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At the beginning of March, 34-year-old Carly Anthony was part of the winning U.S. team in the CSIO4* Nations Cup in Wellington (USA) alongside Laura Kraut, Natalie Dean and Charlotte Jacobs. Riding the 13-year-old gelding Heavenly W (Calvaro F.C. x Quidam de Revel, bred by B.J.M. Wezenberg and owned by Robin Parsky’s Portfolio Horses LLC), Carly – currently ranked 192^nd on the Longines Rankings – delivered a double clear round in her senior Nations Cup-debut.

“I gained more confidence in myself, knowing that I can go in and do that,” Carly tells World of Showjumping about the take-aways of her successful senior team debut. “I loved the pressure and the feeling of being part of a team. This sport is more or less a very individual sport and having the team element every now and then is nice. I also gained a lot of confidence in my relationship with my horse. I'm very lucky and grateful to have such an incredible horse as Heavenly, and being on the winning team in Wellington definitely made me feel like we could do anything. I have a lot of gratitude for my team and everyone that's helped me get to this point.”

Growing up at a farm in Seattle, with her mum Cara Anthony running a hunter and jumper business, Carly has always been surrounded by horses. “My mum used to compete at the top of the sport, and jumped on a few Nations Cup teams as well,” Carly tells. “Growing up, I focused primarily on equitation as that helped keep the business going. Doing the equitation earned me a scholarship at the University of Georgia and I rode on their equestrian team there. At about 15 I knew I wanted to ride professionally.”

Carly graduated in 2013 and took a job working for Eric Lamaze. “I was helping him throughout college whenever I had a break,” she recalls. “I'd go and groom for him. I wanted to do whatever I could to get as much knowledge and experience as possible while I was still at school. Once I graduated, I went in full-time and worked for him for about three years. After that, I went to work for Emily Moffitt, who was training with Ben Maher at the time. I worked for them for about a year and that was really fun because I got to be a part of the whole process around Explosion. I tried him, which was a lot of fun. It was a great trial, definitely one that we will never forget.”

I wanted to do whatever I could to get as much knowledge and experience as possible 

After working for Moffitt, Carly moved to Spain for a year before returning to the States in 2018. “I have not looked back since – and here we are,” she smiles.

Today, Carly is based in Wellington – with the exception of the hottest summer months. “I have Jet Blue (VDL Zirocco Blue x Indoctro), Heavenly and a nice 7-year-old, B Rockabilly Z (Bamako de Muze x Elvis Ter Putte) – a grandson of Gazelle. He is a spectacular horse for the future. They are owned by Robin Parsky, and I feel so grateful to have her in my life. It's an incredible honour because she supports top riders like Henrik [von Eckermann], Mclain [Ward] and Kent [Farrington] and I'm tremendously honoured to be included in her group of riders. I have several other horses with other owners, and I am working hard to add more.”

In addition to her own riding, Carly teaches as well. “I was fortunate enough last year to have some great students that went on to jump in the European youth finals, where they won team gold. I do a bit of everything; I teach, I have people send me horses to sell and then I also compete at the highest level.”

Doing her senior Nations Cup debut on an all-female team was a dream come true for Carly. “When I found out it was a group of women, I was looking forward to it even more,” she tells. “The energy and atmosphere between the four of us was great. I feel like we all fed off of each other's energy and worked well together.”

I think we need more strong women that support other women

“Growing up in the U.S., if you have an aspiration to compete at the highest level, it's a dream to represent the United States,” she continues. “I would say there's quite a bit of depth in the federation’s ability to select, so it was a tremendous honour for me to be on the team. I'm grateful for that opportunity.”

“My whole team, they're all women, and I definitely feed off of that energy,” Carly says. “I think we need more strong women that support other women.”

“I could talk for hours about Heavenly,” Carly laughs when asked about the 13-year-old gelding that was her ride on the winning Nations Cup team. “He came to my farm at the end of the 2021-season. He was always a loving horse, but a little bit shy. We took our time, and it took us over three years to get here, but we're here – and I think being patient really helped. I would say it helped us create the consistency we needed to get on the team. The last couple of months, we've been super consistent at five-star level, either jumping clear or having one down. I think that wouldn't have been possible if we rushed him into that."

I could talk for hours about Heavenly

"I think Heavenly is a magnificent horse with an incredible work ethic. I love riding him every day, even if it's just flatting. It doesn't really matter; he wants to do the work and be the best. As a rider, that motivates you to show up and give him your best every day. I absolutely love that about him.”

Producing horses is something Carly enjoys the most. “It is definitely my passion and my strong suit,” she says. “I definitely find a lot of joy in that process. When you have a small team of horses like I do, you have to have a good plan and you have to manage your horses well.”

Even though Carly grew up in a professional setting, she still wanted to go and learn as much as she could from as many people as possible before starting on her own – and she is not done learning. “It is definitely not the easiest thing to do,” Carly says about running her own business. “When you get started as a young professional, I think it's absolutely necessary to go and work for people and learn what it's like to run a business, to have clients and sales horses. Even when I'm running my own business now, I still stay open to learning from other people. I think to be the best professional and horse-person you can be, you're never done learning.”

If I was going to put all this hard work in and build something, I wanted to do it for myself

“I feel very fortunate that I got to learn from some great Olympians and be a part of multiple Olympic journeys,” she continues. “The reason I decided to go out on my own was that it was something I strived for: If I was going to put all this hard work in and build something, I wanted to do it for myself. Therefore, I decided to take a chance at it and do it on my own. I'm very fortunate to have a wonderful husband who's very supportive of what I do. I also have an amazing team around me every day that supports me and helps me achieve my goals and dreams. Even though it's hard, it's worthwhile and I definitely face those challenges head on with a smile and keep pushing forward.”

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