2006 Legacy Cup

Eye Remember Rio Takes Victoria Watters Leblond To the Winning Non Pro 3' Go Round

“He is just one of the best horses you could ever know,” said LeBlond after her victory ride. “I am busy being a mother of two small boys (Max-7/Matthew-6) and I have a new husband (Peter) (she was married less than a year ago) and this week I am moving into a new house in Cincinnati. I was at a t-ball (pee wee baseball) game and a track meet this morning and then we drove to the horse park.”

“I haven’t seen my horse since Tampa in March,” continued LeBlond. “He is the most wonderful horse. He is just phenomenal. He doesn’t change. You just point and squeeze.”

There is even more reason for LeBlond to be happy with her first place finish. It’s not as easy for her to negotiate the course as it is for the other riders because LeBlond is legally blind. “The world is out of focus. Everything is like a Monet painting,” explained the Amateur rider, who jokingly adds, “I tried to feed my kids moldy bagels thinking they were blueberry bagels.”

LeBlond lost her eyesight as a teenager. “I was ill when I was 14 and it left my optic nerves damaged. Before that I had normal vision but I still had a passion for riding. I started showing on the circuit when I was ten and after that I just had to learn to adjust. I am blessed to have a horse like Rio that I can just show up, do my thing, be successful and still go home and be a mother and a wife.”

In order to insure she gets to the right fences LeBlond walks her course and works off the corner to approach each fence. “I walk around the ring. I find out where on the corner I am going to turn; I pick spots. I look down and up and down and up to make sure I am on the path. Riding is a science. Stay on track and maintain your rhythm. You get nervous you pick or you gun and you are a goner,” she adds.

LeBlond went on to talk about the need for patience when you ride, “for me it is a whole lot of patience.” She quotes her husband who says that “Patience can be painful but the satisfaction afterwards is so rewarding.”

In 2005 LeBlond “won the Peggy Cone Classic in Florida. I can compare that to the Legacy Cup. It is a fun Hunter Classic during hunter week and it is a big thrill to win as would be the Legacy Cup instead of just another championship at another horse show. The Legacy Cup brings the fun back into horse showing.”

LeBlond had been away in Hawaii and came home three days earlier and only arrived at the horse show grounds two hours before her class, but she was determined to get to the show. “I was thrilled that I didn’t miss the Legacy Cup weekend. It’s great that the hunters have a chance to have some fun instead of doing the typical hunter division. My training routine was the treadmill staring at the ocean and walking on the beaches,” said LeBlond with a laugh.

The amateur rider concluded the conversation back on the subject of her winning round saying, “I was very pleased when I heard my score. I went in just to have a good time and see if I could put together some kind of a decent trip.” Thanks to her horse and her scientific approach to the course she ended up a winner.