Maggie O’Leary receives Vera Chenoweth Outstanding Equestrian Graduate Award

6/13/2012 Mary Ann Beahon
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (573) 592-1127

 

Maggie O’Leary of Florissant, Mo., is the 2012 Vera Chenoweth Outstanding Equestrian Graduate at William Woods University.

The award is given annually to the equestrian senior recognized as the most outstanding graduate in the equestrian studies division. The Chenoweth Award winner is that person who has given the most to the total department over the course of their career at WWU. The selection is made by the entire equestrian studies faculty.

O’Leary stayed in Fulton and worked two summers for the equestrian studies division and the Summer Riding Program.

She also managed and lived at the WWU annex both her junior and senior years. The annex, a small facility just off campus, has a six-box-stall barn, outdoor paddocks and a small house. The horses that are there are on lay-up, thus the manager is in charge of any special care that they might require, as well as all normal horse needs.
 
The annex position also calls for one to be available to haul horses to or from campus many times a week. Mike Wessel, WWU stable manager, said of O’Leary, “No matter what time of day it was, or where you were, she was always willing to help.”
 
“When talking to Maggie,” Dr. Linda McClaren, hunt seat professor, remarked, “it was as if what it was that you needed her to do was exactly what she already had in mind; even her texts were like that.”

Karen Pautz, WWU dressage instructor said, “Maggie worked at WWU for two summers, went to every dressage show she could, rode in clinics, worked for a FEI judge/trainer for a summer and said ‘yes’ to every favor I ever asked of her.”

O’Leary took advantage of almost everything the equestrian studies division had to offer. If there was an equestrian elective, she took it, including such courses as Origins of Modern Riding, Origins of Breeds, Conflicts and Controversies in the Equine Industry and Therapeutic Riding.
 
She made a point to be involved; she was “out for everybody,” not just herself.

Mike Wessel, reflecting on recipients of the Vera Chenoweth Award, including O’Leary, said “They all have had a special personality; one that you know is going to take them somewhere in life.”