Claire Austring

Claire Austring and Springtree Legacy

2007 Most Improved Rider Award Winner - Nomination Letter
2007 Miss Filly Scholarship Award Winner

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I started riding when I was 9 years old, taking group lessons with four other kids.  As I learned more and became more advanced I started riding more challenging horses, eventually getting to ride my coach’s horse, and then buying him.  I bought Legacy in the summer of 2003 and moved him to train with Eleonore Elstone for a year.  After learning tons from Eleonore I then moved Legacy to Ridge Meadows Farm in Langley, where he lives now, to train with Carmie Flaherty. 

                After recovering from two broken heels (mine) in the fall of 2003 we competed at First Level in the show season of2004, including the B.C. Summer Games.  In the 2005 show season we then competed at Third Level.  We were reserve champions at a few shows that year as well as both the Pac. Reg. and B.C. reserve champs,  and won the Freestyle Championship at the Rising Stars show in Chilliwack.  In 2006 we competed at the Young Rider and Prix St. Georges levels, winning Freestyle Reserve Champion at Rising Stars, and Y.R. Champion at the Pacific Regional Championships at Southlands in August.  In the 2007 show season we continued to show at the Young Rider level and qualified for the Canadian Youth National Championships in Red Deer, Alberta.  After a lot of hard work, and a lot of support and patience from my coach Carmie and my family, Legacy and I came home as the  National Young Rider Technical and Freestyle Champions.

                Legacy is a 17 year old, bay, Canadian Warmblood Sporthorse, Springtree Legacy his full name.  Sired by Wodan, out of Sunday’s Rose, he stands 17.2 hands tall.  He’s now in semi-retirement, and has the important job of teaching my mom how to keep her heels down, shoulders back, chin up, thumbs on top - all at the same time - and how to walk, trot, and canter.   He’s very proud, even though he can sometimes be a little bit cheeky!

                At the beginning of last year, we had originally planned to try to qualify for the N.A. Y.R.C. due to there not being a Young Rider National.  Eventually though, we heard that there would be one in Red Deer and re-set our last goal as a competitive pair.  Carmie worked so hard with us throughout the year, and nothing would have gone the way it did without her guidance, patience, and support.  She knew we could do it, and saw us through it.  My mom and dad were the other half of my support team, and my mom in particular saw that we did the absolute best we could, never letting me sell myself short.

                Although Legacy and I are not going to compete together anymore, I still ride him a few times a week, and I love hearing him whinny when he sees me walking out to him.  He’s my best friend.