January 24, 2006 – St-Hilaire, Quebec – Laurie Bucci, a short listed member of the 2006 Canadian Show Jumping Team, is set to train in Germany this spring with show jumping legend, Ludger Beerbaum.

Bucci of St-Hilaire, QC, will spend the winter competing on the Winter Equestrian Festival circuit in Wellington, FL, then depart directly for Germany where she will spend ten weeks training with Beerbaum at his home base and traveling with him to competitions. As Beerbaum, who has four Olympic Gold Medals to his name, generally does not take on many students, the occasion marks a rare opportunity for one of Canada’s most promising equestrian athletes.

“This is something I have always dreamt of doing,” noted Bucci, 34, who will return to Canada at the end of May to compete at Spruce Meadows in Calgary, AB. “To have the chance to train side by side with Ludger Beerbaum will be an unbelievable experience.”

Bucci’s top three horses, Catesko, Lalelu, and Quidam’s Ramiro, will accompany her to Germany in order to benefit from Beerbaum’s instruction and gain international exposure on the European show scene.

“With the quality of horses that we currently have, this is the year to do it,” added Francis Berger, Bucci’s husband and coach. “Laurie is always trying to better herself, and this experience will benefit her greatly.”

In fact, Berger and Bucci’s father, Adam, had been putting the plan into motion for months without Bucci’s knowledge, and finally surprised her with the news at Christmas.

“I had no idea this was going on!” exclaimed Bucci. “I was so surprised when they told me. I could not have asked for a better gift!”

Bucci first made a name for herself as a teenager, winning the World Junior Championship in Tampa, FL, in 1989, the same year she won the Individual Gold Medal at the North American Young Riders’ Championship. In 1992, Bucci won both Team and Individual Silver Medals at the North American Young Riders’ Championship, held in front of a home crowd in Bromont, QC.

In 2005, Bucci’s successes included a third place finish riding Catesko in the $100,000 World Cup Qualifier Grand Prix held in Palgrave, ON, and victory in the $25,000 Desjardins Challenge at the CSI-W Blainville International aboard Lalelu. She capped off the season with a top ten placing riding Catesko, a 10-year-old Holsteiner gelding by Caletto I, in the Canadian Show Jumping Championships held during the Royal Horse Show in Toronto, ON.

Bucci and Berger own and operate South Shore Farm outside of Montreal, QC, where they concentrate on coaching clients and training horses for success in the hunter and jumper rings. With approximately 70 horses, Southshore Farm has its own breeding program and offers a riding school for those just getting their start in the sport.

For more information, please visit www.southshorefarm.net or call (514) 924-4035.