Student has top ranking in horse events

After a morning reveling outside in the 60-degree temperatures last Wednesday, Synchro's lean body was dotted with mud.

The 14-year-old Trakehner gelding stood patiently as his owner, Laura Noyes, brushed the worst of it off his flank and tail.

The two have been inseparable since the 21-year-old zoology major at Ohio Wesleyan University found the horse in a North Carolina pasture six years ago.

Since then they have traveled the world, competing in Fdration Equestre Internationale (FEI) dressage events.

For Noyes and Synchro, 2008 was a "crazy" and highly successful year, Noyes said. It was her last year to compete in the Young Riders division, which is for competitors aged 16-21.

Together they won the Reserve National Championship at the Collecting Gaits Farm-USEF Dressage Festival of Champions in California; the Individual Gold Medal and Team Silver Medal at the FEI North American Young Rider Championships (NAYRC) in Colorado; and, as the number-one ranked combination in the Young Riders standings, they represented the U.S. at the FEI World Cup Dressage Final for Young Riders in Frankfurt, Germany.

With the new year, Noyes thought that was all behind them as they looked ahead to competing at the next level in the Young Adult division. Then came the call in January from the U.S. Equestrian Foundation that Noyes had been awarded the Lionel Guerrand-Herms Trophy, given annually to a Junior-Young Rider who exemplifies the foundation's ideals of horsemanship and sportsmanship.

"I was shocked and thrilled," Noyes said. "We had such a great year but I had put everything behind me and then realized it was still going."

A native of Maine, Noyes came to OWU in 2005 to be close to her trainer, George Williams, who is head trainer at Gypsy Woods Farm in Richwood. She has two semesters left before graduation.

She also works at the Richwood horse farm, taking care of some of the horses and training them.

Chuck Smith, owner of Gypsy Woods Farm, said the award was well-earned.

"Laura is a lovely young lady, a hard worker and very motivated," he said. "She brought this horse out of a pasture and has taken him all the way. ... There aren't that many like her. She's an exceptional person."

Horses have been part of Noyes' life for as long as she can remember.

She got riding lessons from her parents on her 4th birthday and started riding once a week. "My parents were in trouble after that," she said.

With the new competition level come more demands on the horse, so Noyes bought a 6-year-old Danish Warmblood horse named Galveston last year.

She will use both horses in competitions because there are different levels for different age horses, she said.

"I've always been around horses. ... I've made some choices that are different from some kids, missed out on some opportunities. But I've had other, great opportunities. It's a little bit of give and take."