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horses and training for field hunters. For an added plus to the two outdoor rings, there’s an indoor arena for lessons, conveniently located next door to their stable. (It belongs to Natalie Marsh, well-known dressage rider and instructor who just happens to be Heather’s mom.) Access to this facility lets lessons go on rain or shine, day and night, in comfort despite freezing temperatures or muggy, buggy humidity.
The Mountain Springs partners come naturally to the horse business. Twenty-five-year-old Ms. Marsh has been fox hunting since she was eight and training horses since college in Providence, R.I. (“An awful place! Living there convinced me I don’t ever want to be in a major city!”)
She’s worked for various stables in Virginia’s hunt country, and for the past four years she’s managed a bam for Elizabeth Haskell, former member of the State Water Control Board and currently Virginia’s Secretary of Natural Resources. “I’ve always been around horses and always had horses around,” Ms. Marsh said.
Twenty-year-old Ms. Laurie arrived in Rappahannock in 1986 from Prince William County. “But if home is where the heart is, then this is my hometown too,” she said. “I’ve traveled all over the United States, and I’ve never seen any place as beautiful as this or a place that has the same wonderful sense of community.”
Ms. Laurie, who graduated from Rappahannock County High School and attended Northern Virginia Community College, has been riding since she was four. She’s a show ring veteran, campaigning—and training—Arabians for Dr. John Aldren of Haymarket.
Not only is Ms. Laurie accomplished in equitation and jumping, she’s also an expert in the mounted gymnastics of vaulting, with credits that include a fourth-place in the National Vaulting Championships.
“Combined, we have 30 years of horse experience,” Ms. Marsh pointed out.
Just as they’re naturals for the horse business, the partners are naturals at teaching, whether the student is a little one astride for the first time or an out-of-practice rider 20 years their senior.
They’re quick to demonstrate what to do when telling simply isn’t enough. They’re patient but firm, demanding but never asking for
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