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Thursday, March 15, 2007

Young Riders Overcome Nerves and Distance to Ride with Some of the Best in Dressage
By Lynndee Kemmet for DressageDaily.com

The Opportunity of a Liftime

“Mary saw Edward at the WEG and she said, ‘that’s the person I want to work with.’ So, when this clinic became available, she was like, ‘wow, I want to ride in this.’ So, we applied and I said only if you get Edward will we go,” said Mary’s mother, Joy Bahniuk. “When she got Edward, we overnight expressed her stuff and we left Harvard, Massachusetts at 3 a.m. on Monday and got her on Tuesday and we’re leaving again on Monday. It’s all just for this clinic.”

The mother-daughter team got a bit of help from Bahniuk’s uncle who joined their trip as they passed through his home state of Maryland. Bahniuk has been her daugther’s trainer and instructor from day one and has discovered that she can’t quite compete with the handsome Gal where her daughter is concerned. “She had said to me, ‘mom, when I see him I might faint.’ But the dinner before the clinic was good because she got the chance to get a bit chilled out about seeing him.”

Was the trip worth it? The 17-year-old Lauritsen thinks so. “I thought it was great. I’ve wanted to work with Edward for so long. It was amazing to finally meet him and my horse has done better than he has for the last couple of weeks,” she said. “I was so happy. I think he was great. He was awesome, he was clear. I really didn’t know what to expect but it was better than I could have ever imagined.”