Biography

It will be first Badminton for American rider Elisa Wallace (35) who last year was 14^th at Burghley with Badminton entry Simply Priceless.

In 2016 the pair was eighth at Lexington CCI4* – their second Lexington completion and top 20 place. In 2015 with Simply Priceless Elisa was the highest placed ‘Rolex Rookie’ and the pair competed at Blenheim (29^th).

Elisa, who is based in Jasper GA, is a Mustang advocate and is highly motivated to represent the USA and raise awareness about the thousands of American Mustangs currently in BLM holding facilities, and their potential as athletes for eventing.

Elisa has been involved with horses her entire life; her father is an event rider and trainer and her mother bred and raised young horses. Riding since before she could walk, it has always been a dream for Elisa to compete at international level. At the age of nine, she was the youngest eventer to win a gold medal at the Georgia State Games in combined training. In her late teens Elisa returned to eventing training and working with riders Nick Larkin, Stephen Bradley, Peter Gray and Ralph Hill.

In 2000 she purchased a $700 Thoroughbred yearling that she had found off of the internet. Jackson became a successful advanced horse. Along with her mare Leap of Faith, in 2006 and 2007, her success allowed her to qualify for the Olympics and the Pan Am games.

With the help of a friend in 2012 Elisa entered her first Mustang Makeover – a decision that would change her life. She was assigned a three year old, 13.2 hh horse from the Medicine-Maverick mustang herd in Nevada, whom she named Fledge. The pair won the competition and Elisa was able to take home Fledge. In 2013, Elisa decided to enter the Mustang Million, with 1 Million dollars in prize money. She adopted a talented 14.3hh three-year-old mustang from the East Douglas/Piceance herd in Colorado, whom she named Rune finishing 30th out of 190. Elisa continues to perform with Rune and Fledge. In 2014, Elisa was invited to compete in the Mustang Magic and used the opportunity to specifically demonstrate the ability of the American Mustang for eventing.

In 2015 Elisa was named to the USEF High Performance Training List and was awarded a Land Rover USEF grant to compete at Blenheim.

Elisa majored in art at college and specialises in welding life-size sculptures of horses.

Simply Priceless, owned by the Simply Priceless Syndicate LLC, is a 17-year-old Australian-bred Thoroughbred. He is by the Danehill son Waterford Road out of Faux Franc by Twig Moss. He was ridden to three-star by America Pam Fisher and Elisa acquired the ride in 2013.