Sunday, June 18, 2006

USEF Festival of Champions 2006

Inaugural Brentina Cup at Gladstone

Lauren Spreiser and Bellinger Move Up From Young Rider Ranks

Lauren Sprieser, the third placed rider, was also enthusiastic about the USEF Brentina Cup Championship Program. “The goal of program was obviously to take Young Riders out of Young Riders and gear them up for the Grand Prix program,” she pointed out. “It’s pretty exciting to be getting in on the ground floor and the first generation to go through it.”

Sprieser is a professional rider who graduated from Sarah Lawrence University this year with a degree in public policy and urban planning. She is based in Wauconda, Illinois, and trains with Ken McGrath. Her mount, Bellinger, a 14-year-old bay Trakehner gelding is known as “Billy” and is a special horse for Sprieser who bought him at a sales barn in Germany in January 2003. They are in their fourth season together. “He came to me about 300 pounds underweight and terrified of everything,” Sprieser said, “but when the going gets tough, he listens to me. I will never sell him. He’s a little difficult and has been passed around a lot. He doesn’t trust people right away but has the most tremendous heart. He would do anything for me and it would be wildly unfair for me not to give everything to him.” The challenge for Sprieser is to adjust to her horse every ride, as she explained, “He’s a funny horse because no matter what horse I have in the warm-up, he’s going to be completely different when I come down centerline. So it’s just a matter of riding the horse I have in the ring.”

PMG Info Press release by Mary Hilton