By Kim Beaudoin for USEventing.com
Where I’m from In Maine, there isn’t a tremendously large eventing presence and if riders wish to further their education, they usually have to travel to a neighboring state to do so. So, when I got a message asking if I’d be willing to photograph the inaugural New England Spring Symposium (NESS) featuring Tik Maynard and Sinead Halpin during a global pandemic, I wasn’t sure what to expect.
Before we get to the actual event that was held May 15-16, 2021, let's back up a bit to its’ origin. Created by Chelsea Canedy at her Unexpected Farm in Wales, Maine, the NESS sprung out of an apparent need for deeper equestrian education and connections in the state. “I used to live in Virginia,” Canedy explained, “basically within 3 - 5 hours of every major event in the southeastern US, and then I moved to Maine. There was one rated event here when I moved, and it has since stopped running. There’s not a lot going on in the way of upper-level eventing in this area.
