Lauren Tisbo and Welinde won the $35,000 Vita Flex Match Race on Saturday night, March 3, at the 2012 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, FL. Photo by Sportfot
Lauren Tisbo and the newly acquired King Kolibri placed fifth in the $500,000 CSI5* FTI Consulting Grand Prix to conclude the 12-week Winter Equestrian Festival. Photo by Laura Whitlow, Champion Equine Insurance, Inc.

April 23, 2012 – Wellington, FL – Lauren Tisbo of Tequestrian Farms in Wellington, Florida, celebrated a successful winter competition season highlighted by a win in the $35,000 Vita Flex Match Race at the 2012 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida.

A last minute decision to compete paid off for Tisbo, 27, who enjoyed her first victory in the International Arena by winning the $35,000 Match Race on Saturday, March 3.  In a format that sees two riders competing side-by-side over an identical course, Tisbo repeatedly took the win over her opponent to move on to the next round.  Advancing all the way to the final match, Tisbo defeated Haylie Jayne for the victory.

“My horse is super fast, and is great off the turns,” said Tisbo of her winning mount Welinde, a nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare owned by Tequestrian Farms LLC.

Tisbo began riding Welinde two years ago during the Winter Equestrian Festival and went on to place third in the $30,000 Seven and Eight-Year-Old Final of the 2010 Young Horse Championships held at the CSI4*-W Hampton Classic Horse Show in Bridgehampton, New York.  At the end of the year, the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) crowned the pair its 2010 Seven-Year-Old National Champions.

“When I first stared riding Welinde in February of 2010, she was quite green,” explained Tisbo, originally from Illinois and now based in Wellington, Florida.  “She is the first horse that I felt I brought along myself and contributed to the success of her career.”

In addition to winning the Match Race, Tisbo impressed more than 7,000 spectators by jumping clear in the grand finale of the 2012 Winter Equestrian Festival, the $500,000 CSI5* FTI Consulting Grand Prix on Saturday night, March 3.  Competing early in the order, Tisbo posted the first clear jumping round of the evening and, despite exceeding the time allowed for one time fault, placed fifth overall.

With that performance, Tisbo exceeded her expectations with King Kolibri, a horse that moved into her barn in December.  Formerly under the saddle of 2006 World Champion Jos Lansink of Belgium, King Kolibri is a 10-year-old grey Hannoverian stallion owned by Tequestrian Farms LLC.

“When you get a new horse from a rider like Jos Lansink, you are not sure how long it will take to mesh with the horse, especially at the grand prix level,” explained Tisbo, who competes as an amateur.  “I wanted to take my time and get to know him.  I purposely did not do the Olympic trials with him for that reason.  I did not expect to be fifth in that type of big grand prix after only knowing him for a few short months!  I surprised myself.”

Tisbo wrapped up her 2012 competition season in Wellington with another fifth place finish, this time riding Creme Brule in the $25,000 ESP Spring 2 Grand Prix.  Held on the grass stadium field on April 15 as part of the spring circuit, 2008 Olympic team gold medalists Laura Kraut and Cedric topped a field of 36 entries to take the win.  Tisbo and Creme Brule, a 12-year-old French-bred mare, were one of nine entries to advance to the jump-off where they incurred four faults.

“For that competition, I walked the course by myself and I schooled by myself,” said Tisbo, who had consulted with such well-respected trainers as Anthony D’Ambroiso and Mario Deslauriers over the course of the 2012 winter season.  “I didn’t ask anyone any questions; I wanted to do it on my own as a test for myself.  After this winter, I really felt like I was thinking smarter in my approach to riding the course, and I couldn’t have been happier to go in there all on my own and jump clear.  It was a great way to finish my winter circuit.”

With the winter season over, Tisbo and her horses now head north and will be based in Sherman, Connecticut.  Following the Old Salem horse shows held in May in Old Salem, New York, Tisbo will head to Canada for five weeks of consecutive international competition at the world-famous Spruce Meadows show jumping venue in Calgary, Alberta.

For more information on Lauren Tisbo and Tequestrian Farms, please visit www.tequestrianfarms.com.