Wellington, Fla.—March 10  

After last week, Reed Kessler was worried about Cylana.

"Cylana jumped really well in the WEF [Challenge Cup] on Thursday [last week], and I was flatting her in the days after and she was fine on her legs, but was behaving a little funny,” Kessler said. “She did not want to move her haunches, and I know her so well that I was a little worried. She just did not feel 100 percent.

In this series, the Chronicle follows seven riders as they seek to fulfill their Olympic dreams in London in 2012.

I think no matter what you walk into, you have to say, “I’m trying to win this,” or else you stand no chance. I want to be an international rider, and I want to make it to the Olympics in the future. But since I’m just 17 and this was my first time going through the selection trials process, I didn’t have any expectations.