Stephanie Sylvestre

Birthday: How many years riding? Main discipline: Horse:

June 29, 1986 4 Dressage and Hunter leases Tango

:::GOALS FOR 2004:::

This year I hope to spend my whole summer showing and riding. Due to always having green horses, or none at all, I haven't been able to do so in past years. My main goals are to compete in 3'0 hunters, starter level in eventing, and go to as many dressage shows as possible!

:::PROFILE:::

I started riding when I was about 12 years old, and living in Ottawa, Ont. I rode for a couple of months but stopped soon after due to a lack of interest. A couple years later, I suddenly because interested in horse vaulting (gymnastics on horseback) and searched out a stable which ran such a program. I needed to learn some basic riding skills before getting into the associated sport, so I decided to take a lesson beforehand. One session turned into two, and two turned into three. Pretty soon I had completely forgotten about vaulting. After I had been riding for six months, my dad accepted a job posting in Edmonton. We arrived here in July of 2000, and my mom hastily signed me up for a summer riding camp at Shadyvale. Throughout the year, my once-a-week riding lesson was the highlight of my week. After riding school horses for a year, I found a half-lease for

Stephanie riding Tiara

myself. A spirited little Arabian mare that, as you can imagine, was quite the learning experience for me. I leased her for six months before I outgrew her and decided that it was time to move on. I started riding with Tanya (I had previously been with another instructor), and I spent the next half a year leasing various horses who, for some reason or another, did not work out for me. Then we found Tango. He came to us in August of '02, as a scrawny, bedraggled, and green-broke 3 year old that Tanya found at a small private ranch. I started working with him as soon as I could, and after only a couple rides, decided to lease him. We've had our fair share of set-backs; whoever thinks training a horse is easy has obviously never done so! But after all the growing pains, a whole year of training (not to mention a good 5 months without jumping!), many frustrating lessons, and lots of help from Tanya, we have finally made it. It has been the single most rewarding thing that I have ever done- just to see that what he knows, I taught him. The only place we can go now is up, which is what we will be doing at a steady rate until summer, when we can finally show everyone what he can do.

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