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Profile of DC riding resident: Laura Levit
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A winning combination: Laura on Taryn (Tessa's stable name)
Laura is an Old Town Alexandria resident, who lives with her boyfriend and cat within walking distance of the stores and restaurants around King Street, and near the metro which she can take to work.
Luckily her full time job at the Institute of Medicine has flexible hours, allowing her to arrive before 8:00 a.m.and leave around 4:00 p.m. on days when she goes riding. That way she is able to beat some of the traffic and not get home incredibly late. From work it takes her an hour to reach Chimney Hill, where she rides and keeps her horses, but half that time from her house. Laura trains with Sharon Myers.
Laura organizes her riding time around her work schedule accordingly. Normally she gets to the barn three times a week and on both weekend days. On Saturday and Sunday she rides her own horse, Taryn (whose registered name is Tessa) and her mother’s mare, Izabelle. She often rides another boarder’s horse, a highly trained mare, which gives Laura the opportunity to practice some of the higher level movements. This has helped Laura improve as a rider.
Laura and her mother's mare Izabelle aka "Izzy"
Her riding sessions usually last from 45 to 60 minutes, with a walk once a week outside in the field or down the road to relax.
Laura says that “it is definitely harder to get motivated to go to the barn in the winter. Also the weather can sometimes make is hard to ride if there is ice or snow.” But it helps that Chimney Hill has an excellent indoor facility.
Laura began riding as a child at Woodlawn Stables in Alexandria, Virginia. She took group lessons for a number of years at this barn and leased Sabrina, ‘a feisty Arabian.’ In high school, she rode her mom’s appendix quarter horse, Tango. She and her mom also owned an Irish sport horse named Mackie, who Laura took lessons on with an eventing coach. Her interest in riding began with a summer riding camp taken together with her brother and childhood best friend. After that she took regular lessons.
Laura and Tessa (akaTaryn) in action!
Laura now rides dressage, but used to ride hunt seat equitation. As a member of the equestrian team in college at William and Mary, she competed against other Virginia and Maryland schools in both flat and jumping equitation classes.
Two summers ago Laura showed at Training Level with Taryn, a nine year old, Dutch warmblood mare (registered name Tessa) and who is out of Idocus and a Roemer mare, debuting at the Ride for Life PVDA show in Upper Marlboro. But the mare injured herself in 2008, forcing Laura to put further show plans on hold. Taryn pulled the muscle over her pelvis away from the bone. Originally, the vet thought she had fractured her pelvis, so Laura was very relieved when she found out the injury was only muscular. Taryn is now back in work, and is doing better than before the injury. Laura is hoping to show next year and is starting to school the second level movements.
A relaxing moment during a show
Asked whether she recommended horse ownership, Laura responded by saying: “Yes, I think it’s a great experience to bond with a specific horse. It is exciting to see how your riding can change and improve your horse. I don’t think you get this same experience if you ride lesson horses or are not the main person riding a horse. One of the benefits of owning a horse is that through riding and training, you can make huge changes in how your horse goes under saddle.”
Her advice to DC residents wanting to start riding is to take lessons on a well-schooled horse. “This is a good way to see if you like riding. Also, riding a well-trained horse is the best way to develop basic riding skills.”
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