With passion, determination and years of practice behind her, Milford High School freshman Maya Dickes is already gaining recognition in the world of eventing.
Dickes earned the 2025 United States Eventing Association Area IV Starter Division Young Rider of the Year, fifth place.
USEA Area IV includes Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin, and young riders are 25 years old or younger. Eventing consists of three phases: Cross country, stadium jumping and dressage.
Maya, who lives in Milford, said that in kindergarten and first grade, she loved watching horse riding videos on YouTube and always asked her mom if she could take lessons. When she was about 7 years old, her mother agreed.
“When she was young, that’s all she ever wanted to do was ride a horse,” said her mother, Tracy Dickes. “Sometimes you ask kids, ‘Do you want to go try soccer?’ or, ‘Do you want to try t-ball?’ It was always that she wanted to ride a horse.
“I remember her showing me YouTube videos of girls eventing, and she would tell me, ‘Mom, I’m going to do that someday.’”
Maya began competing four years ago through Cornhusker Pony Club, of which she is still a member.
She did not know how she placed for 2025 until she got her ribbon in the mail. The USEA determined her standing by looking at her scores from a horse trial in June and another in September. Riders aim for the lowest scores possible.
“I felt really good – I didn’t really know that that was going to happen, especially because I only did two events,” she said. “I also felt relief, because I thought I didn’t have the best rides. I scored very well, but overall, I wasn’t very happy with it. Being that I got fifth place kind of gave me relief that I’m doing just fine.”
She said she loves the excitement she gets from riding.
“I like jumping a lot, but specifically, before cross country, you get a bunch of adrenaline and you get really shaky,” she said. “I like how that feels, and I like going fast.”
She typically practices four or five days out of each week. She works with two local trainers and one in the Kansas City area, as Kansas City is the home of most of her tournaments.
“Once in a while, I do get like, ‘I really don’t want to practice today,’ but then stuff like getting fifth overall for the year helps with motivation,” she said. “I’m planning on going to Kentucky this summer for the United States Pony Club eventing nationals, so having that coming up gives me a lot of motivation, too.”
Tracy said a big goal of Maya’s is to move up the division ranks, which are based on experience level. Maya said she just moved up from the starter level to the beginner novice level, and her first competition at this level will be in St. Louis on Mother’s Day.
“It’s very cool to watch her live her dreams and watch her grow,” Tracy said.
