"Let's Really Get to Know Each Other"

learn more about Laura's background & career as a dressage rider & trainer

As the daughter of a horse lover, Laura's life has always been surrounded by horses. Her family rented camp horses every winter to love, care for and learn from. At the age of seven, Laura received her own pony for Christmas, Cocoa Puff. Even as a little girl, Laura's natural ability to train was apparent. She self-trained this Amish driving pony to be 4H champion under saddle and over fences.

By age eleven, Laura became too tall to show Cocoa and moved forward to training her family's Arabian Kirashana. This challenge taught Laura a great deal about not just riding, but horsemanship. Laura and Kira developed a partnership that lead them to numerous championships on the A-rate Arabian circuit in the hunter pleasure, hunter hack, equitation, native costume, trail, sport horse under saddle, sport horse in-hand, halter and showmanship.

Later on, the pair transitioned to the dressage ring. Laura saw how dressage training changed Kira's mind and body. It made this instinctually hot and flighty Arabian a calm, willing and athletic teammate. It made Laura full-heartedly believe in the good of the sport for the horse and ignited her lifelong passion for dressage.

Laura's next horse, MS Spanish Legacy, was bought specifically as a dressage prospect. As a young horse, she gained experience in the show arena doing Arabian halter, showmanship and sport horse in-hand. Due to her athleticism and trainability, it became clear she was destined to be a star as a sport horse. In 2013, the pair won 2 National Championships at The Arabian Sport Horse National show. Since then, Laura and Legacy have been competing through Prix St. George dressage with the best of the best in Wellington, Florida. Despite Legacy's non-traditional size, breeding and color, she is competitive against all of the big warmbloods thanks to their solid training foundation and even stronger bond with each other.

Laura also campaigned her horse Donnerluck in Wellington's small tour classes (Prix St. George & Intermediare I). Through proper management and listening to the needs of her horse, Laura has kept Donner fit and happy enough to continue showing at the top of the sport in his senior years. In 2015, Laura's tenacious efforts with Donner paid off. Together they earned the last score necessary to earn the USDF Gold Medal.

The other portion of Laura's Gold Medal was earned with Laura's trainer's Grand Prix horse, Cadenza. After two years of learning and working for Ilse Schwarz, Laura was given the opportunity to go for the gold. This was a fantastic chance for Laura to prove that her devotion to her education in the saddle had paid off. This accolade marks a pivotal point in her career but is just another stepping stone on the life long journey that is dressage.

Laura hopes that her young horse, Shana's Romance, will give her another way to showcase her training abilities and take her career to new heights. The pair has plans to campaign in the FEI Young Horse classes in Wellington, Florida in 2016. So far, she has proven to be a great dressage prospect with scores over 70%. We hope that this is only the beginning of a long and successful dressage career together.

Beyond her personal horses, Laura is fortunate enough to show a few of her client horses. She currently has training horses schooling and showing training through third level. As her client base strengthens, she hopes to be entrusted with the care and training of more upper level mounts.