Mexican event rider Daniela Moguel competed in her third Kentucky Three Day Event this past weekend with the mare Cecelia, her partner at the 2015 Pan American Games where they finished 12th and later went on to 2018 World Equestrian Games. Her journey to the top of the sport has been been an adventure born on determination to do the sport she loves in spite of growing up in a country where eventing is not a popular sport even within the equestrian world.
It was in her home town of Mexico City where her story began and her love of horses drew her to the El Alfil Riding Club where she was to take her first lessons. Mexico’s leading equestrian sport is show jumping so it was there that she began to learn to compete.  Daniela tells the story of how some time later she saw a photo of a woman jumping through water that caught her eye and made her want to try eventing. It was to be some time later that she connected with that rider, Karen O’Connor, who became her coach and friend. With 11 horses in her barn in Shelby, North Carolina and training alongside her husband Zully Martinez, Daniela has her sights set on her second Pan American Games this summer riding her nine year old Selle Francais gelding Chalok, and, with Cecelia, qualifying this fall for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Chris Stafford caught up with Daniela after she had arrived home and Cecelia was out in the paddock enjoying some spring grass.
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