It takes courage to walk away from something you love and an even rarer kind to walk back in 40 years later as if no time has passed at all. For Teri Bohl, a now-68-year-old adult amateur hunter rider based in Lexington, Ky., that walk back wasn't just a return to the sport, it was a reclamation of herself.
Horses From the Beginning
Teri's relationship with horses didn't start in a ring, but at the racetrack. Growing up in upstate New York, her family was steeped in Thoroughbred culture. Her father bred racing Quarter Horses, her sister galloped racehorses, and by the time Teri was three years old, she was already in the saddle.
"My family was all into horses,” she explained, “We always had racehorses. My sister galloped them, so we always had that going on. As they would come off of the track, that's who I showed."
She showed all the way through her sophomore year of college, competing at the highest junior and amateur levels and eventually finishing fifth in the nation as a junior and seventh as an amateur, both in the jumper ring. Teri reminisced, "I had a really, really good jumper. We did big stuff.” The horses she campaigned weren't bought off a show circuit. They were all her family's own, fresh off the track and full of grit.
She did it all in the hunter ring, with horses that most people wouldn't have dared to take out onto the course. But balancing life, expectations, and responsibilities eventually became impossible. Partway through her sophomore year, Teri made the difficult decision to step away.
"I could see that I wasn't able to balance it all, and I wasn't as good [of a rider]. So, I just quit."
It's a decision she doesn't frame with regret, but it is one she understands deeply. "It's so hard to balance your life when you're used to doing things well. When you can't do it well because you don't have the time anymore, something has to give."
A Life in Between
What followed was a full and eventful life; a career, years living in Europe, and a deep, continued involvement in horse racing, just from a different angle. While living in England, Teri and her father, Ed, developed a growing passion for turf racing and eventually built a small but successful breeding program together called Ivory Times Stables, focused on stamina and distance. They thought carefully about bloodlines, seeking international outcrosses rather than chasing fashionable, domestic sires.
"We wanted stamina, so we got a Shirley Heights (GBR) mare named Ivory Tower (GBR), then we got a mare from Argentina, Uffizi by Cipayo, who is the stamina sire in South America. We wanted out-crosses and then blend with some American speed. That was our program."
That Shirley Heights mare, Ivory Tower, would go on to become so meaningful to Teri that she named her equestrian entity after her — Ivory Times LLC, a tribute to the mare who helped build everything.
Her best racehorse, Teri explained, is Spurred, by Northern Spur, who had a record of 13 starts with 4 wins, 2 places, and 4 shows. The operation ran distance turf races — a mile and a quarter, a mile and a half — with consistency.
"We were small but very successful,” she said, “We had less popular sires, but I just loved them."
But riding remained out of reach, and for the most personal reasons. Over a stretch of 12 years, Teri became the primary caregiver for multiple family members, each facing serious illness. Four people, overlapping diagnoses, in and out of hospitals. Her schedule belonged to everyone but herself.
"Everybody had different cancers. We were in and out of the hospitals,” she said. “My schedule was constantly changing — somebody's sick, something's happening. I never had any control."
Still, she found her way to the barn when she could. Teri didn’t go with the mindset to ride, but just to be there with the horses. She kept all her retired Thoroughbreds, refusing to let them go. The oldest, I. B. Hansie, is now 27 years old, and still, impossibly, moves like a much younger horse.
"You wouldn't believe it unless you saw her gray face. The blacksmith and vet, when they look at her, they think she's seven years old,” she said. “Her back is straight. I did everything with her including her groundwork."
One of those mares became her agility partner. Teri discovered that equine agility competitions could be submitted by video, meaning she could compete from wherever life allowed, on whatever schedule she could manage.
"I couldn't get into the saddle, but I could do all these other things. So, she and I did agility," she explained.
She cold hosed. She wrapped legs. She groomed. Sometimes, when the weight of it all became too much, she simply let out the emotions that she held close throughout the day.
"When I could get to the barn, I would just run out there and, honestly, bury my head in their mane and cry. That's about all I could do."
Making a formal riding commitment felt impossible at the time. She refused to be someone who canceled. "I don't like letting people down,” she admitted. “Making a commitment to ride was too much for me. One more commitment was just another reason to feel guilty."
The Burst of Energy That Changed Everything
As the last of her family members neared the end, something shifted in Teri. Rather than feeling depleted beyond recovery, she felt a sudden, surprising surge.
"I was so drained and so exhausted by the end of that period in my life. I thought ‘there's nothing left for me.’ But then I had this amazing burst of energy,” she said. “When they passed away and everything had been taken care of, I was ready. I'm still full of energy!"
At 60 years old, she called about a horse and just like that, she was back.
"Even though I hadn't ridden in 40 years, it's like I had this sense of confidence. I didn't really think twice about it. I just got on."
Her first purchase back was a four-year-old Holsteiner gelding named Copenhagen HS, aka “Thor.” Teri describes him as a firecracker. She began showing almost immediately in Future Hunter and Baby Green O/F classes, traveling to shows in her home state of New York, all the way down to Florida. Thor, she says with unmistakable warmth, is her baby. He's the horse that brought her back to the sport, the one she'll always be grateful to. “He is so important to my riding journey every single day,” she said. But Thor also had some habits that were quietly eroding her confidence.
“With Thor, I had to be perfect all the time,” she added, "I was really pushing to get to those distances. I had to really ride every single stride. Because of that, he made me a better rider, which I am so grateful for."
After a couple of years of showing Thor and feeling her confidence stretched thin, Teri made a decision she’d never made before in her life: she bought an experienced horse – not to replace her partner, Thor, but to ride alongside him.
Enter Casanova II
Casanova II, aka "Caz", came to Teri when he was 12 years old, a seasoned 1.30-meter jumper with an eventing background and a distinguished record. Teri had never bought a horse with a resume. She'd always preferred raw material like green horses, unknowns, horses nobody else had touched.
"I finally decided I needed something for my confidence,” she said plainly.
Caz didn’t arrive alone. Around the same time, Teri found her way to Diana Pegg at Olive Hill Sporthorses and the partnership that followed, she says, has been transformative.
Diana’s belief in Teri had given her something ribbons cannot provide alone: confidence to walk into the ring and trust herself. Without a doubt, the relationship they have built is one that many returning amateur athletes dream of, and not all are lucky to find on their first try.
With the support of Diana, Caz came to Olive Hill Sporthorses and Teri got on him twice before packing up for the World Equestrian Center in Wilmington, Ohio. It was only three weeks after bringing him home, but they walked into the ring.
"We went in the 2'6" division and we won the class. He just made the distance!” she explained happily, “I didn't have to push. I just kind of sat there and we went around."
It was the first time in her equestrian life that Teri experienced what it felt like to be carried by a truly made horse. To trust the stride and feel the jump come up instead of chasing it.
"I was floored. I was like, ‘This is what other people experience all the time?’ I have never had this before!"
The second round that day was even better. With the confidence of that first clean trip still in her, Teri let Caz open up.
"I went around and left strides out — we did four in the five and five in the six — but it felt right. This horse has so much scope. I could hold in the lines; I could get in tight and not worry. Even leaving those strides out was a confidence boost! I thought to myself, ‘I'm not going to have to be perfect.’ I can just get in however I get in, and I'm going to get out of the line. It was exhilarating."
Now at 15-years-old, Caz has become not just a show partner but a joy-giver. He is, Teri says, the horse that makes her feel like a kid again.
"He is just amazing. He's not a dead head, but I feel like I'm 12 again when I'm with him. I get silly. I'll start laughing when I jump. I have to contain myself when I go in the show ring, so I don't look like a complete fool. But he is just so good."
That joy has been translated directly to the ribbons. Last year, Teri and Caz earned the number one ranking in the Low Adult Hunter division at the Kentucky Hunter Jumper Association End of Year Banquet. She didn't even know they'd won it until a friend called.
"She had gone to the awards, called me and said, 'Guess what?!' Getting that cooler and the ribbon, if nothing else, helped me achieve the goal."
On Competing at This Stage of Life
These days, Teri isn't chasing perfection. She isn't trying to climb a ladder or prove something. She's doing something that many equestrian find more difficult: she's allowing herself to enjoy it.
"I don't want to be nervous anymore. I'm not trying to get better. I am where I am. I want to improve my rounds, but I don't want the pressure anymore,” she said. “When I was a junior and a young amateur, I started to get nervous and put so much pressure on myself, and it started to take the fun out."
For Teri, the 2'6" division suits her just fine, and she has no interest in proving otherwise. "For me at this point, that height is plenty. I just want to go in [the ring] and enjoy it."
She shows every single chance she gets, signing up for every show on the calendar, not out of ambition, but out of gratitude.
"I always feel I like I need to get a picture at every show. You never know when it will be the last show you do. So, you must honor each one. Never take it for granted."
Teri has already put some thought into what comes next for her after her showing days are over. She has young horses in training that she grooms and does groundwork daily with. She has set her sights set on the next chapter: horse ownership and supporting young, talented athletes.
"Caz is in his later teens now. When he wants to retire, I'll retire from the ring too,” Teri said. “But in the meantime, I have all these young horses that my trainers are starting. I'm building in the next phase for myself."
Under the banner Ivory Times, LLC, Teri is investing in young horses, as well as the talented trainers and athletes developing them. Diana Pegg, Sarah Shade, and Mattias Ekeroth are the professionals who are entrusted with Teri’s next generation of hunter and jumper athletes. In many ways, it’s a full-circle moment for a woman who once showed off-the-track Thoroughbreds at the highest levels, now channeling the same eye for potential into the futures of horses and athletes alike.
A Barn Full of Love
Through all of it, the decades away, the caregiving years, the long road back, the one constant has been her herd. Her retired Thoroughbreds, now ranging in age up to 27, are still with her. She sees them nearly every afternoon, fussing over them the way she always has.
"I have all of my retirees. I kept them all. They're in different capacities, but I love them and I see them every day. Those are my Thoroughbreds."
At the center of her daily life in the saddle are Thor and Caz, each irreplaceable in his own way. One keeps her working, growing, and riding with intention. The other makes her laugh out loud and continues to give her confidence in the show ring.
"I love all of mine so much, it's overwhelming. I am so grateful to each one of them because they're giving me a chance. At this point in my life, after not riding for 40 years, to come back and have a couple of years. Each one, to me, is special."
A Word for Caregivers
For anyone navigating the in-between, the years of caring for others, of postponed dreams and borrowed time, Teri has a message that is equal parts realistic and hopeful:
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Don't make more commitments than you can keep.
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Don't pile on the guilt.
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Find your way to the barn in whatever form that takes — even if it's just showing up to brush a horse and stand quietly in the aisle.
"I couldn't make that commitment to ride. But I had my “horse time” when I could. I could go and simply just brush them up. I could do some groundwork. It wasn't a commitment because one more commitment was, again, just another reason to feel guilty. Having that horse time, when I could get there, made all the difference."
To those who wonder whether their chance will ever come, who feel the years slipping by while life demands everything they have, Teri's answer is certain.
"I felt like I was never going to have my chance. I was so drained. You just keep taking care of yourself as much as you can, don't put any more guilt on yourself. For me, I had to wait until that phase was done before I could really approach it. But the chance came."
The horses, she says, will wait. When the time comes, they'll be exactly what you need them to be. For Teri, those decades weren't wasted. Life with horses was just on pause. Albeit a long, sometimes agonizing one, but ultimately just a pause. Now, at 68, with a magnificent horse and a championship ribbon that took 40 years to earn, she's made up for every moment.