Since Laine Ashker’s FEI record began in 2003, she’s competed in 31 events at the CCI4* level. This weekend in her 32nd four-star start, she took home her first win.
It’s evidence of the difficulty of the sport of eventing – the determination and tenacity required to come back and keep trying, again and again. To be clear: it’s not always solely about the wins, especially in this sport. The development of an event horse is one requiring patience and time — something Ashker has experienced many times over as she produces horses to the top of the sport — and oftentimes the wins come off of the scoreboard. With the 10-year-old KWPN mare Lovedance (owned by Lovedance LLC), it’s been a journey of development, making this weekend’s win all the more special.
It was a unique circumstance for Ashker, who has historically produced Thoroughbreds for this sport. Lovedance is, as such, the first warmblood horse she has ridden at the upper levels, which required her to continue her own education to fit this different type of horse. It had also been several years since she had a horse competing at the four-star level.
Lisa Marie Fergusson and Ratheoin Quality Imp. (Shannon Bower for Erin Gilmore Photography)
“It’s been a learning curve,” Ashker said. “I’ve had a lot of Thoroughbreds coming into the sport, and she’s my first proper warmblood, so I have left strides out, I’ve scared her by getting too long in my eye, and it’s been a journey. Philip [Dutton] has been really instrumental in helping me understand how to ride a horse of her quality and her stride, and just getting quicker overall. So I spent the time, put in the show jumping work, the dressage work, and then the cross-country work has come — just getting her learning how to move her feet, which comes so naturally to the Thoroughbred. It feels good to have the work pay off, because it doesn’t always go that way. And when it does, you have to celebrate that, so I feel good about it.”
Ashker came into the weekend with a good feeling. She found herself in third after the dressage and added 3.2 time penalties in yesterday’s show jumping before going on to jump clear on cross-country with 19.2 time penalties added on a Andrew Heffernan-designed course on which the optimum time is notoriously tough to catch. Ashker felt prepared this morning before her ride.
“I’ve been envisioning this,” Ashker said. “I’ve been manifesting it, writing it in my affirmations, so I felt good about it. My horse has seen all the questions. This wouldn’t be the best course as far as quickness. She’s quite a slow horse, but just step by step, we’re chipping away at the speed and not having to do so much set up, and she just was wonderful. She answered all the questions, she felt super ready for what’s to come.”
Ashker now becomes a dual-sport winner at the upper levels, having also won a CDI3* with her US Equestrian Open dressage horse, Zeppelin, in 2025. With her goal of competing in the US Equestrian Open of Eventing Final at Morven Park in October, she would become the first rider to compete in Open Final competitions for two different sports. With this win, Ashker wins 40 points towards the Open series leaderboard and a berth in the Final.
“It makes you feel so motivated,” Ashker continued. “I mean, I’ve been doing this for a long time. I think I was doing my first four-star at 20 or 21 years old, and I’ve had really great horses. I think it’s a culmination of all the lumps and bumps, and putting — I don’t think it’s 10,000 hours, I think I put in like 40,000 hours at this point – but it’s finally come to fruition. I think the biggest thing for me as a competitor, which I think many people may not realize that they struggle with, has been the mental game. I’ve had the work ethic, but I think I haven’t always thought that I could do it. The last few years, from the dressage world to here, I’ve sort of envisioned that I can do this, and like I said, chipping away, because just as much as I’m preparing my horse, I have to prepare myself, both fitness wise and mental wise. So I’m very, very humbled, and I’m very, very excited. I hope there’s more to come.”
Completing the podium in the Triple Crown Feed CCI4*-S are Australia’s Ema Klugman with Chiraz in second on a score of 54.8 and Canada’s Lisa Marie Fergusson with Ratheoin Quality Imp on a final score of 60.3. (Watch a brief clip of Lisa’s round with ‘Perfect Henry’ here.)
Full results here.
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