While
racing horses in the early 70's, Hunting Valley Stables' current owner,
Candy Lawrence, fell hopelessly in love with the facility, often salivating
as she drove past it after returning from a red-eye racing gig. In
the early 80's her dream of owning the property became a reality.
And in a strange synchronicity, Laddie G. Andahazy, who introduced
the first Grand Prix Jumping Competition in the United States, stepped
into her life at the same time, driving to the stables religiously
every day for the next twenty years, a fixture as constant as the
Northern Star. Andahazy and Lawrence organized and ran many horse
shows, events, hunter paces and clinics out of the facility over the
years, in addition to breeding, foaling, starting and working with
hundreds of horses.
An
equestrian writer for over three decades, Candy's articles have appeared
in local, national and international publications including The Chronicle
of the Horse, Horse Play Magazine, Eastern Horse World, Polo Magazine,
The Equine Journal, Hunters and Jumpers, The Horsemen's Corral, The
Chagrin Valley Times. She has also worked in publicity, promotion
and public relations within the equine industry.
Under
the tutelage of Laddie G. Andahazy, Candy had the privilege of riding
hundreds of talented hunters, jumpers, eventing and FEI dressage horses.
Andahazy, a former trick rider as well as an American Horse Show Association
judge in ten disciplines, greatly enhanced a sense of balance and
feel by teaching arabesque and vaulting on horse back, as well as
introducing Candy and her horses to the driving/carriage/sleigh discipline.
There have been several breeding stallions at HVS over the years,
countless foals and a wealth of experience accumulated in working
with stallions, mares and their young. As Andahazy's protegee, Candy
learned the soft finesse of bringing along newborns, starting young
horses under saddle, and polishing the finished patina. Her horses
have earned many championships and year end awards in dressage, combined
training, hunters and jumpers. Candy has been an avid foxhunter for
over three decades and is a member of the Grand River Hunt based in
Parkman, Ohio.
She has also conditioned and raced thoroughbreds on the flat during
the early 70's. Candy has had the privilege of riding with some of
the top caliber trainers in the country, including FEI rider and advanced
Three Day eventer Roanne Denny, who trained and rode both Princess
Anne's and HRH Queen Elizabeth's horses for several years in Britain;
Charlotte Bayley, long listed for the USET; Olympic Gold Medalist
David O'Connor; the Swedish former Olympic coach, Major Andres Lindgren;
hunter/jumper trainers Karen and Kevin Lenehan and countless others.
Candy's
late husband, a zoologist by avocation with a Class C animal dealer's
license specializing in wild cats, introduced her to the world of
exotics: jaguars, tigers, chimpanzees, wildlife as well as aquatics.
Her interest in interspecies communication extends to embrace all
cultures, both human and animals and lured her around the globe several
times. Candy has traveled extensively to Asia, Africa, Australia,
Europe and the Americas in a pursuit of cultural explorations and
an attempt to define a connective thread woven through the collective
consciousness of all species.
