January 17, 2001
No horsing around for Preseau
Emilie Preseau earns first place in Arabian U.S. Nationals
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Winning first place in a national competition in her first ever showing - there is something Emilie Preseau will remember all her life.
In October, Preseau and her horse, Elegance on Bey, placed first against 35 other entrants in the purebred Arabian, gelding halter, amateur owner to handle class at the Arabian U.S. Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. Facing seven other previous national champions, Preseau found the competition intense. But she kept her eye on her goal of making the top ten, a respectable showing for her age and experience, and did not loose her focus.
"I was really happy I made the first cut and made it to the finals," recalled Preseau, a 1999 graduate of Traverse City St. Francis High School. "They pick a top ten from there, I was really, really happy to make that."
When things didn't stop there and she was soon announced as champion, no one was more surprised than Preseau.
"Other trainers had told me I was in the top two, but I didn't believe," she said. "I thought that maybe, maybe that I would have a chance at reserve national champion."
Showing just four years on the circuit, Preseau was a newcomer in a field that sports people with decades of experience. To have won such recognition at an early age, when others have never achieved such prominence, is quite an honor.
"Many people spend years showing in the horse business and never achieve this," noted Janelle Preseau of Traverse City, Emilie's mother. "This was totally unexpected because we knew the caliber of horses in her class and this was her first time in adult class."
Preseau began her horse riding and showing career in the fourth-grade at Casalea Farms in Traverse City. Her younger sister, Erin, started taking lessons first and Emilie joined in for a few years. Then she got interested in sports and dropped horses until she was in ninth- grade.
When she was 14, she began working with horses and showing in earnest. She spent that summer as a groom at a professional training center in Vicksburgh, south of Kalamazoo, trading work time for lessons. The family stabled their horses there and Erin would also come down to ride. Elegance in Bey joined the family in the fall of 1997 and started showing with both Preseau sisters.
Moving away from home for a summer at just 14 was a bold step, but Preseau and her family believed it was the best way for her to pursue her interest in horses. In fact, her time there and experiences since have motivated her to pursue a career working with horses.
"When I moved down there at 14, I had no idea what I wanted, I wanted to be a doctor or something," said Preseau, who is studying business now at Hope College. "Living there just showed me one of my greatest passions and something I would never have known about myself."
For the next three summers she worked in Vicksburgh and showed on the circuit. Last summer, finally old enough for adult categories, Preseau qualified for Nationals after a series of local and regional shows. With Erin showing Elegance as a riding horse most of the summer, Preseau showed him just once in halter at a local show before nationals. Their minimal time working together did not slow them down.
Devoting the past five years of her life to horses has been a somewhat unusual pursuit for a teenager. But Preseau does not regret any of it and winning a national championship was just icing on the cake.
"I've met some of my best friends through this and it has brought my family a lot closer," Preseau said. "I've met my trainers who I dearly love and was brought into their family. Working with horses is not a 9-5 job, you work until the day is done and that has done a lot for me.
Her mother agrees, noting that there have been positive aspects for the whole family.
"It has been a great hobby for all of our family," said Janelle Preseau, whose youngest daughter, Alyssa, also rides. "Caring for the horses and in general the atmosphere at shows has been a very, very positive thing, for both the girls and our family."