Equestrian’s dream is making the Olympics in dressage

Sandie Gaines-Beddard has been around horses for most of her life, but a chance encounter in a German barn led her to pursue an equestrian accomplishment she still can hardly believe is actually becoming a reality.

Gaines-Beddard, whose dad lives in Lake Wylie and mom and stepdad are Fort Mill residents, remembers her parents leasing a horse when she was in the fourth grade and the family then buying a horse two years later. She’s been around horses ever since, spending time as a professional rider, an owner and a trainer.

In 1995 she got her first experience with dressage, a competitive sport where the horse and rider perform a series of rehearsed and premeditated movements.

“People say it’s like ballet or freestyle figure skating for horses,” Gaines-Beddard said.

And she was hooked.

After competing in dressage ever since, she eventually set off to Germany to find an Oldenburg dressage horse, a tall sport horse with above average and jumping ability, and it wasn’t long until she found the perfect companion.

“I had picked a brown horse with the four white stockings and the pretty white face, that was the one I wanted,” she said.

With her horse chosen, Gaines-Beddard and her trainer, Stacey Hastings, were convinced that was the horse they would buy and train. One day on their trip they had extra time and stopped by a barn in Vechta, Germany, that wasn’t originally scheduled on their itinerary.

There they met a horse who had just been backed for riding three weeks earlier and wasn’t at all what Gaines-Beddard was looking for.

“I didn’t think anything about her,” Gaines-Beddard said. “She was solid, plain and I would have never thought about buying another mare. I didn’t like red-colored or chestnut horses, and she’s chestnut. If anyone would have told me I was coming back with a chestnut mare I would never have gone over there in the first place.”

The trainer let the chestnut horse loose in the arena, and it was obvious the animal could move well, Gaines-Beddard said. Hastings was more impressed, but Gaines-Beddard’s heart was already set and her mind was made up.

“I barely rode her because I had my heart set on the brown horse,” she said. “I was super impressed, but I didn’t pay her that much attention because I thought I was leaving with the other horse.”

It turned out the first horses didn’t pass a test necessary for adoption. Gaines-Beddard was devastated, but Hastings’ mind quickly went back to the chestnut horse at the barn the pair was never supposed to visit, and helped convince Gaines-Beddard this was the only horse to buy.

She did buy the horse, named Flairance, and took her back to North Carolina to train.

Flairance was an instant success. She took third place at the 2013 German Oldenburg Class at Dressage at Devon and won the event the following year. She earned the German Oldenburg Verband Horse of the Year in the mare division, and was the United States Dressage Foundations Horse of the Year in the mare division as well.

“I feel like I’m looking at the other side of me somehow through this animal,” Gaines-Beddard said. “It’s just an amazing bond, I can’t even put it into words. It’s very much a partnership, and I just adore her. She’s a hard worker, has a great work ethic and if anyone of the caliber of Michael Barisone notices her is just exciting.

Barisone is one of two trainers in the country to train nine Competition Dressage International (CDI) winners, the highest honor for dressage riders and their horses, and he was immediately taken with Flairance and Gaines-Beddard.

Gaines-Beddard said she was going to utilize Flairance’s undeniable talent to earn her the final Grand Prix certification she needs, but Barisone had much bigger plans.

“He asked me, ‘OK, what is your plan with this horse, because you need to get one,’” she said. “He said that I needed to think not only about nationally showing her, but this horse needs to be competing in international competition.

“This horse isn’t quite at that level yet. We’re developing her to that, but he said I needed to rethink my goal. He thinks I will get the (final Grand Prix) score with her regardless, but thinks I need to be competing her at an international level. That doesn’t necessarily mean Olympics, but they have international shows in Florida and Las Vegas with competitors from all over the world. The winners of those shows are the cream of the crop and the Olympic riders, but I wasn’t thinking about that to start.”

Next week, Gaines-Beddard is traveling to Florida with Flairance to train full time with him. The training is expensive, but she’s seeking sponsorships from some of her contacts and has set up a Gofundme.com account to gain support. She will also apply for U.S. Dressage Foundation grants that are offered, but rare to achieve, but is hopeful it will all be worth it.

As she sets off on the trip she couldn’t imagine herself taking with the horse she couldn’t imagine buying, Gaines-Beddard is a little nervous but wildly excited for the possibility of seeing what she and Flairance can become. The pair will likely enter international competition next year after her prized horse gains confidence and gets the final training it needs.

But the journey is going to be just as fun as the pursuit.

“I want to see where it goes,” she said. “There is no crystal ball to know the outcome, but she has all of the ingredients to be an internationally competitive horse, but you have to hope she doesn’t get sick and keeps progressing in her training.

“I’m kind of the underdog. I’m stepmother and dental hygienist by day and I ride at night. Now I’m going to try to do something that almost seems impossible to do. I’m getting ready to train with an Olympic trainer, rider and coach and see if I can get this horse recognized at the international level, but I am very excited for where this can go.”

This story was originally published February 8, 2015 at 12:00 AM.