Allison Springer

I have been riding horses since age six. My infatuation with the animal had somewhat of an odd start. I was a thumb sucker! Yes, I sucked my thumb into the years my father considered “too old”. This was a concern because I had perfect teeth, and the dentist had told my parents that I had a 99.9% chance of not needing braces as long as I didn’t continue to suck my thumb. All sorts of attempts were made to end this terrible habit; positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, Tabasco sauce on the thumbs (killed my eyes!) to no avail. Exasperated, my father went back to the dentist for more advice. The advice was simple: “Bribe her.” Genius! I happened to be in a Barbie Doll phase and had been constantly begging for the newest doll out. I think the one I wanted at the time was something ridiculous like Malibu Barbie. I do think my dad was hoping it was going to be as simple as Malibu Barbie. But unfortunately for him, I had missed the bus home from school that day and went home with a neighbor who had a pony. I brushed the pony, fed the pony, rode the pony. I LOVED the pony. I remember thinking that was the most glorious day of my life. So that evening when my father came to me with his proposition — “We’ll give you one thing, anything, as long as you quit sucking your thumb right now and never do it again”, I needed no time to think. “I want a pony.” I remember his face and his response: “What? A real one?” I never cheated. I was so stricken with the pony disease, there was no looking back. My dad was a man of his word and I KNEW my having a pony was meant to be. 

And from that point things progressed. 

The Olympic dream was something that began at an early age as well. There were two childhood memories that stand out. One was when I was very, very young. My family went to watch the winter Olympics at Lake Placid. I remember sitting on my father’s shoulders taking in the spectacular sights. The patriotism was truly awesome. I’m not sure I could do much more than walk at the time, but this experience instilled in me how special the Olympics are and why they are every athlete’s ultimate goal. The second experience was watching the Los Angeles Games on the television. That was the first time I actually saw my sport, Three-Day Eventing. I watched all the equestrian sports, but the Three-Day Event was what captured me. To me, this was the ultimate horse sport. And once again I felt destiny knocking on the door! I knew that was what I was going to do. From that day forward, my dream and determination have never wavered. I am going to represent our country in Olympic competition.