The first time Isabelle Bosley sat on Conner, she knew he was something special. “The moment I sat on him, the feeling he gave, the balance he had as a straggly little five-year-old, was just something I had never felt before,” she recalled. Conner, a 2017 Oldenburg gelding (Casiro 3 x Monique) owned by Karen Martin, had been imported from Germany by Kara Angulo in the fall of 2022 and Bosley had been waiting. She told Angula at the Maryland 5 Star the previous year that she had been looking for a new horse and when video footage came through from overseas showing an athletic, soft, and scopey gelding, Bosley called first dibs. She wasn’t wrong!
The early impression on the small screen has proven to be something far more than a lucky hunch. Conner, now a seasoned eventer with the gift of exceptional movement and effortless scope, is heading to the Kentucky Horse Park this spring for the Cosequin® Lexington CCI4*-S at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event. It is, by measure, the biggest stage of his career, and Bosley could not be more ready for it.
Conner Has It Going On
Anyone who has watched Conner in the warm-up ring or out on cross-country knows there is a lot going on between his ears. Bosely describes him, affectionately, as a horse who is simply very eager to do his job. “He really wants to please and be a good boy,” she explained. “He’s always trying to understand what I want from him.”
In his younger years, that exuberance occasionally got the better of him. Now, with the basics under his girth, the challenge is more about keeping Conner’s enthusiasm channeled and keeping him with her instead of letting him run loose on the cross-country course or in the jumping ring.
Out of his tack, he is a completely different creature. As a barn favorite, Conner gravitates towards the company of humans and horses alike and craves affection. “He’d love nothing more than wandering the crowds at events and letting everyone pet him,” Bosley joked. It's a quality that has translated surprisingly well in a competitive environment. At the 2025 Maryland 5 Star, the atmosphere seemed to energize the gelding rather than unsettle him. Bosley is counting on a similar reaction from him in Kentucky, where the cross-country spectators are among the most electric in American eventing.
Patience as a Training Philosophy
Bosley is candid about lessons she has learned while bringing along young horses from the ground up. “When I was younger, it was easy to want to jump on and skip steps,” she admitted, “But now, with the young horses I’ve had, especially one that is as quality as [Conner], I always think the slower the better.” That philosophy has meant resisting the temptation to rush a horse who is physically capable of stepping up before they are truly ready to do so. It has also meant that building fitness gradually, checking in with her veterinarian from the start, and always, as she puts it, “being honest with yourself” about how the horse is feeling even if that honesty inconveniences her competitive goals.
Her patience and timing paid off in full while competing at the 2025 Maryland 5 Star in the CCI3*-L. The event was a “meaningful step up for Conner in scope and complexity,” Bosley explained, and she entered the weekend without explicit intentions of winning, but with the absolute goal of giving her horse a good experience for his first time out on the three-star-long track. She went on to explain that she took the weekend phase-by-phase to keep her competitive instinct from overwhelming her judgement. She had to simply let Conner do what she had helped him prepare to do.
The result was a stand-out win that surprised even her! “To have him go through it so confidently and then have it reflected at the end of the weekend by winning it. It was really special,” she said. “It gave me confidence that what I’ve been doing with him, the program we’re in, the training we’ve put in, it’s all starting to show.”
Around the same time as their big win in Maryland, Bosely was also the inauguaral Reserve Champion of the 2025 YETI/USEF Eventing National Championship League in the CCI2* division in both the overall and professional categories. “I hadn’t been chasing points or tracking leaderboards,” she shared. She placed her horse well in each competition throughout the year and trusted the program. The recognition came as a surprise to her; which in its own way, validated everything.
Kentucky Bound
Bosley has been going to Kentucky since childhood – grooming horses, watching along the cross-country course, and absorbing the atmosphere. She has competed at the Kentucky Horse Park before, but never at this level, never in a spring championship environment like the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event. To arrive now, as an athlete with a horse who has genuine four-star contention, the moment feels like a culmination of her years of work. “I’ve been here at least six times, but I am so excited to be riding there this year,” she said.
Working closely with her coach, Phillip Dutton, she has placed emphasis on rideability and clarity going into the “best weekend all year.” Bosley wants to make sure Conner is listening, not just willing. She’s placed building his fitness, along with confidence, as a high priority in the lead up to the event. “The big galloping lanes at Kentucky,” she explained, “They suit him perfectly. He’s just that kind of horse.”
At his core, Conner is still the same horse that she discovered in that first try; full of scope and power while maintaining his kind personality and willingness to work. He’s been given the time to understand exactly what his job is. At Kentucky, with crowds lining the ropes and filling Rolex Stadium, Bosley hopes he can, once again, show off the training and care she and her team have lovingly put into his development.