140 SIDELINES MARCH 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Continued on page 142
Hitting the Books (& The Saddle!)
By Laura Cardon
Twenty-one-year-old Luis Larrazabal has a lot on his plate.
After a whirlwind year of competing across the globe for G&C
Farm, he is back in his home base of Wellington, Florida, for the
2014 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF). The first
week of WEF is also the first week of classes at Lynn University
in Boca Raton, Florida, where Luis is starting his junior year as
an International Business student. Oh, and he’s also aiming to
represent his home country of Venezuela in the Alltech FEI World
Equestrian Games 2014 in Normandy this fall. Suddenly, the
average college student’s schedule doesn’t look so bad.
Since wrapping up the 2013 FTI WEF, Luis has competed up
and down the East Coast and on both coasts of South America.
Starting with the Old Salem Farm Spring Shows in Old Salem,
New York, Luis was spotted at some of the top shows of the
summer, including the Devon Horse Show, the Upperville Colt
and Horse Show and the Vermont Summer Festival. After a
successful summer, he went abroad to represent Venezuela at
the Porto Alegre Nations Cup (Brazil) and the Bolivarian Games
in Trujillo, Peru.
“Coming back [to Wellington] is always relaxing. All the traveling
is great, but in the end it’s not your house, it’s not your bed. You’re
all over the place – one week in this hotel, the next week in another
one. That life is good, but it’s very tough,” Luis explained.
With The Games still several months away, Luis is focused on
making the best of the Winter Equestrian Festival, particularly
the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup, presented by G&C Farm, during
e
Show Jumping
week eight of competition and the grand finale $500,000 CSI5*
FTI Consulting Grand Prix. Luis’s riding aspirations are great, but
getting an education was always a priority to him despite some
professional riders deciding to forgo a college degree.
“I think getting a degree is important because you need to have
a ‘Plan B.’ My goal is to try to be number one and try to be the
best, but you always need to have options. If you have a fall or
something happens that you can’t ride anymore, you can still go
do something else and work things out,” Luis said.
The International Business program at Lynn University was a
natural choice for Luis since he is already immersed in an industry
that is inherently globally based. “Riding is an international
business. You meet a lot of people from every place in the world,”
Luis pointed out. “International business is also something that
is a very broad subject. It can be applied to horses, but also any
company anywhere.”
Gustavo and Carolina Mirabal, owners of G&C Farm, are
happy to support Luis’s academic endeavors by allowing him to
customize his work schedule to accommodate showing, riding,
and school. G&C Close Up is one of Luis’s younger mounts,
who is shown in the seven-year-old jumper divisions held on
weekday afternoons, so Luis makes sure to schedule classes in
the evenings to avoid any conflicts. G&C Flash, Luis’s grand prix
horse, always competes in the Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge
on Thursdays, but since any grand prix class is an all-day affair,
Luis made sure to leave Thursdays open. Having the whole day
off comes at a price, though.
Luis with G&C Farm owners Gustavo and Carolina
Mirabal and their daughter, Maria Emilia, after their
second place finish in the FTI Consulting Great Charity
Challenge presented by Fidelity Investments® at the
2013 FTI WEF.
Photo by Elena Lusenti
