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ON EQUESTRIAN TEAM

North Shore

13 - Wednesday,

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SPORTS

INSIDE

September 11,

1985 - North Shore News

rider scores

galloping success abroad

DRESSAGE IS to the equestrian world what ballet

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a Baie eM hE OATS at

NEWS photo Stuart Davis

ONE OF NORTH Vancouver's rising equestrian stars, 20-year-old Leslie Laing poses with, Smith, one of her pupils. Laing,
who teaches at Laura Lynn Equestrian Centre, recently returned from a tour of England and Ireland with Canada’s
equestrian team. While Canada finished fourth and second in the two meets, Laing captured first overall in equestrian

dressage.

is to the world of dance.

North Vancouver's 20-
year-old Leslie Laing has
been studying the intricacies
of what the average Hockey
Night in Canada man on the
street might mistakenly con-
sider 8 sport exclusive to
British aristocracy since she
was nine.

Her interest was stimu-
lated, however, far from any
consciousness of upper
crusts or stiff upper lips: ‘‘I
just always wanted to ride.”*

The innate desire has paid
off in a lifelong pursuit of
equestrian skills that culmi-
nated this year with a trip to
England and Ireland as a
member of Canada’s six-
man equestrian squad com-
peting in the Inter-Pacific
Rally and the Student Na-
tions Cup.

The Canadian team placed
fourth in show-jumping in
England and second overall
in the Irish competition,
where Lairg captured first
overall in the equestrian
equivalent of gymnastic
floor exercises, dressage.

The event, which involves
precision horse and _ rider
control in the performance
of correct walk, trot, and
canter in harmony with the
correct equine rhythms and
cadence, is one of Laing’s
specialities. Dressage ts also
the basis of all equestrian
training and discipline for
both rider and horse.

“It’s something | do a lot
of,’’ says Laing ‘'primarily
because one of my first in-
structors was very much into
it and he passed his en-
thusiasm on to me.””

The fourth year UBC
Agricultural Sciences major
says her move into
equestrian competitions and
training was a natural
outgrowth of her attraction
to horses and their complex
natures: ‘‘Really, every
horse is different, just like
every human being is dif-
ferent.”

A trip into the competitive
equine world requires that
the non-jockey sized horse
lover take one of two major
branch routes: Western or
English riding. The former
involves the raw-boned fron-
tier-style traditions of work-
ing horse and rider: the lat-
ter, the refined world of the
English riding as practised in
Olympic and other world-class.
competitions.

Laing says for her
choice was easy, ‘my
mother told me that if {
wanted to ride there was no
way it would be Western
riding, so we made a deal
and settled on English.’’

Gladys Laing, who owns a
horse arid rode in her earlier
years in Victoria, says the
horse bug bit her daughter
from the beginning: ‘‘She’s
always been interested in
horses, perhaps more so

the

than me, and she's always
had the tremendous dedica-

tion needed to be
cessful.””

Laing also has, according
to her mother, the intangible
telepathic communication
that weds rider to horse and
separates the best equestrian
tider-horse teams from the
mercly competent.

It is a gift more inherited
than indoctrinated, but, as
with the key to any unknown
entity, variety provides in-
sight.

“If you have had experi-
ence with a lot of different
horses,’’ explains Laing,
“you naturally get a better
idea of horses in general.
Any rider can make a horse
go, but not all horses will go
well with all riders. If you've
had experience with difficult
horses, riding a difficult
horse in competition can be
worked to your advantage
rather than against it.’’

Horses, it appears, are
disturbingly like humans.
Laing, who describes herself
as having a wicked temper,
says she has learned to vent

Suc-

that temper upon things
other than the horses she
rides.

“T haven’t blown up at a
horse for five years, because
I know if I get upset, they
get upset and pout. When
you have 1200 pounds of
pouting horse, you've got a
larger problem than having
120 pounds of upset rider."”

Laing, who has worked
hetcelf to the top A-levels of
the Veicouvr chapter of the
Poay Club. a2. international
organization dedicated to the
cultivation of horse training
and appreciation, says
equestrian appreciation is
growing in Canada.

Though the top end of the
sport still resides in England
and Europe, where centuries
of tradition have woven
horse flesh into the various
cultura! fabrics, Laing says
steadily rising Canadian
equestrian standards are in-
spiring a parallel rise in
public interest in show jum-
ping and dressage.

Though the expense of
reaching the upper echelons
of equestrian competition
can be prohibitive (a proven
horse can run to $50,000),
Laing keeps alive, at the
back of her mind, dreams of
Olympic competition, In the
meantime, she rides six days
per week and helps train
younger equestrian hopefuls
at North Vancouver’s
Laura-Lynn Equestrian Cen-
tre while working towards a
degree in veterinary medi-
cine,