68 SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
By Lauren R. Giannini
Lauren Bliss Kieffer has worked hard for 20 years to get to
where she is, riding high on the second-place finish she achieved
with Veronica in April at the 2014 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day
Event, the premier CCI**** this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Along
with being runner-up to the ultimate Rolex winner, William Fox-Pitt
of Great Britain, Lauren earned the 2014 USEF National 4-Star
Championship and the USET Pinnacle Cup as the highest placed
American at Rolex.
Lauren’s Rolex showcased the year she had spent developing
partnership with Veronica, owned by Team Rebecca, LLC.
Veronica, a quirky mare with great talent and even more
exuberance, had only one other four-star start, which ended early
on the 2012 Rolex cross-country. Karen O’Connor exhibited her
tenacity and ability to stick tight, but took a dunking when jarred
loose by Veronica jumping the duck in the middle of the first water.
Lauren herself had just one Rolex four-star to her credit, placing
29th in 2010 with her amazing Anglo-Arabian, Snooze Alarm.
Equine Teachers
“Every horse has taught me something to add to my toolbox,”
said Lauren. “Fred, my first horse, taught me how to stay on a buck.
He was just a kindly Appaloosa that gave me a buck whenever
I annoyed him. I think I was too young to have taught him any
better. I’d say two of the horses that had the biggest influence on
my education were Snooze Alarm and Tigger Too for very different
reasons. Tigger taught me the upper levels and gave me a ton of
confidence. He was such a phenomenal friend and teacher. He
took such amazing care of me while taking me around my first big
courses. That horse lived for the cross-country. Snooze taught me
how to get there with a horse that’s not so easy!”
Snooze Alarm, a 15.2 chestnut gelding now retired, boasts
some serious bloodlines. His sire, Serazim, earned the Canadian
National Exhibition Halter Stallion Championship and competed in
show hack, hunter pleasure, and costume, as well as being a solid
trail horse. His pedigree harks back to a famous Arabian stallion,
*Serafix. There’s no doubt that Snooze inherited the Arabian’s
signature endurance and bravery. On Snooze Alarm’s dam’s side,
Thoroughbreds reign, boasting great-great-great-great ancestors
such as Native Dancer, who needs no introduction and *The Axe,
who passed speed and jumping ability to his descendants.
Given a gene pool like that, it’s no wonder Snooze Alarm was a
bit opinionated, but it also showcases Lauren’s early passion for
the training process, for making the connection and developing
that vital partnership with the horse. Out on the cross-country,
horse and rider need to know their respective jobs. They also
have to trust each other from Baby Novice all the way to the upper
levels.
“Snooze taught me so much about horsemanship and training.
Yes, he was difficult, but funnily enough in a safe way,” said
Lauren. “He was difficult in a way that actually came from him
being very smart and having self-preservation. It taught me how
to approach questions correctly and safely, otherwise he wouldn’t
do it. The question you presented to him needed to make sense.
Whenever I have a horse that’s hesitant about something, I don’t
blame them. I go through a checklist: Do they understand the
question? Have I given them the tools in training to solve it? Have
I approached it in a way that seems safe to them?”
Passion For Jumping
The higher you go through the levels, the bigger and wider the
fences get, and a passion for jumping comes in handy. When
asked the biggest fence she ever jumped as a kid, Lauren replied,
It’s All Bliss For Lauren Kieffer
e
Lauren and Veronica on their way to their 2nd place victory at the
2014 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event.
Photo by Beth Grant, BethGrantPhotography.com
Lauren and Landmark’s Monte Carlo ready to jog at Bromont
where they placed second in the CCI**.
Photo Courtesy of Shannon Kinsley
