Biography
Laura Noyes is a USDF Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medalist and has been riding dressage since she was five years old. From Falmouth, Maine, she earned her B.A. in Zoology from Ohio Wesleyan University. She has trained with Tina Brooks, Susan Jaccoma, Kathy Connelly, Klaus Balkenhol, and since 2005 has been working with George Williams. She has also ridden in clinics with Conrad Schumacher, Steffen Peters, Christoph Hess, Sue Blinks, Debbie McDonald and Lisa Wilcox.
Laura has loved horses for as long as she can remember. For her 4th birthday, her parents gave her a few riding lessons at a local riding stable. To this day, she has vivid memories of her first lunge lesson, on a palomino Welch Cob named Chris. As luck would have it, the barn where Laura happened to be taking lessons belonged to Lawrence Poulin, nephew of Olympian Michael Poulin. Larry has represented the United States at the World Pairs Driving Championships 10 times. Not only is Larry a decorated Driver, he is also an accomplished dressage rider and trainer. From a very young age, Laura was exposed to top competition horses who often travelled overseas. Her ambitious dreams of competing horses at the international level sprouted from a very young age.
Like most young girls, Laura begged her parents for a horse. They made a deal with her; Laura would be allowed to have a horse when she could afford to buy a horse… little did they know that that day would come at the age of 13 after countless hours of cleaning stalls. Laura owes her passion for training horses to Hooligan, a Morgan- Standardbred cross who had been predominantly a trail horse. She competed Hooligan in many local schooling shows and recognized shows throughout New England. Laura brought Hooligan to second/third level and made the heart wrenching decision to sell him after she grew too tall to fit his compact frame. Laura sold Hooligan to another young girl who loved him as much as she did. He taught her (and both of her sisters) how to ride before moving on to a well-deserved retirement.
When Laura was 16, she purchased Syncro, a 9-year-old Trakehner gelding who had competed through First Level, with the hopes of eventually making a young rider team. They worked our way up the levels together and after a 7-year partnership, cantered down centerline for their first Grand Prix. In fact, Laura earned every score towards her USDF Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals with Syncro.
Syncro and Laura had a very successful young rider career, having won team silver and individual freestyle gold at the North American Young Riders Championships in 2008. They were also awarded the Dressage Style Award for poise in and out of the saddle, as well as the Fiona Bann Pursuit of Excellence Trophy, awarded to the combination with the highest overall average between the Team Test, Individual Test, and Freestyle. Laura and Syncro also earned two invitations to represent the United States at the Young Rider World Cup™ Final in Frankfurt, Germany, 2006 and 2008. They also competed at Gladstone for the National Brentina Cup Championships in 2010, 2011, and 2012. In 2009 Laura was awarded the prestigious Lionel Guerrand-Hermes Trophy, presented by the United States Equestrian Team Federation to a young rider in any of the Olympic disciplines who represents the team’s ideals of horsemanship and sportsmanship. After graduating from the young rider ranks, Laura declared herself as a professional and started her own training business, Laura Noyes Dressage, LLC. She is currently traveling throughout the New England area to teach and is accepting horses in training. Laura’s professional goal is to train and compete dressage horses at the international level.