This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Denison chapter.
Sophomore Psychology major, Lauren Adams, came to Denison from Louisville, Kentucky excited to become a college athlete. Freshmen year she played on the conference champion field hockey team, and as a national high school lacrosse champion she was ready to start lacrosse in the spring. Now many people know that Lauren is an amazing athlete; she is dedicated and hardworking and is one of the best starting mid-fielders on the lacrosse team. But what most people do not know is that Lauren is a champion on a different kind of “field” as well.
Lauren is a passionate and talented horseback rider! Since the age of five she has been on the field riding horses and becoming a different kind of teammate, one where instead of having your teammates back, you’re riding it. She started in the Arabian world where she got her first ribbons at multiple showcases. She mastered the basics at a young age and then got involved in dressage- which essentially is horse dancing. It is a very demanding sport that requires focus and skill of both the horse and the rider.
“I had wanted a horse since I was five and I got her when I was eleven. The horse I had been riding became mine. She was a really excited and active pony, so dressage was a great way to mellow her out and give her discipline.”
They trained for a week together and then entered into competitions for the National Championship. No one thought a new pony that was out of the field could do well after a week of training. But Lauren and Valkerie [her horse] won the national championship in 2001, and again in 2004. When talking to Lauren, you can tell she is passionate about horseback riding. “These horses are athletes above everything else. The things that they can do are just phenomenal.”
Although Lauren stopped competing in high school, and switched to sports with sticks instead of reins, she still enjoys practicing five or six days a week with Valkerie in the summer. This campus celebrity chose to bring Valkerie to school with her so that she could continue to grow as an athlete on both fields.