FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2014 71
Lauren evolved from being a working student to paid employee
with the O’Connors to working for Jacqueline Mars and running
her own business. “I can’t imagine anywhere better to have been,”
Lauren said. “The work was hard, but Karen and David have always
been incredibly fair and good horsemanship was the priority. On
top of all the education, they’ve given me one opportunity after the
other and I wouldn’t be anywhere close to where I am now without
them. I had the chance to ride so many top-class horses, catch-
ride and compete, and almost all of my owners came through
them and, of course, the phenomenal relationship and program
I’m involved in now with Ms. Mars and Landmark breeding. It’s an
unbelievable honor to be involved, producing these young horses.
“Ms. Mars had this vision a very long time ago and it’s starting to
become evident that this is the direction the U.S.A. has to take if
we want to be consistently competitive internationally. We have to
be able to produce our own horses. We need to support American
breeders and make sure we’re breeding quality mares and putting
the young horses in the right hands. Ms. Mars is extremely
educated on what makes a championship event horse.”
The Future
Now 26, Lauren is concentrating on her competitive career while
she brings along an amazing string of young event prospects. In
June, she took two horses to Bromont in Canada for the CCI**,
winning with Meadowbrook’s Scarlett, owned and bred by Marie
Le Menestral, and placing second with Landmark’s Monte Carlo,
owned and bred by Jacqueline Mars. Both horses finished on their
dressage scores, having jumped double clear in both the cross-
country and the show jumping.
As for the newly minted four-star mare and her partner in
earning the USEF National 4-Star Championship, Lauren said,
“Veronica is a character, for sure, extremely smart and one of
the most mentally competitive horses I’ve ridden. She definitely
understands the game. It’s taken us both the year to trust that the
other knows what they’re doing. I’ve had to learn to sit back and
let her do her job and she’s learned that, when I do say something,
it might actually be worth listening to. We call her the Troll in the
barn, because she pins her ears at everyone, but when you know
her well, she actually loves to have attention. Nothing makes her
happier than being the only horse at an event.”
In terms of immediate and long-term goals, Lauren said, “I’m
in a very unique position where I have the ability to really focus
on my riding, which is amazing and which I couldn’t do without
the support of Ms. Mars, so that’s very much my priority for the
foreseeable future. Right now I’m very focused on being as
competitive as possible and hopefully being a part of the U.S.A.
teams in years to come. Long-term, I have no idea. I love working
with the horses as much as competing. I have no concrete plan. I
just want to keep enjoying everything as much as I do now.”
Lauren and Snooze Alarm won the Dubarry Style Award at the
2010 Rolex CCI**** jog.
Photo by Lauren R. Giannini
