Alice Lawaetz has purchased international show jumping prospect, Higuain, through Eric Lamaze’s Torrey Pines Stable.
The American competitor and owner bought Higuain, an eight-year-old grey Hanoverian gelding (Grey Top x For Edition), through the 2008 Canadian Olympic champion. The horse was formerly campaigned by Hayley Barnhill, a young up-and-coming American professional who recently joined Lamaze’s Torrey Pines Stable as a full-time rider and trainer.
Lawaetz and Lamaze met in Lanaken, Belgium, in the summer of 2019. Lawaetz had been looking for a horse for her own riding pursuits for over a year and hadn’t found a suitable candidate. She expressed her desire to Lamaze to buy a top-level horse and explained exactly what she wanted. Not long after, she got the call from Lamaze saying he had found a horse that matched her needs.
“Eric listened to what I said and called me when he thought he had a horse that was of the caliber I wanted,” said Lawaetz. “I didn’t have to go and try 15 horses. Eric said this was the horse and he was one hundred percent right. It was exactly what I was looking for – scopey, intelligent, good-looking, and sound.”
As a six-year-old, Higuain was successfully campaigned in Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) sanctioned young horse competition in Europe.
“I had been searching for over a year for a horse for myself and everyone kept trying to sell me 15-year-old horses that jumped 1.20m,” explained Lawaetz. “As a busy professional running my own company, I want a horse that is special when I do have time to ride; something super-sexy that I can trust to go in the ring and have the ability to do anything I want it to do.
“It was wonderful and so refreshing to work with a professional who listened to me and found what I asked for,” continued Lawaetz of her experience working with Lamaze. “He didn’t waste my time trying to sell me something that I didn’t want. I told him exactly what I was looking for and he delivered.”
As the President of Falconwood Inc. with headquarters in Arlington, VA, Lawaetz keeps her personal horses with U.S. eventing team veteran Stephen Bradley in Middleburg, VA, while also maintaining a winter base in Wellington, FL. An all-round horsewoman, Lawaetz competes in a myriad of equestrian sports including show jumping, dressage, eventing, and fox hunting. She competes on both sides of the Atlantic, showing in North America as well as in Europe.
Lawaetz has also made a name for herself as the owner of top-level horses for a wide range of international athletes. Lawaetz currently owns 16 horses in total for various riders in multiple disciplines including Chacna, which Enrique Gonzalez plans to ride as a member of the Mexican show jumping team at the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. She also works closely with Germany’s Paul Schockemöhle to purchase promising young prospects and develop them to their highest potential and, in 2018, was honored as the recipient of the PSI Award in the ‘Supporter’ category.
With bases in Wellington, Florida, and Brussels, Belgium, Lamaze’s Torrey Pines Stable is a large training and sales business specializing in sport horses for the international market. Lamaze and the Torrey Pines team will be competing in Wellington, FL, for the remainder of the winter season before returning to their European base outside Brussels, Belgium.
For more information on Lamaze and his Torrey Pines Stable, visit www.ericlamaze.com.
More from News:
