Nash Gagnon fundraiser for European tour!

Hello, my name is Nash Gagnon. I am a 19 year old dressage rider from southern Maine. I am looking for donations to help with the costs of traveling to Europe to compete on the young rider European tour in May. This means that I will be getting a once if a lifetime opportunity to stable in Germany and compete and Hagen and the nations cup is Le Mans France. I am self funded and work full time in order to support my horse and I. Any and all help is greatly appreciated as I can’t do this on my own.

Background information

I started riding when I was 5 years old and have been in love with it to this day. I have known for years that this is my passion in life but I always struggled with how to make this dream become reality. I started working at the barn at 12 years old in order to help pay for lessons and get experience with the horses. By 14 I was working 2 jobs and started half leasing a 24 year old schoolmaster that showed me my love for dressage. It was that year that I decided that I would do anything to make this into a career one day. I was working at the barn in the mornings going to school and working at a restaurant at night. All to pay for horses and to start saving up to take a working student position in Florida. I worked and saved up for 3 years meanwhile doing extra college classes at night to graduate early so I could spend my first season in Wellington.

I started leasing a fantastic but quirky horse named Eros from my soon to be trainer Jane Hannigan. I graduated early and moved south with Eros 2 weeks later. Having never been to a real recognized horse show my mind was blown. We started showing in march of last year and by the end of April I had received my bronze medal. I moved back to Massachusetts with Jane in order to continue our training where we would jump up to PSG to try our hand at doing young riders. After a very successful season up north our dream came true and we made it to NAYC. While extremely exciting it was scary to be at our first big competition. We had tons of fun and learned a lot! We made it back to the freestyle and put in our best effort. On the way home we were celebrating our victories for the 16 hour ride home until we arrived and we saw that Eros was in distress. He was quickly rushed to Tufts where they discovered that his small intestine had telescoped into his cecum and his prognosis wasn’t good. We had to put him down that night and the team was devastated. At a loss for words I didn’t know what to do with myself for weeks.

Eventually I was ready to start riding again and that was when I noticed our equestrian community really come together to help support me. It gave me hope. I didn’t have any budget but I was willing to work hard and take what I could get. That was when I got offered the ride on my perfect horse Happy Texas Moonlight aka Mr. Big. I shortly after received the Christian Kennedy scholarship to continue my training down in Wellington this season. With the help of the scholarship, my trainer, farrier and support team we were able to pull off and incredible season. Getting my silver with distinction and gold medal! We had the dream to do the young rider European tour but didn’t know if it was a realistic goal. We tried our hand at a couple CDIs and were shocked to find we were competitive in the international arena. We found our selves 3rd in the standings to go to Europe. And that brings us to the current day. It has been one crazy year and I know that this is a crazy endeavor but If there is one thing I have learned this year it’s that I will figure it out. Anything is possible if you set your mind to it.

With all that being said I am looking for support in order to continue my journey and education. Any and all donations are greatly greatly appreciated!