This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast episode, sponsored by USRider, is with five-star eventer Sydney Elliott. She spoke with us in mid-November as the competition season was winding down after her CCI4*-L win with QC Diamantaire at The Event at TerraNova in Myakka City, Florida.

To give you a little more background on Sydney, she first competed at the five-star level at the Kentucky Three-Day Event with Cisko A in 2016. Two years later, the pair made their U.S. team debut at the Great Meadow International Nations Cup, helping the U.S. to a third-place finish. With her partner of nearly 10 years, QC Diamantaire, also known as Q, Sydney tallied numerous Nations Cup appearances, including earning team silver in Aachen, Germany in 2021 and in Boekelo, the Netherlands that same year. In 2023, Sydney and QC Diamantaire competed in the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, collecting the silver medal as part of the U.S. team. Last year, they were the traveling reserve pair for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Since then, the duo has continued to have strong competition results.  

In addition to her success on the international stage, Sydney runs Elliott Eventing, a training business, based in Benton, Louisiana, and Hoffman, North Carolina.

In our discussion, Sydney talks about what she enjoys about working with horses, her training philosophy, how she handles her show nerves and more.

About This Episode’s Sponsor, USRider

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This offer is good through December 15, 2025.