Cindy and Eliza Sydnor: A Family Dressage Venture
By Amber Heintzberger

Sharing Their Lives and Interests

Both Cindy and Eliza love music, good literature, and a few movies. “I played the piano a little but not as well as Eliza, who also plays the guitar quite well and sings. Eliza reads many good books; I like to listen to books on tape and CD’s,” says Cindy. “I don’t share Eliza’s love of hiking and camping, but I’m thrilled that she loves it. We both like writing and seem to find interesting projects in that area.”

Asked about the pros and cons of a mother/daughter business venture, Cindy answers, “I think this is the ultimate mentoring situation. I have always loved seeing Eliza learn to ride and handle horses. It is one of my greatest joys in life to see her love and enthusiasm for horses and dressage. She was never pushed; she pushes herself more than enough.”

Eliza finds working with her mother a positive experience. “The pros are many: we get to spend most of the day together doing what we love, we trust each other, we work with each other to solve problems,” she says. “Also a big pro for me is that I get some of the best training in the country every day for free - although I work my butt off for it in return!” She considers, “The cons are that since we are so close sometimes it gets hard to work together. We both love the horses so much and each other so much that emotions sometimes run high.”