Team #525 Laureen Alcock and Gryphon
Photo taken by Henry Theuvenin of NeighOkay.com
Team #525: Laureen Alcock and Gryphon
Ages: 76 & 26
Combined Age: 102
I can still remember lying in bed at three or four years old imagining that I was sitting on a horse. We visited my aunt and uncle in upstate New York, and I was overjoyed to sit on “Grandad.” That was it for horses until college and the “Queens College Outdoor Club.” We riders carefully avoided Wednesday morning classes and rode every week in Forest Park. My sons and daughters think of me as an equestrian and an adventurer, and I well remember after college facing three choices: a round-the-world cruise as tutor and crew on a private sailing yacht, taking a position showing Arabians and helping to tame thoroughbred babies in Connecticut, or passing both of those offers up and marrying my current husband Tom, which I did. He appreciated that horses came with the bargain and has been the helpmate person without whom this day would not have happened. Behind him is the crew at Shadowfax, my daughter Kea, our trainer Rebecca Cowden, who brought my need for a horse for a seventy-plus rider to her friend Lauren Chumley, and Lauren, who trusted Becky’s word that Gryphon and I might bond.
Lauren bought Gryphon in 2001 as her very first horse. She found him in the classifieds section and showed him through First Level. In her words, “we did a LOT of bolting... through fields, over hill and dale, through dressage arenas, and around the track at the farm.” Gryphon went to Ohio State with Lauren and her goal at that time was to event him. Unfortunately, it was strictly a dressage barn and Gryphon was afraid of EVERYTHING.... her caps again, but really, he still is!! Later in his career with Lauren’s clients, he did some foxhunting and hunter paces which he really enjoyed, and everybody loved him.
Some years ago, my daughter Kea called me about Suki, a rescue she was holding that she insisted I had to jump in the trailer and come get. He was the animal that introduced me to dressage by a chance encounter with a trainer, who after a bit, had me do 10-meter circles in the corners around the ring at the canter. I was amazed, sold, enthralled by the balance Suki illustrated. Dressage was the riding to do!!
I had no idea when Gryphon came to our farm that he was famous. A car stopped and strangers jumped out saying, “That’s Gryphon!” As he began to open up and trust us, we could see why. Gryphon emotes. You ride him down the Columbia Trail and he converses with you every single step. He is a pleasure to spend time with. I’ve never been graded at any Level in a dressage test. Gryphon, however, knew what he was doing. He taught me what signals were acceptable. I learned how to convince him that he did have to collect a little.
I couldn’t be richer in friends, family, and professionals who have supported me in this event and in my horse-involved life. It is an honor to be a part of an organization that supports the health and wellbeing of horses and riders and for whom retirement can still include all the good things that a close relationship with a horse engenders.
Laureen and Gryphon completed Training Level, Test 2, on October 10, 2021, to join the Century Club.
