TOLEDO, Ohio — In high school, three-sport athletes aren't uncommon to northwest Ohio or southeast Michigan. However, you'd be hard-pressed to find a student who specifically competes in basketball, track and equestrian.
"It's so much fun, I feel like you create a bond with your horse," St. Ursula senior Grace DeFoe said.
Her relationship on the dirt isn't your typical teammate dynamic. Most athletes interact with humans, but DeFoe has jumped into success with Fire, her horse.
"I've had Fire for a pretty good amount of time, since I was 13," DeFoe, 17, said.
The chemistry between the two has developed into one of the best horse-riding tandems in the nation. DeFoe and Fire have competed in different events within the sport of equestrian. The two have done equitation, which judges the rider's performance, for years and more recently, Hunters, which judges the horse's performance.
DeFoe's success hasn't come without sacrifice, though.
"It's a lot of time, definitely a lot of early mornings," she said. "But I got used to that."
DeFoe's mom, Jodie, has been along for the ride throughout her daughter's entire career. She spoke to WTOL 11 while they practiced at Talvidar Farm in Metamora, Michigan.
"I'm amazed with her work ethic," Jodie said. "There's a lot of mental work that goes into it. Her discipline, her early mornings, she doesn't complain and we're just so proud of her."
Her love for the sport began on her seventh birthday, DeFoe said.
"We had a barn and I absolutely loved it," she said. "I kept begging to go back more and more."
Soon after, she received a pony at her Perrysburg barn. Then came the learning.
"I liked horses for sure, but I didn't really know much about this at all," DeFoe said. "There's a lot of traveling and you go to a lot of different places, which is really cool and I didn't expect that."
She began showing at the World Equestrian Center in Wilmington, Ohio, and Brave Horse Equestrian Center in Johnstown, Ohio.
From there, DeFoe earned her first competition award at 10 years old in Lexington, Kentucky, at the Pony Finals. Her performance yielded a 2016 USEF Medal Finals Top Ten achievement.
Since then, she has accumulated dozens of state and national medals. Putting her name on a prestigious list as one of the best in the country caught the eye of Texas A&M University, where she committed to equestrian.
She verbally made the decision to become an Aggie earlier this year after the family visited the campus.
"By the end of the day, the coach said 'Grace, if you don't want to come here I think your parents do,'" Jodie joked. "We were blown away."
Given her talent, DeFoe now trains in Wellington, Florida, a location where the family spends a lot of time even though she still attends St. Ursula Academy in Toledo.
It's no secret equestrian is not a particularly popular sport in Ohio. But DeFoe's impressive career thus far is hoping to change that.
"There's a lot of talented riders in Ohio," Jodie said. "You're representing your state when you come to these bigger, national shows."
Earlier in July, DeFoe took home three first-place awards at the I Love NY Horse Show in Lake Placid, New York:
- 2023 PNHA First place
- 2023 First in Maclay class
- 2023 Large Hunter Champion
She added two more first-place titles at Great Lakes Equestrian Festival in Traverse City, Michigan, Thursday night.
When it comes to equestrian, there are many different categories for competition. DeFoe has focused on three during her decade-long career: equitation, Hunters and Jumpers.
Jumpers is her ultimate goal. She aims to participate at the Grand Prix, comparable to Olympic riders.
Once DeFoe enrolls at Texas A&M and becomes a member of the National Collegiate Equestrian Association, her disciplines change to English riding (jumping over fences) and Western riding (reining).
She plans to take Fire with her down to Texas for college and has received a scholarship to become a member of A&M's Equestrian team.