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Saturday, May 24, 2008

Kentucky Dressage Spring CDI*/CDIY/CDIJ

Laura Noyes and Synchro Top Young Rider Team Test at Kentucky Dressage Spring CDI*/CDIY/CDIJ

Laura Noyes knows she’s a lucky girl. The 21 year-old Young Rider veteran and her 14-year-old Trakhener gelding by Enrico Caruso got another chance to qualify for the North American Young Riders’ Championships this weekend bringing her one step closer to her goal of making the team for her Region 8 during the last year she can compete in Young Riders. And they did so in style, scoring an impressive 68% in front of the judges’ panel of Lorraine McDonald, Lorraine Stubbs, and Hilda Gurney. Noyes has owned Synchro for 5 years, having started with him at first level.

The interesting thing about luck, is the harder you work the luckier you get, and Laura knows about working hard. As a working student for USET team member and USDF vice president George Williams, Laura puts in long days at Chuck and Joanne Smith’s Gypsy Woods Farm. A junior at Ohio Wesleyan University, Noyes majors in zoology with a heavy curriculum of biology, and is on the deans list. But this semester, her parents agreed she could take the semester off and travel to Florida to train with George and compete. “Last year, Synchro was hurt and I missed all summer with him.” Noyes told DressageDaily. “At first when I began to bring him back he was a bit of a wild man, and I was so worried he would hurt himself again but he is just better than ever, and I am really enjoying myself.”

Noyes, who is from Maine, knows about cold winters, and long days in chilly barns. For years she worked for Larry Poulin, multiple pairs driving champion and international competitor for the United States. Larry who is Michael Poulin’s nephew gave her the opportunity to drive his national horses, and she traveled and groomed for him, giving her a lot of experience at a young age.

Noyes also recently purchased a young Danish horse named Galveston, bred and raised at Oak Hill Ranch in Folsom, Louisiana. “When I was off from riding due to Syncro’s injury, I visited my friends there, and fell in love with him. So now I am riding training level for the first time in five years, and hope to try some of the 5-year-old classes when we get to know each other a little better.

If all goes well, Laura Noyes will travel to California in June to compete at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions, and then to Parker, Colorado in August for the North American Junior/Young Rider Championships making her last season as a Young Rider the most memorable yet.

James Koford and Don Principe Were Three For Three at the Kentucky Dressage Spring CDI*