DressageforJuniors.Com
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Mary's dressage blog - A Young Riders training journal
You will be able to follow her blog and read about what it takes this young rider to train and compete.
Mary will share her thoughts on different subjects every month, be sure to check it out here!
Mary's Dressage Blog
Mary's back!
Westbrook Dressage show video
Mary and Rossignol new freestyle!
This helmet saved Mary in her horse riding accident.
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Dressage at Devon 2011: Mary Bahniuk Lauritsen and Rossignol-ISF
Watch the video below!
Monday, December 5, 2011
I'm back!
Well folks, I'm back! For the last few months I have been toying with the idea of restarting my blog but for whatever reason I ceased to find the energy or inclination to sit down at my mac and let my typing fingers go. After so diligently keeping up with my blogging during my first season of training in Wellington in 2009 up until the end of the Florida season this past year I have finally found the inspiration again and I think it has a little something to do with warmth, palm trees, and happy horses under the Florida sun. So here I am back in Wellington, Florida for the 2012 season, reembarking on a cyber journal journey that I have certainly missed sharing with all of you out there.
Filling in the blanks since April 1st, 2011...
I took on an incredible opportunity at Cutler Farm (www.cutlerfarmdressage.com) in April that I mentioned in my last post. I am now the assistant trainer at this premier dressage facility where every day I have the pleasure of working with great staff, clients, and best of all...fantastic horses. I have always been encouraged to take opportunities as they come and taking this position during a time in my life when I may have had a different plan in mind (finish my college degree, further my modeling career, start a business, to name a few paths that were in question) has proven to be a solid decision for my career. The transition from FEI young rider to professional in this industry is never an easy feat. Without the support, the right horses, clients, and of course the financial backing, this jump between young rider to pro status is a matter of making it or breaking it. I have seen more riders than I can count fall into this transitional abyss, even those with enormous amounts of talent and accomplishments under their shadbellys simply gave up in the face of the jump or were sadly just a few strides short of making it. Aging out of the young rider ranks was certainly a wake up call for me as the realization that I no longer had the key word "young" to fall back on dawned on me. I needed to gain experience on more horses and make a name for myself in a much bigger pond with much bigger fish. For all of the mentioned reasons, taking on this full time position has been a supportive bridge over the treacherous status transition below.
Hmm perhaps an entire blog post should be dedicated to the young rider to professional transitional phase? Anyways, moving on...the "mane" man in my life, Rossignol, has made much progress since my last post and he is an essential part of my transition and I am so blessed to be able to take him across this bridge to the professional ranks with me. Having Rossi since he was a green four year old when simply making it down the centerline was a godsend to competing in our first CDI Intermediare 1 test at Devon and making the top six is enough to make any owner or rider proud! Currently, Rossi is progressing beautifully in his training. We are schooling all of the Grand Prix movements and setting our eyes on competing in the Brentina Cup (the Young Rider Grand Prix) later this Florida season. It is an experience unlike any other being able to learn with your horse of ten years and to be learning the most difficult movements our sport has to offer at that! This is an exciting time in Rossi's career as well as mine as we train with all of our might to make it to the top of the sport.
In July I traveled with five other Americans to Germany on the Olympic Dream Program which was completely funded by the Dressage Foundation. There is no other way to describe the ten day trip other than a dream. We toured some of the top training barns including Klaus Balkenhol's, Hubertus Schmidt's, Matthias Rath's, Wolfram Wittig's, Michael Klimke's, Ingrid Klimke's, and perhaps the icing on the cake was meeting the world famous Totilas. Rather than repeating myself here, feel free to read my entire journal from the trip on the Dressage Foundation's website: http://www.dressagefoundation.org/Mary_Bahniuk_Lauritsen_Journal.htm
I look forward to not only sharing the day-to-day experiences and training with Rossi but also those with the other horses that are now in my life at Cutler Farm.
That is all I will leave you with for today as my fingers are aching from too much riding and not enough typing and I will refrain from boring you with recapping all that has happened in the last nine months since I last wrote. From now on I look forward to sharing training tips, experiences, and words of "wisdom" with you as I have in the past. For now I'm off to enjoy the rest of my day off under the Wellington sun!
Happy riding,
Mary
For Mary's previous bloggings, please click this link to view them at
