52 SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
By April Leonard
Lauren Steiner may only be 17 years old; but she’s already
making a name for herself in the horse show world. This teen from
Germantown, Tennessee, competes in equitation, jumping and
hunters across the United States. The long list of shows she has
competed in includes Gulf Coast Classics, Spring Time in Dixie,
Nashville Classic and Devon. This year at both the Nashville
Country Horse Show and the Germantown Charity Horse Show,
Lauren won the Low Junior A/O Jumper Championship.
When Lauren was six years old, her mother took her to a barn
down the street to experience riding a horse. Lauren immediately
fell in love with riding and began competing at age eight. Two years
ago, Lauren added equitation to her showing career. Although all
of Lauren’s older siblings were also introduced to riding at a young
age, Lauren is the only one who became passionate about the
sport and stuck with it. Both her parents enjoy riding as well and
occasionally take trail rides with friends. “It’s more of a leisurely
sport in my family,” Lauren explains. Not for Lauren, though. While
many teens her age are in search of an interest that they can
build their futures around, Lauren’s love for horses does not leave
much questioning to be done.
When asked what her goals are, she replied “Short term or
long term?” and had an answer for both. Lauren frst plans to
fnd a horse that can help her to do well in the grand prix. After
competing in the grand prix, the young rider will work even harder
to train for her dream horse show - the Olympics. Despite all the
time that Lauren spends at horse shows and her plans to tackle
more prestigious shows in the future, the competition aspect of
e
riding is not what she is truly in love with. Her favorite thing
about competing is getting the chance to jump a challenging
course. Her least favorite part of a show, “Actually having to
compete with other people,” she admits. “But jumping the
courses is always really fun!”
At home, Lauren is surrounded by a wide variety of horses.
She leases an equitation horse and her family owns fve
miniature horses, three ponies, two horses and one donkey.
Lauren has shown on all of her ponies and horses at some point
and still owns her very frst two ponies, who are both for lease.
Taking a horse on a ride through a feld is one of her favorite
non competitive activities. More than any other horse, Lauren
loves riding Charlie Brown, her 20 year old Holsteiner. “He’s
never boring and is an all around horse who can do anything”,
she says. To reward Charlie Brown for a good ride, Lauren likes
to bring him his favorite treat - bananas!
When riding is done for the day, Lauren might be found doing
her favorite barn chore - cleaning tack - or baking homemade
treats for her horses. She also spends a lot of time at school;
either in classes, running cross-country or playing lacrosse.
Next year will be her senior year and Lauren is thinking about
becoming a veterinarian so she can continue to work with
horses when she isn’t riding. She is also considering attending
a college with a riding team. Overall, Lauren knows one thing for
certain about her future. “I will always want to ride!” So whether
you see Lauren working in a veterinarian’s offce or riding at the
top of the sport in international show rings, this young rider has
much more to bring to the equestrian world.
Lauren Steiner