RIDING CHAMPION: Uncanny horse sense

Local teen and mount excel in sport of dressage

Ten-year-old Customized performs like he's been practicing the controlled, exacting art of dressage most of his life. It's hard to believe that the horse that goes by Custy for short was introduced to the sport just a year and a half ago when he met his new owner, 17-year-old Tara Mayres.

"He had never done this before," Mayres said as she brushed Custy's tail before their afternoon practice. "(Custy) had only trained as a jumper. Dressage has very exact, on-time movements. You can't even see the rider doing anything."

That's because dressage was originally developed by ancient Greeks more than 2,000 years ago to prepare riders and their horses for war. The idea was to train the horses so completely that they understood perfectly the subtle, unspoken commands of their riders. Soldiers used the horses' special gaits, turns and sideways movements to intimidate their enemies. They controlled their horses with very slight movements.

Modern dressage riders are interested in intimidating only other riders during competition. The sport is now an Olympic event that requires intensive training and a special connection between horse and rider.

Mayres, a senior at Shadow Ridge High School, developed that connection with Custy with unlikely speed. She and Custy clicked so well, in fact, that they took first place in August's California Dressage Society's junior championships, where they competed against other riders and horses who had been working together much longer.

"It really was surprising," said Linda Mayres, Tara Mayres' mother. "It was her first year, so we thought we would just see how she did."

But Mayres' dressage coach, Dawna Kuhlmey, wasn't surprised at her young student's win.

"She's a good kid and a very talented rider," Kuhlmey said. "She works very hard at what she does. She has a great horse who, until a year and a half ago, never had any dressage training. She took a horse that had nothing and turned him into a very nice horse."

Mayres' early success has fueled her desire to one day compete in the Olympics. It also validated the sacrifices her family has made so she can pursue her dreams.

"Her instructors said she had a gift -- that we should get her her own horse," said Linda Mayres. "So we sold our house in town and bought this house."

The family now shares a one-acre northwest Las Vegas home, zoned for horses so Custy can live with his owner.

The Mayres have sometimes struggled to pay for expensive riding lessons and traveling costs. Though Linda Mayres won't say exactly how much the family paid for Custy, well-bred horses don't come cheap.

In order to save money, the family took a risk buying a horse who had never practiced dressage before and who was, until they bought him, a stallion. That, said Mayres, makes Custy hard to handle on occasion.

"He'll get really mad at you," she said. "He has a stubborn streak. Every horse has days he wants to please and others he doesn't want to."

The inexperience of both horse and rider -- Mayres also is new to dressage -- made the team an underdog at competition and the win itself all the more rewarding.

"We were all on our cell phone calculators (at competition) adding up the scores," Mayres said. "Dressage is very competitive."

"I am just so proud of her," said Kuhlmey. "She rides full-time, goes to school, works. She rides five days a week and works very hard at it."

And Mayres shows no signs of slowing down. She plans to compete at the U.S. Dressage Federation's regional championships in October. She soon will be graduating from high school and going on to college, where she plans to study psychology. Most of all, she plans to spend a lot more time working and playing with Custy and fostering her Olympic dreams.

"A lot of people don't understand what dressage is," she said. "I love the control you have. You are asking so much of the horse."


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