Champion equestrian finds the best of both worlds
Before she ever became a champion horseback rider, 18-year-old Destrehan High School senior Gabrielle Anderson remembers a little girl who had plenty of difficulty focusing on anything.
“I was super annoying,” Anderson said with a laugh. “I was this dorky, little kid who couldn’t control her ADHD.”That was before she found her passion — and plenty of success to go along with it.
Anderson captured the Gulf Coast Hunter Jumper Association and Louisiana Hunter Jumper Association’s Children’s Hunter Year End Championship and the Gulf Coast Hunter Jumper Association’s Reserve Championship. The veteran jumper won those crowns with two different horses, the first Randy Wegmann’s Miss Hollywood and the second on Mariah Gale’s V Is For Venti.
She regularly competes in hunter-jumper events under the United States Equestrian Federation and the United States Hunter Jumper Association. She is a junior professional rider at the Tavia Equine Center in St. Rose.
She has been riding competitively since the age of 10. More valuable than the ribbons and trophies she can display in her home, however, is the sense of complete confidence she has found through riding.
Anderson feels connected to the horses she rides, she said, but just as much, she feels more connected with herself.
“I feel like I’m a completely transformed person from when I was 10,” Anderson said. “I was just so excitable, so full of energy, but it was so unfocused. People tell me I’m a different person when I’m on a horse. I’ve learned so much patience and self-control.”
Anderson has loved horses, she says, from the age of 3, and her first opportunity to ride a horse came after she turned 7.
“I knew I wanted to keep riding,” Anderson said. “I got better and better as I went. I just loved it.”
She said it’s difficult to explain what changes for her when she climbs on horseback, but that she knows no feeling like it.
“It’s kind of like my escape from everything,” Anderson said. “I’m not the most social person … but on a horse, I have that feeling that I can just be myself. The horse and I are like one and I feel we have total freedom.
“It’s something I feel I’m good at and that I enjoy so much. You can be good at something but not really enjoy doing it.
This is the best of both worlds.
She estimates she has rode atop 30 different horses so far through the years. One, in particular, inspires a great amount of pride within her: Miss Hollywood, or Holly for short, with whom she overcame early difficulties to form a championship combination.
“Holly, at first, I couldn’t ride at all. It was really frustrating,” Anderson said. “It took me three years. But eventually, I started going to shows with her and we had a lot of success. Working with her taught me a lot of things, especially as far as how to better myself as a rider. I just leased her to another rider. I’m so proud of that. We really made each other better.”
Anderson doesn’t intend to rest on her laurels.
Once unable to focus, her attention is now fastened on a clear goal: she plans to become a professional horseback rider after graduating from DHS. She already has begun teaching other young riders.
And she remains hungry to learn more about her craft — and herself.
Anderson noted, “You can learn all about one galaxy, but there are always a billion more to explore.”
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