170 SIDELINES FEBRUARY 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Continued on page 172
e
Dressage
Weaving a Web
Through hard work
and dedication,
Leslie Webb
weaves her way to
to the top.
Leslie with Harmony’s Armani, owned
by Harmony Sporthorse.
All photos by Lori Ovanessian
By Dani Moritz
L
eslie Webb has an impressive list of accolades – including
two silver medals from the Pan American games. You
would probably never have guessed she didn’t even know
what dressage was until she was 18-years-old.
Yes – you heard that right. 18. No junior riding career – at least
not in dressage.
Leslie’s riding career started with bareback freeze tag and trail
riding and progressed to hunters, jumpers and, eventually,
eventing – and lots and lots of catch riding. At that point,
dressage was only a phase in eventing – and it just happened to
be her best one.
“When I outgrew my ‘bareback horse’ and my parents couldn’t
afford to buy me a new one, what my trainer did is have me buy
a horse from him for a dollar because back then in the juniors
you had to own your own horse. So, I would buy one from him,
break it and get it going and he would sell it.”
She did the hunters, medals and Maclays and ended her jumping
career eventing at training level. “I started moving up the ranks
and discovered that I’m a little chicken,” she laughed. “I don’t
have enough guts to be jumping those big huge things that are
completely solid. That’s kind of when I said I’m strictly doing
dressage – I’m not brave enough for that.”
As she was transitioning to dressage, everything fell into place.
She was working for her aunt, Vanda Werner, who owns Mile
High Horse Ranch in Parker, Colorado and bred Pregelstrand.
According to Leslie, Vanda was actually one of the first people to
import a stallion from Europe. “I thought she was crazy,” Leslie
admitted. “But, she built a barn and bought Pregelstrand and
three mares and I would go out to the barn to help her get her
barn going and I absolutely fell in love with Warmbloods.”
Still very new to dressage, Leslie participated in a clinic with
Erich Bubbel, a retired three-time Olympic coach. “I was one of
the very fortunate people to be at the right place at the right time.
My aunt brought Erich into Colorado for a clinic and he just fell
in love with me and said, ‘If you want this stallion to be promoted
then you need to send Leslie and Pregelstrand to California and
put her in training.”
