Lisa Marie Fergusson began riding at the age of four on the family farm in Langley, BC. Also an “A” level Pony Club graduate, she began showing when she was ten and fondly remembers the days where her father would tow a small two-horse trailer with their motorhome as they travelled to events. Now 30, she operates out of Unionville, PA, showing, training, and giving clinics. She spends her winters in Wellington, FL, where she rounds out her education with dressage training from Jim Koford and Betsy Steiner, show jumping schools from Anne Kursinski and Frankie Chesler, and regular assistance from fellow eventer Phillip Dutton.
Lisa’s rise up the ranks suffered a devastating blow in 2009 when she lost her advanced horse, the ten-year-old Welsh Cob-Thoroughbred cross Uni Griffon. She had bought Uni when he was only five days old and admits that the emotional challenges she faced after the loss were especially rough. “I think it is sometimes difficult not to lose your identity to your horse, especially if he is as talented as Uni was,” she muses. “I invested my entire being into him, his personality, his potential, and where I believed we could go together. The lines become blurred and you tend to forget where the horse ends and you begin.”
After taking some time to heal, Lisa’s focus turned to developing Smart Move, a six-year-old half-brother to Uni, who was competing at training level at the time. The pair steadily advanced, and after a win at the Fair Hill and Jersey Fresh two-stars, and a fourth-place finish at the Galway***, the pair declared for the 2012 London Olympics. The unthinkable happened yet again when in mid-December of 2011 “Smartie” was lost in a freak accident, being hit by a car after escaping from his stall. Lisa again found herself with another devastating personal loss. “With Uni I was sad and hurt for a long time,” she remembers. “With Smartie, every wound was reopened and compounded, but this time I was mad. I’m not saying I felt sorry for myself, but you start to feel pretty helpless when you work so incredibly hard and you put in everything you have and have it taken away again. The loss is hard enough, but the disappointment is crushing.”