GREEN WORKING HUNTER

IT TAKES A PRINCESS TO UNDERSTAND A PRINCESS.

BY KIMBERLY FRENCH, JOURNAL INTERN

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AQHA Professional Horseman, Lainie DeBoer, of Forest Lake, Minnesota, doesn’t get rattled but this week she was a wreck.

Lainie can now take a deep breath since Regal Intentions, owned by Kayla Bickman of Cave Creek, Arizona, nabbed the world championship in green working hunter. Lainie was in the irons for the victory and trains the 5-year-old gray mare. They won last year’s world championship in the hunter hack.

“I have been a nervous wreck,” Lainie said. “I do this a lot and I have won quite a bit. She is so deserving that I wanted to do right by her. I just really wanted to let her shine in her last junior trips. I put more pressure on myself than normal.”

Regal Intentions is a bit spooky but Lainie thinks that makes her a great horse.

“For a hunter, spooky is actually good because they actually study the jump,” Lainie said. “We don’t like our horses really tired. Our horses tend to have a little more edge to them. You want them to study the jump and then jump it real well. She just is one of those that really looks at the jump, spies it up and then she really cracks her back. I think that’s what makes her special. She kind of has that little edge to her, plus being a mare. She’s all mare.”

Lainie and Regal Intentions collecting their championship in green working hunter.

Lainie is a “catch rider.” She arrives at a horseshow a day early and attempts to secure mounts. She often rides horses she does not know for other trainers. With Regal Intentions, she has developed a relationship. She helped a client purchase the mare from extremehorse.com two years ago, and Regal Intentions has resided in her barn ever since.

“It (winning the championship) was a lot more rewarding than getting on a horse that somebody else trains and being just a pilot,” Lainie said. “It’s way more emotional and very rewarding.”

The mare and her ride share personality traits that enrich their bond.

“She is just a princess,” Lainie said. “She looks at the other horses and pins hers ears. She has this very elitist attitude. Everyone is giving me a hard time because I’ve been riding a lot of mares lately and I said ‘that it takes a princess to understand a princess’ because I’m kind of known as a princess. I think that’s why we get along so well. I’m not as cocky as she is, but she’s pretty cocky.”

The mare’s nickname is “Abby Anne.” She is named after the client that aided Lainie in purchasing her off the Internet. She doesn’t know if it was such a good idea because now she is constantly confused if a reference is to Abby the person or Abby the horse.

Abby Anne has a new set of goals to achieve. Lainie thinks the mare possesses all the tools to be outstanding as a senior working hunter. Also, her owner’s daughter will be showing her in youth events.

“I would like to bring her back as a senior working hunter;” Lainie said. “That’s our goal to come out in Florida and try the senior. They changed the height a little bit and I think she will be a pretty special senior horse and her owner has a daughter that is also a co-owner and she is going to ride her at Youth World next year.”