Victory at Morven Park: Emily Beshear and Rio De Janeiro Win First Qualifying Competition of the Inaugural US Equestrian Open of Eventing

Emily Mastervich Beshear and Rio De Janeiro are becoming a familiar sight at the top of the standings at U.S. events.  In October 2024, Beshear and “Rio” won the Morven Park International CCI4*-S, the first of 20 qualifying events for the US Equestrian Open of Eventing Final in 2025, earning 40 points towards the Series.

While currently based in Virginia, Beshear began riding while growing up in Michigan. Her mother's interest in horses got her into riding in a lesson program, which happened to be at an eventing barn. “I got my first taste of eventing by going to spectate at the Kentucky Three-Day Event when I was probably 10 or 11 years old,” said Beshear. “My love for this sport was instant, so developed from there and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

With over 100 FEI starts since her first in 2004, Beshear gained experience working her way up the levels on several different horses. Her partnership with her most recent upper-level mount, Rio, came to fruition in a not-so-typical way.

Rio was bred in Michigan by the Daratony family to be an event horse for their daughters who were passionate about the sport. As he developed as an event horse, Cierra Daratony took the ride on him and rode up through the CCI2* level. “I got to know him coaching Cierra through the young rider program,” said Beshear.

When the time came for Daratony to head off to college, the family made the decision to have Beshear take over the ride in 2021. “We didn’t quite know for sure what his potential was,” said Beshear. “He’s quite lazy and acts a bit like a pony so we weren’t sure if he’d have the motivation to do the upper levels.”

After completing two events together as a pair, Beshear was sidelined with a non-riding related accident that resulted in knee reconstruction. Having a fit and ready horse needing intermediate miles, she asked her son Nicholas Beshear to take over the ride while she healed. Together they won their first CCI2* and CCI3* together, which posed the question of whether Emily would get the ride back.

By early 2024, Rio and Emily came back in top form and hit the ground running, winning two CCI3*-S in the spring at Fair Hill and Virginia.

“I’ve never been on a horse that is as genuine and truly loves the cross-country as much as he does,” said Emily. “He thinks it’s a game. He’s one of those that really does look for the flags, and he thinks it’s great fun.”

The pair had just one run at the CCI4* level coming into Morven. They did this only two weeks prior at Stable View where together they had a top-10 finish.

“Knowing he can be quite a fast horse, I wasn’t really sure how he would handle some of the bigger questions at the 4* level, so I’ve given him plenty of preparation to make sure he understood everything,” said Beshear.

Rio does not find the dressage phase to be his favorite, and Beshear made a point of not putting a lot of pressure on through this past year to ensure he enjoys his work, which paid off during their dressage test.

Beshear has competed at Morven Park since her days as a young rider competing at the upper levels. “It’s truly one of my favorite cross-country venues,” she said. “I feel like there’s a lot of natural cross-country aspects to it with the terrain, and they’ve done such a beautiful job the way the course runs now.”

While eager to go out and ride the cross-country course, she had a lot of respect for it as well, particularly with the questions that required more scope and boldness that were prevalent on the course. But Beshear felt like Rio was up for the challenge. “I was certainly a little bit reserved at the start of the course, and then once I realized he was really comfortable out there, I let him gallop on quite a lot at the end,” said Beshear.

“I always know that there’s the possibility that we could do well if I don’t do anything,” said Beshear. “My goal usually is just to not do anything too stupid, and to try not to make his job any harder than it needs to be, so that was my goal for cross country.” Rio being a reliable show jumper makes him a very competitive horse, allowing him to take the win at many events including Morven, where the pair went double clear.

Though tempted to run a couple more US Equestrian Open qualifiers, Beshear and her team made the plan to give Rio down time until the spring following his great result at Morven. “I had not really planned to do a lot on him because of his age, but he is handling it all really well, and it’s certainly enticing to think about [running more events with him in the future] knowing that he liked the course at Morven as well as he did,” said Beshear.

The pair plan to compete at a few events at the CCI4* level in the spring and plan their season one event at a time after that. Beshear hopes to compete at the US Equestrian Open Final at Morven Park International in October of 2025, knowing how well he performed there this year. After gaining the attention of many after their result at Morven, Beshear and Rio De Janeiro are ones to watch this upcoming season.