Many individuals have probably never heard of newly crowned World Champion Lindsay LaPlante. Well, this 21 Year-Old from Encinitas, California just beat out the big names in a tough and intricate Tim Kimura pattern at the AQHA World Show in the Junior Trail. LaPlante and her five year-old red roan gelding, Only Good Sox (Leroy) scored an incredible 233.5 for the win.
“I can hardly believe it,” Lindsay tells GoHorseShow. “I was just so excited to make it back to the finals. This is my first time to show at the World Show, and I wasn’t sure whether I could even get through the pattern in the prelims: I was really nervous. Figured I would make some sort of mistake but I guess the stars were aligned and everything came together at the right time.”
Well, who is LaPlante you ask? Since 2008, this talented young lady teaches basic western and english riding lessons three days a week at the Horsemanship Academy in Del Mar, California. Lindsay is also a vet assistant at Equitage Vet Care located in Encinitas as well as attending Mira Costa Community College near her home where she plans to maybe major in business management.
While LaPlante is an open rider because she teaches lessons, she only competes on Leroy and trains with Professional Horseman Liz Place of Del Mar, California. She currently doesn’t have any clients or horses in training.
“I’ve been with Liz ever since I was a young girl,” Lindsay tells GoHorseShow. “My mom (Susan Fristoe) showed horses when I was younger, and I started jumping but then got hurt and a concussion and stopped riding for a year. When I was around twelve, I started riding western with Liz and credit her and my mom for a lot of my success.”
Lindsay adds, “I like the western a lot better. It is a lot more laid back!”
In 2007, Place showed one of Lindsay’s horses, My Style Rock, to a ninth place win in the Junior Trail, but besides that placing, LaPlante has never shown much on a national level.
“I always wanted to show at the World Show and never have shown at the Congress–mainly because I could never afford it, but I finally was able to pay my way there this year,” she says. “I qualified Leroy in the Trail at just two shows in Burbank and Santa Barbara, California. It took eighteen points and I believe we almost have our superior in the Trail,” she proudly says.
Lindsay says that she traded a horse for Leroy when he was a three year-old and just seemed to click with him. Sandy Arledge and Nancy Wheeler Smith owned him at the time. “He is a fantastic horse and has a goofy fun personality,” she says. “He gets into everything and I just love to be around him.”
When we asked her about her finals go, she said that it was really hard and intricate–a typical Tim Kimura pattern. Lindsay had one bobble on the sidepass when he tripped over his foot but luckily he didn’t hit the log.
“After my go, I thought I could be in the Top 5 because there were some big mistakes with some of the other riders because the pattern was so hard, but they kept calling out the placings–and I was still there until the very end. It was unbelievable and I was just speechless.”
As far as future plans, Lindsay says that Leroy is for sale and that she will probably buy a two year-old to work with and train herself. “I love working with babies and teaching one from the ground up,” she says. “I would also like to thank everyone who has supported me and all the horses that have taught me so much throughout the years. I definitely wouldn’t be where I am without them.”
And, who is Lindsay LaPlante? A newly crowned World Champion who shows for the love of horses—-the way it should be!
We congratulate her on her amazing journey and win at her first World Show!
