Liz Halliday returns home for three-day eventing competition at Galway Downs in Temecula

Liz Halliday took her first riding lessons at Spanish Spur Stables and joined the Fallbrook Pony Club in her childhood. After graduating from Fallbrook High School in 1996, she attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, and in January 2000 she moved to England.

Halliday will be competing in this weekend’s three-day eventing competition at Galway Downs in Temecula, which will be her first time on a horse in California since 1999.

“It’s very cool to come back home,” Halliday said.

Three-day eventing consists of dressage the first day, a cross-country course the second day, and jumping the third day.

The Nov. 1 to 3 competition at Galway Downs includes the elite three-star class, which is a qualification trial for the 2014 World Equestrian Games international championships in Normandy, France.

“It’s a great event and a great opportunity for me,” Halliday said.

In 1992, Halliday competed with the Southern California team in the show jumping national championships. Her move to England stems from when her father, Donald Halliday, was in Great Britain in 1999 for auto racing purposes. “My dad wanted me to spend a year in England,” Halliday said.

Halliday obtained a training position with William Fox-Pitt. “I packed up and left. It was pretty crazy at the time,” she said.

Halliday also joined her father in auto racing, participating in sports car and endurance competitions. “I did some very high-level stuff for a while, and it was a great part of my life,” Halliday said.

She was also involved with equestrian competition and has curtailed her auto racing career. “I was trying to focus more on the horses. It’s hard to do both,” she said. “I’m trying to see how long I can keep myself out of a racecar.”

Earlier this month, Halliday was representing the United States in the Nations Cup competition in the Netherlands. “They were asking what I was going to do with the horse I have here,” Halliday said.

The eventing competition at Galway Downs is the final Northern Hemisphere event of the year, so discussion turned to Halliday returning to Southern California. “Suddenly it became real,” she said.

Approximately two dozen riders are expected to participate in the elite class. “It should be good competition,” Halliday said. “Hopefully we’ll do really well.”

Editor’s Note: For a full schedule of these and other events at Galway Downs, Temecula; visit http://www.galwaydowns.com or call (951) 303-0405.