The next exhibitor in our highly popular, 10 Things You Probably Don’t Know about Me series is Elizabeth Borders Combs of Denver, Colorado, who is now competing with her six-year-old red roan gelding, VS Costar. This duo is currently training with Kelly McDowall of McDowall Quarter Horses out of Franktown, Colorado.
Combs is a founding partner of The Whistler & The Well, which is a branding and content creation studio. While Elizabeth is well known in the industry as a multiple AQHA World and Congress Champion, we were interested to know more about her background outside of horses.
10 Things You Probably Don’t Know about EB Combs
1. When I was around five, I lived in a swimsuit for two years and was determined to become a mermaid somehow. I was, unfortunately, unsuccessful and I am now mildly terrified of water (specifically shark-infested water).
2. I showed my first dog in 4H and AKC competitions. Both my dog and my brother’s dog earned their AKC titles.
3. This one is embarrassing. I learned to covet dimples, so I stared in the mirror for hours until I figured out how to make dimples. And to this day, yes, I have “fake” dimples.
4. I graduated high school a year early to take a gap year to show horses. It was my next to last year of youth that I had off, and it was likely my most anti-climactic year of showing. I also quickly became bored out of my mind during this year.
5. After being raised a skier, I tried to switch teams at age 19 to snowboarding. There were no lessons left that day, so my besties and I YouTubed a how-to, grabbed some boards and headed to the bunny hill. We could hardly walk the next day. After a couple more years and many bruises, I’m now a rather decent snowboarder who joyfully glides down the mountain.
6. Somehow, I managed to never get bucked off by Finely Principled (my youth horse of many years). However, I quickly learned that it would forever be a game for him. Anyone who saw me ride on the first day of a show can attest to this. I could read any twitch of his ears like the back of my hand by our final years together.
7. I had never taken a legitimate art course before attending college and majoring in graphic design. I was terrified.
8. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably caught on that I’m now a plant lady. My husband, Jonathan is thankful for this as it gives me an outlet to bring something home repeatedly that’s not an animal. I can’t even imagine the herd of dogs and cats we would have if it weren’t for plants.
9. My favorite horse I’ve ever had the pleasure of riding is my current steed, VS Costar or Mr Chips, as we lovingly call him. I’ve had some challenging partners over my days, but I’ve never had a kinder, more expressive and trustworthy companion. As Chips has shown more and more, it’s clear to me how hard he tries to give it his all. Not to mention he’s the sweetest cuddly puppy horse.
10. Last but not least, most could guess that I was raised in the church. With time, faith in God has become not just a portion of my upbringing, but the anchor in my life. With maturity, there was a lot of hard pushing into the Gospel and rich seasons of questioning, but my faith in Christ managed to grow and become exceedingly more personal. I hope to continue to see this root and orient my life in the days to come.
