prizes.
As in thoroughbred horse racing, the owners receive the purses and that's fine with Benjamin, who maintains her amateur status in order to be eligible to compete in college.
Despite missing days and often weeks of school for competition, with LJCD's approval, Benjamin earned an SAT score of 2,260 out of a possible 2,400, including a perfect 800 in the verbal portion.
“Only one of the schools I applied to had equestrian sports,” Benjamin said. “Like most people my age, I have no idea what I'm going to study and I want a backup. The way I see it, I can ride wherever I go.”
Benjamin said she's never had what she considered a perfect ride.
“In fact, once I leave the ring I'm my harshest critic,” she said. “I just blurt out what I think I did wrong before I talk to anyone.”
Benjamin started asking for a pony as soon as she could talk. Her parents enrolled her in riding lessons when she was 6 and weighed slightly more than 40 pounds.
When Benjamin was 12, her parents agreed to let her board as many as a dozen horses on the property, but she would be responsible for their upkeep. Training and caring for others' horses was a way to earn money for her own lessons.
That allowed her to extend her work to places like France and Canada, where she gained hands-on experience from Olympic medalists at world-famous farms.
According to Sophie's mother, Andrea Benjamin, part of the learning curve included mucking stalls just to have a chance to ride or train a couple times a week.
“She's a working student,” Andrea said. “She has been able to ride with the best trainers and riders in the world. It's not just the horses, it's the life lessons she's learned.
“There were a lot of times when I wish she'd taken up tennis or something else, but this is her passion. She has had to work 12 hours a day just for the privilege of learning for a day or two.”
After Sophie works with a horse anywhere from a week to a year or longer, the owner often takes the horse back just as it begins to become successful.
“You know going in what's going to happen so it's not usually a big deal,” she said. “You need to really know the horse and that takes time. But there was one horse in particular I really liked and it was pulled once I was doing well.
“I remember when I was 9 or 10 I trained a pony and I cried and cried when it was returned. Now I see horses I've worked with in competitions and it's nice to see them do well. It's kind of selfish, but I want people to see I've done a nice job.”
Benjamin also has developed a realistic view of a sport whose pinnacle is the Olympic Games, but, unlike other sports, its competitors reach their prime in their late 30s and 40s.
It's a sport that she acknowledges is expensive – horses can be worth millions and even a show jacket can cost up to $1,000 – and she has the utmost respect for the riders.
“None of them own their own horses – they ride for a syndicate – but they've all cleaned stalls and done whatever it takes,” Benjamin said.
“This sport can be very humbling. It can take you down very quickly. If (the Olympics) happens, it happens, but the important thing is that riding is a lifelong sport. If you're just in it to win Olympic gold, you'll quickly burn out.”
In it for Olympic gold or even a varsity LJCD letter.
Steve Brand: (619) 293-1854; steve.brand@uniontrib.com
