A photo of Claire Mawdsley (on far left), alongside Virginia Intermont College teammates Andrea MacQueen, Ashleigh Ramey and Felicia Matsinger taken at 2011 IHSA Nationals and used on the Campus Equestrian Zone 5 page until recently.

REMEMBERING CLAIRE MAWDSLEY

In late September of 2011 a Virginia Intermont College senior named Claire Mawdsley lost her life in an auto accident. Mawdsley was returning to VI from the Middleburg (Virginia) horse show where she had been a groom that weekend.

To the best of my knowledge I only met Claire Mawdsley once, when she and several of her VI teammates were waiting for horse draw at 2011 IHSA Nationals. Teammate Felicia Matsinger and Mawdsley were both entered in individual novice on the flat (a few weeks earlier Mawdsley won the division at Zone 5 Zones while Matsinger was second). With teammates Andrea MacQueen and Ashleigh Ramey also nearby (as they would draw for classes later that day) I asked if I could gather the four of them for a quick photo. They agreed and after two attempts (as Matsinger blinked the first time) I had my first VI photo of the 2011 event.

In July of 2011 the photo was posted on the Campus Equestrian Zone 5 page to promote Matsinger placing eighth in individual novice flat and Ramey seventh in team novice flat. In October IHSA National Secretary Jim Arrigon alerted me that a VI rider lost her life in an auto accident on September 26th and after further research it turned out to be Mawdsley. In the December 2011 Holiday Tournament of Champions official program there was a photo of Mawdsley with the caption "Claire Mawdsley. VI Equine Studies Student, IHSA Team Member, Friend." Additional text explained that Virginia Intermont "has established the Claire Mawdsley Equine Scholarship. Contributions may be made in care of Virginia Intermont College, 1013 Moore Street, Bristol, VA 24201."

Nearly two months later (on January 28, 2012) I attended the Winter Tournament of Champions show at Hazelwild Farm in Fredericksburg, Virginia. To my surprise I saw a woman occasionally standing with the Virginia Intermont team wearing a VI jacket which either said "Claire," "Mawdsley" or both her first and last names (I honestly cannot remember which combination was on the jacket). It was obvious to me that this was Claire's Mother. I was embarrassed to think that the photo of all four riders I took at Nationals was still on my Zone 5 page after what had happened. I also noticed that few were speaking with her, which made it even more difficult to approach her. I worked up the courage to go up and ask this woman "Are You Mrs. Mawdsley?" to which she replied "yes." I explained to her that I met Claire and took a picture of her with several of her teammates at 2011 Nationals and that I hope she is not upset that the photo is still on my web site. It turned out that Paige Mawdsley was relieved that I was able to approach her as many seemed unsure what to say to her under the circumstances. We talked for a short time about Claire and how I should post something on Campus Equestrian celebrating her life. Paige Mawdsley said she would forward me information about Claire for a possible future story.

Four days later Paige e-mailed me a packet containing a photo of herself and Claire taken by her Father, Chris Mawdsley, at 2011 Nationals; a copy of the text she read to an audience at a December 2011 ODEF (Old Dominion Eye Foundation) event for organ, tissue and eye donors families, entitled 'Claire's Story'; a copy of the text read at the first VI IHSA show in November to annouce the establishment of an IHSA scholarship in Claire's name; and "My Riding Idol," which was a short piece Paige wrote to the Chronicle of the Horse after seeing a request for readers to submit a story explaining who their riding idol was and why. Because the Chronicle did in fact publish part of her story in their on-line edition Campus Equestrian cannot re-publish it here due to copyright issues. However I can tell you that Paige's Idol was in fact Claire. The story submitted to the Chronicle explained how Paige Mawdsley offered Claire the opportunity to ride at six years of age; how Claire became passionate about riding, and Paige became a traditional horse show Mother; and how at 40 years of age she finally pursued her own personal desire to learn how to ride, a desire that had apparently always been there but was not acted upon until Claire encouraged her. "My Riding Idol" was submitted to the Chronicle while Claire was still with us, and after Claire had in fact read and approved her Mother's story.

CLAIRE'S STORY

Initially I was anxious about how was I going to tell you what an amazing person our daughter Claire was in a short amount of time. And then I recalled something my sister had told me recently. She said we will be telling people how Claire impacted our lives and those around her forever. So I realized I have a lot of time to perfect my story of Claire and today is just a start.

Claire was 21 years old and a senior at Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Virginia where she was an Equine Studies major. She was an accomplished and award - winning rider and last year her outstanding riding abilities took her all the way to the Intercollegiate Nationals in Lexington, Kentucky. She was looking forward to a repeat performance this year. She was also looking forward to graduating in May and was excited about a job prospect with a well-respected trainer in Northern Virginia. Both Virginia Intermont and the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association have established scholarships in her name.

Claire was a very hard worker both academically and physically. She spent many long hours doing the unglamorous and dirty work associated with horses because she knew it was just (as) important to know how to properly care for a horse as it was to ride one. I used to like to tell her she cleaned up real good.

Claire did not have a charmed life given to her; she made her own. Her brother Alex says that while some people spend their entire life trying to figure out what makes them happy, Claire already knew what made her happy and pursed her passion with gusto.

Claire wasn’t just about her love of horses. She also made it a priority to spend time with her family and her eclectic group of friends outside of the horse community. She was about relationships and offered a beautiful and sincere smile to everyone she met.

This photo was taken by Claire's Father, showing Claire and her Mother Paige inside the Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park on May 5th, 2011 before Mawdsley headed down to the ring to compete in individual novice on the flat (photo courtesy Paige Mawdsley).

When my husband Chris and I received the phone call from ODEF informing us that Claire was a donor and her corneas had been recovered, my first thought was that of Claire’s aversion to having her eyes touched. She could not touch her eyes and didn’t even like to see someone touch their own eyes. Just putting in eye drops was a real challenge. About two years ago she dated a young man that is a Recovery Technician for ODEF in Richmond. She once said “Can you believe I’m dating someone whose job is touching people’s eyes?” During that relationship she decided she wanted to be an organ donor. She half-jokingly said that she figured she wouldn’t mind if someone touched her eyes when she was gone. A year later, when she renewed her driver’s license at age 21, she became a donor.

Through my recent contact with Susan Wilson at ODEF, she informed me that she had been the Recovery Technician that removed Claire’s corneas and assured us that she treated Claire as if she were her own daughter. I found immense comfort in knowing that Claire was treated with love and dignity. We also are finding strength and comfort knowing there are two people who now have their eyesight because of Claire’s unselfish willingness to be a donor. I hope that now these two people will be able to see the beauty around them as Claire did.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF CLAIRE MAWDSLEY SCHOLARSHIP AT THE NOVEMBER 19, 2011 VIRGINIA INTERMONT COLLEGE SHOW

Upon learning the devastating news of Claire’s passing, one of the first things I thought about was that I didn’t want to see or ride a horse again. Knowing I would never see Claire ride again was simply unbearable. Claire and horses just belonged together. I couldn’t see how I would ever be able to have one without the other. After all it was Claire who inspired me to learn to ride at age 40.

The morning of our gathering for the Celebration of Claire’s Life, I had an undeniable desire to go to the barn. Actually I was more like a crazy woman on a mission but I figured this was one time in my life people might excuse such behavior. I was nervous because I didn’t know what to expect. But when Bert walked over to the rail and I looked into his eyes, I felt such calmness and love I had no doubt it was coming from Claire.

In one of the seminar’s Claire attended at VI she received a small book titled Apropos… Horses And Riders. She told me it contained some inspiring messages and strongly encouraged me to read it. I now keep this book by my bed. I feel blessed that Claire had taken the time to underline and mark passages that were meaningful to her. Here are a few passages that touched her:

“Talent is less important than perseverance.”

“Pursue excellence, not perfection.”

“Winners always have a plan; losers have excuses.”

Claire was, without doubt, a winner with a plan.

To all of you who ride and knew Claire, I would like to share something that a friend wrote to me.

You may not ride with Claire again but she always will be riding with you. Every time you swing your leg over your horse she will be there – eyes up, heels down, shoulders back, straight ahead, breathe, smile, love the feel, savor the ride. And somewhere in that forever land there are some very lucky horses being cared for and ridden by a dark-haired beauty, in that special place where the grass is always green, the sky always blue, the ride always perfect, the rails stay up, the shoes stay on. Horse and girl together as one.

Due to many issues involving Campus Equestrian the information Paige e-mailed in February was not posted until July. At that time Paige forwarded me an update, letting me know that two babies have been named for Claire so far in 2012; that she spoke about Claire at another ODEF function and that Claire is apparently the first VI student in the school's 128 year history to receive a posthumous degree. After telling the ODEF audience about this remarkable act of kindness on behalf of VI, Paige injected humor by adding "(It) seems even after she has gone, she continues to get firsts!"

--Steve Maxwell