Lucienne Bellissimo's earliest riding memory is of a Shetland pony with a strap around its middle, which was there because the children aboard were too small for saddles. She was one or two years old. Born in England's New Forest, where a breed of pony named for the region roams the land, she grew up backing and breaking young ponies, a childhood she describes as "a little bit like the Wild West, but in England." Her mother rode and was involved in racing, so horses were simply the air in the house.
The path to eventing came through Pony Club, where Bellissimo and her friends would hack their horses for half an hour just to reach a rally. It was not the polished team pipeline many American riders know, but it taught her the fundamentals. By 15 or 16 she was grooming for a five-star rider fresh from years of training with Mark Todd, and a trip to Badminton changed everything.
"I remember just suddenly, like a lightning bolt, ‘This is what I want to do’," she said.
That lightning bolt eventually led her to Dyri, a horse she imported from Germany five or six years ago. His start was modest: he began his career with an amateur athlete, jumping 1.10 meters and doing dressage, before changing hands after his owner’s death. Those who looked at him saw a bit of a wooden, insecure type, perhaps a better fit as an American hunter than a top-level event horse.
Bellissimo saw something else.
"I just liked him," she said. "I thought, if I can get him to love the job, he looks like a proper little sort and there's enough blood there."
Her instinct has been rewarded, with one honest caveat: Dyri can be spooky at water and ditches, and the courage that makes him invincible one day can waver the next. Rather than push, Bellissimo has built his career around what he needs. After a strong run at the four-star level, she often drops him back to a two-star for a confidence-building outing. Some might call that pot hunting. She disagrees.
"If you sit on him, you can feel he needs it," she said.
He is more careful across the cross-country course than in the show jumping, where adding speed leaves him little time to assess, and he can freeze up. So Dyri's career has moved up and down the levels, always shaped by what keeps him happy. The cooler temperatures of fall tend to suit him, too: "He likes the temperature drop and gets his engine running a bit better."
Belissimo came to the US Equestrian Open Eventing Final with ambition. She had finished second in the CCI4*-L at Morven Park before. This year she faced some of the best horses and riders in the country. While she would have loved to win, and she believes Dyri is capable of it, above all, she wanted to give him a good ride in the dressage and a cross-country round that felt right for him.
On cross-country day, Bellissimo decided to retire Dyri on course. It is a choice that fits the way she has always talked about him: his confidence comes first, and the job has to stay fun for him.
Bellissimo's attitude toward riding has been shaped by more than horses. In 2013, a freak riding accident left her in a wheelchair for a year. In 2018, a car crash broke 28 bones and punctured both lungs. Yet when she talks about returning to the saddle, there is no fear in it, only appreciation.
"The second I was back in the saddle, I was nothing but grateful to be cracking on," she said. “Just happy to be in the saddle."
That gratitude extends to every horse she rides, sharp or not. "Bellissimo is, by her own account, a renaissance woman. She earned a six-year Doctor of Chiropractic degree and has worked as a chiropractor and in medical centers. She has built start-ups and spent time in Silicon Valley tech. Eventing was always there in the background.
"I just get bored easily," she said with a laugh.
But one thing has never changed.
"For me to feel centered and like my authentic self, I have to be around horses," she explained. "When I'm not around them, I feel lost."
She is already thinking about what comes after her own riding days.
"At some point in the future, when I'm a crazy older person and can't ride, I genuinely will still love having the young riders with me," she said. She hopes to breed future winners for the up-and-coming riders she mentors and to stay in the sport as a devoted owner in the background.
For Bellissimo, that is what horses are: not a hobby, not a career she could replace, but the place where she feels most herself.
"It's just in my blood," she said. "I don't feel myself when I'm not around them."