Molly Paris - USA

Molly Paris was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. She spends the summers at home at their family boarding facility, Joli Cheval. During the winter, she is in Wellington, Florida. Molly has been riding since she was 6 years old. She begged her parents for her own pony. Her grandparents ended up buying her first pony: Jack. He was a 14.2 hh (147 cm) grey welsh cob pony, and truly a unicorn.

In 2013, Molly purchased Diamant Sky, a now 15 year old chestnut Westfalen gelding. They would go on to do NAJYRC Junior division in 2014. They were team gold, individual silver and freestyle bronze. The following year, Molly and Diamant Sky came back in the young rider division and came home with a 4th place in freestyle. They continued on to compete in the Small Tour (national and CDI) for a few years. In 2019, they started training for the U25 division. Their plan for this year is to compete in the open Grand Prix. “Sky and I have a long growing relationship, he is the epitome of Enjoy the Journey. He is always 100% him which can sometimes mean leaping around. He hasn't made it easy, but it has definitely been rewarding,” Molly says.

In 2015, Molly decided to look for a Grand Prix horse to teach her the ropes. She found Countess, a now 19 year old chestnut Danish mare. When she first got her, Countess behaved like a robot: She only knew how to do her job, not how to be a horse or to deal with people loving her. She always gives 110% in the arena and has really come out of her shell now. Countess is the most loving mare towards “her people”. They would go onto 2 Nations Cup teams in the U25 division, where they got placed on the podium both times. Molly and Countess also qualified for the USEF Festival of Champions three times – unfortunately, they could only go twice, due to an injury. In 2018, they were reserve champions for the U25 division. They would then do the Open GP at Tryon CDI-W, where they were 2nd in the Grand Prix and won the freestyle. That got Molly and Countess an invitation to Dressage at Devon. They competed against some of the top riders and came home with 5th in the Grand Prix and 4th in freestyle with 69%.

In 2019, Molly bought a Dutch gelding named Kryon, who is now 6 years old and almost 18 hh (182 cm). In 2020, they qualified for Region 1 (First Level) Open Championships, where they came home with a 3rd place with 75% from one judge. They are planning to make their 3rd level debut, and Molly will continue to develop him over the years towards a Grand Prix horse. She is very excited to see where he goes.

“They all have their nicknames. Diamant Sky’s the giraffe, but we also call him the sugar shark because he’s so aggressive about taking sugar – not in a mean way, just very excited. Countess is the princess, she wants to know whatever one is up to and that they are where they are supposed to be – very mama bear. If you deal with her, expect her to demand neck scratches! Kryon is the baby dinosaur, so unnecessarily large and dense, but probably the most kind towards everyone. He has no enemies and everything is a game to him,” tells Molly.

All of Molly’s horses are obviously dressage competition horses, but if they enjoy jumping, she allows them to jump around every now and then. All of them go on trail rides at least once a week and work in the field at least once a week. For all of her horses, Molly wants them to know that she is their person, that she won't ask them anything they can't do and that they can always trust her. Molly really is all about "Enjoy the Journey". She loves getting to take the steps with each of her horses, figuring out what works for them. She loves to compete, but it's only worth it to her if she has done the homework for it and that they feel comfortable and confident in their work.