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Saline senior Natalie Legel and her Arabian horse, RA Dark Town Strutter, won the national championship in Half Arabian Saddleseat Equitation at the 2006 Youth Nationals. She has been nominated for Junior English Horsewoman of the Year.
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When Natalie Legel was younger, she used to run and jump rope with a soccer ball between her knees to strengthen her legs to become a better equestrian.
It must have paid off.
In early December, the Saline High School senior learned she had been nominated for the Arabian Professional and Amateur Horseman's Association's prestigious title of Junior English Horsewoman of the Year.
Legel said the nomination validated all the hard work she has put in throughout the years. She has been riding and showing horses since she was 8 years old.
"She got her first ribbon at her first horse show," said her mother, Janet Scesny. "That was the kiss of death. There was no turning back after that."
"I was so nervous three weeks before my first show, I didn't want to do it," said Legel, but she followed through and found it "exhilarating."
Legel competed at her first Youth Nationals in 2001, earning a pink ribbon, known as a "cut" ribbon, for making the preliminary cut.
It was a sign of things to come for the young rider.
In the spring following her introduction to Youth Nationals, Legel bought a new horse, RA Dark Town Strutter. It was a pairing that propelled Legel into the top ranks in the country. Legel and Strutter have never placed lower than eighth at Nationals.
Legel rides three to four days a week and spends most Friday and Saturday nights training at a saddlebred horse farm near Flint. She often leaves right after school and doesn't return home until after 8 p.m.
Strutter is boarded at a stable in Florida and, once every couple of months, Legel travels down to train with him. In July, she spends a week down there.
It's a lot of hours on horseback, but it all came together last year.
At the 2006 Youth Nationals, Legel and Strutter had their most successful year ever. At Nationals, Legel placed third in the United Professional Horseman's Association Senior Challenge Cup. She also was reserve national champion in the Half Arabian Country Pleasure Driving and was named national champion in the Half Arabian Saddleseat Equitation for riders age 14 through 17.
"The two most coveted titles at Nationals are the UPHA and the saddle seat equitation championships," Legel said. "We had really good rides in both events. I was so happy, I cried for nearly two hours after we won the equitation. It had always been a dream of mine, and it came true."
The dream brightened when her success at the 2006 Youth Nationals prompted her nomination for Junior English Horsewoman of the Year. Only six riders per category from around the nation are nominated for the honor.
The award will be presented Feb. 25 at a banquet in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Legel plans to attend the University of Detroit Mercy to study dentistry and doesn't expect to show horses while going to college because of time constraints, but she can't imagine ever giving up riding all together.
"If I ever stopped riding horses," she said, "I think my life would stop and I'd shrivel up and die."
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
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