by Pam Kragen
There’s an old saying that the best thing to do if you fall off a horse is to get back on again. Twelve-year-old Escondido equestrian Lindsay Heliker took that advice and rode it all the way to a world championship this fall.
Last year, Lindsay was bucked off of her high-spirited Morgan horse, Odyssey, during a competition and disqualified from moving forward. Nervous but undaunted, Lindsay did get back on Odyssey that very same weekend and over the next several months they forged a tight and trusting bond.
This year, the Rincon Middle School seventh-grader has ridden Odyssey to multiple first-place wins for her age group at horse shows throughout the Southwest. And in October, they cinched a unanimous world championship in classic equitation at the Grand National & World Championship Morgan Horse Show in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Lindsay said she loves riding and competing and she especially loves her horse, a 13-year-old gelding who her parents, Rachael and Arick Heliker, purchased for her last year.
“We connect a lot better now,” Lindsay said, during an early morning visit to Odyssey’s barn earlier this month. “I love it when he and I communicate. I can tell he loves me because he likes to do special things for me.”
Lindsay trains and stables her horse at Valle Vista Farms in North Escondido. The property is owned by married trainers and horse breeders Ann Woulfe Miller and Frank “Pancho” Miller of Miller Equestrian Services. The ranch on Vista Avenue near North Ash Street is home to about 70 American Saddlebred and Morgan horses, including about 25 that are privately owned, like Odyssey. The rest are used for the more than 100 lessons taught to riders ages 12 to 50 each week. Only about 10 of the riders are serious competitors like Lindsay, who spend three to four hours at the ranch every weekday and all day on the weekends.
Miller Equestrian assistant trainer Betsy Krutek said for young competitors like Lindsay, dedication to training and practice is almost more important than talent. And Lindsay has more than put in the hours to become a champion.
“I love Lindsay. She’s like my little sister,” Krutek said. “She’s here every day, and when she’s not riding Odyssey, she’s exercising other horses. She is talented and a good listener and very pretty on a horse. She’s really good at showing herself to the judges.”
Lindsay’s love for horses was in-born. Her mom, Rachael Heliker, 39, started riding horses at the age of 5. At 13, she asked her father for riding lessons and he found the Millers in the phone book. Because her family wasn’t wealthy, the Millers offered Rachael a discount on lessons in exchange for helping out at the ranch as a “tack fairy,” which involved cleaning and storing the bridles, bits, reins and saddles after lessons. She began competing at age 14 and 25 years later she’s still entering shows.
The Millers became more than trainers. They became family to the Helikers. When Rachael needed open-heart surgery three years ago, the Millers took in Lindsay for a few weeks while her mom recovered. And when Rachael’s husband Arick, a heavy equipment mechanic, became seriously ill earlier this year, they took in Lindsay again. Naturally, when the Helikers had Lindsay, their only child, there was never a question about where she’d go for riding lessons.
The Millers run a tight ship. Lesson students learn to groom the horses and they are expected to bridle and saddle the horses they ride to make them more comfortable around the animals. They must set goals of what they plan to achieve each year. Older students must teach the younger ones what they know, which empowers their self-confidence. And students who fight or bicker are sent home for the day. Another rule, to encourage perseverance, is that students who fall off their horse must bake a chocolate cake for the other students before they can get back up on that horse again.
The Helikers own two Morgan horses, Odyssey and Jazzman, a 26-year-old horse they keep at their Escondido home. Rachael said she was drawn to Morgans from an early age because they’re powerful, smart, proud, hard-working and they have strong, spunky personalities. Sometimes that spunky, or “fancy,” behavior can be hard to control, which was the challenge Lindsay had with Odyssey last year.
But since Lindsay and Odyssey achieved a meeting of the minds, they’ve been burning up the show circuit all this year in the 11 & Under age bracket. She won the championship in the walk/trot pleasure division at the Carousel Charity Horse Show in Arizona; the walk/trot saddle seat equitation division at the Diamond Jubilee Horse Show in Del Mar; the open-breed English pleasure walk/trot as well as the walk/trot/jog equitation divisions at the Morgan Medallion Classic in Las Vegas. She was also named reserve champion in the open breed, walk/trot/jog equitation division in Del Mar.
The year concluded with her big win in Oklahoma, where she won four titles in the 10-11 age division, including first place in grand national classic equitation, third place in grand national classic pleasure, reserve world champion classic pleasure and the unanimous vote from all three show judges for world champion classic equitation.
Lindsay said she doesn’t see herself as particularly competitive but she loves taking part in shows because she can be around friends and she enjoys it when Odyssey gets “fancy” in the show ring. Her dream when she grows up is to be a horse trainer.
“My favorite part is that I can be around my friends, who are like my family and they all love horses as much as I do,” she said. “And I’m enjoying competing more the older I get.”
This article originally appeared on San Diego Union Tribune and is published here with permission.
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