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58 SIDELINES FEBRUARY 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
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A Few Minutes with Liza Finsness
By Jan Westmark-Allan
Wellington based junior rider Liza Finsness experienced
a career highlight during the summer of 2011 when she
was part of the gold medal winning team at the North
American Young Rider Championships in Lexington.
One of the highlights of the gold medal win was that her
friend and barn buddy, Samantha Senft, was also on the
team.
“We both ride at Castlewood Farm with Alan Korotkin
and Susan Tuccinardi. The best part about riding
there, besides the fact that Castlewood is right next to
the Winter Equestrian Festival show grounds, is the
relationships that have formed between the riders and
trainers,” she said.
As a 17 year old high school junior, Liza stays busy
riding and competing and said she loves living near the
biggest and best show in the country. “Wellington has
one of the greatest facilities in the nation and I live fve
minutes from it. It’s great because I can compete most
weekends in the winter without missing much school.
Living in Wellington means that I don’t have to travel
to show; the show comes to me,” she said. “The idea
that thousands of horses and riders come to the Winter
Equestrian Festival to compete makes the show all the
more intense.  You know that you’re competing with the
best, which means that you rise to the occasion.  I fnd
that each season I get better and better because I’m
around such good riders and I’m showing consistently.”
Sidelines:
How did your riding career begin?
LF:
When I was six years old my family planned a trip
to a dude ranch in Arizona and my grandma thought it
was a good idea to take some lessons before we left.
I’m sure my parents had no idea what they were getting
themselves into, because they expected it to be a few
innocent lessons.  My two sisters and I started riding at
that time.  It only took a year or so for one of my sisters to
call it quits but my sister Megan and I pulled through the
painful years of lead line and walk, trot, canter lessons.
 
Sidelines:
When did you start riding at Castlewood?
LF:
I started riding at Castlewood with Alan when I
was 11 years old.  Both Alan and Susan are extremely
personable, which makes Castlewood really laid back and
fun. I will have to say that 2011 was such a memorable
year and I couldn’t have done any of it without them.
 
Sidelines:
What made 2011 such a great year?
LF:
Winning the team gold at the North American
Young Rider Championship! Individually, I got tenth
place.  Also during the summer, I was able to get a few
top ribbons in a couple of grand prixs. I also competed
at indoors where I took my high junior jumper, Ormsby
Hill and my equitation horse, Fedelio, or Shaq as we
call him. Ormsby and I earned top ribbons in the high
junior jumpers along with an individual ribbon in the Prix
des States. In the equitation, Shaq and I received the
seventh place ribbon at the USET Finals.
 
Sidelines:
What do you like about competing in the
equitation classes?
LF:
What I like most about the equitation is the feeling you get
when you earn a ribbon because you know the judges liked
the way you rode.  The jumpers are great, but if you have a
bad ride you can still make it around a course clean and do
well.  However, the equitation asks you to have no mistakes in
a course and if you get pinned, it’s very satisfying knowing that
the judges think you rode well.  Jumpers are fun when you’re
going fast and jumping high, but sometimes it’s nice to slow it
down and look pretty.
 
Sidelines:
You qualifed for all of the equitation fnals in 2011,
what was that like?
LF:
The USET fnals were amazing because it was my frst
year there with Shaq. Over the past couple of years I had
leased horses and the fnals never turned out as I’d hoped. 
But this year, I had my boy and he was so perfect for me. I’ve
been going to the fnals for quite a few years and every year the
entrance into the ring has been very nerve racking.  But after
getting that ribbon at the USET fnals, it was like a weight was
lifted and I went into the Medal Finals with no nerves for the
frst time.  My frst round at the Medal Finals was perfect and
we were called back in seventh, but the second round got to me
and the stupidest mistakes bumped me out of the standings.
It was my frst year at Washington Finals and it went pretty
well.  I was so happy to have made it there since I was one of
the 30 qualifers in the nation. The Maclay Finals were great,
but a late change determines whether you’re in for the next
round or out, and I was out. Overall, the fnals were amazing.
Liza