For sophomore Lauren Polk, spending time at the barn with her horse Donauwelle P (Donnie) has become a familiar setting. Despite mental challenges she has encountered, she hopes to one day become an Olympian for horseback riding.

Polk has been riding horses for many years. She is at the barn almost every day and spends many hours there.

“I’ve been riding for nine almost 10 years and I am at the barn five to six days a week, usually six, and I’m there for four to eight hours depending on the day,” Polk said.

Horseback riding has been a growing passion of Polk’s for many years. Her mom, Dawn Haynie, said she was at the barn more often as time went on.

“Even before she started competing, Lauren wanted to be at the barn,” Haynie said. “First, it began as one day a week, then moved to two days a week, then it was two days a week plus a Saturday. And then, around 12 years old, she added Sunday afternoons. Now, she’s there almost every day, every week of the year, training, working, and caring for her horse. She just keeps pushing forward, training and learning, striving for a stronger connection with her horse.”

Polk’s friend and fellow rider, Hattie Gegax, said Polk’s approach to each horse, dedication, and willingness to learn have allowed her to succeed as a rider.

“I think Lauren is an amazing rider due to her perseverance and commitment, but also the way she approaches horses,” Gegax said. “She always sees a new horse as an opportunity to teach her, not something to be mastered or fixed. She learns something from every horse she rides and then implements those lessons into Donnie.”

Polk said her competitions occur throughout many months of the year.

“[Our competing season is] from March to May and then we stop over the summer, and then from August to November, and then we stop over the winter,” Polk said.

Polk said she tries to compete often without missing too much time in school.

“I compete every couple of weeks,” Polk said. “While I’m in school I usually do weekends so that I try to miss the least amount of school that I can, so I’ll do a Friday, Saturday [and] Sunday show. Every three-ish weeks [to] every four weeks I try to go to a show.”

For the first semester of this school year, Polk did virtual school through Atlanta Virtual Academy, which allowed her to spend more time at the barn and receive individual time with her trainer.

“[Virtual school] would really allow me to have one on one time with my trainer because at night all of the adults are riding and we have group lessons, and so its harder for you to do things, she doesn’t have her attention on you the entire time, and so it allowed us to really get some nice time together,” Polk said.

Haynie said virtual school allowed for Polk to compete out of state while still doing her school work.

“Being virtual allowed her to compete in Tryon, Chicago, Ocala and Lexington, for example, and stay on track with her studies,” Haynie said.

During virtual school, Polk’s schedule consisted of mornings at the barn and afternoons doing school work.

“I went to the barn at nine AM [or] ten AM, I’d ride at 11:00 let’s say 11:30,” Polk said. “I turn [Donnie] out, I take care of him, and I’d get home around 1:00 [or] 2:00 in the afternoon, and then I’d go straight into school,” Polk said.

After the retirement of her other horse, she looked for almost two years before connecting with her current horse, Donnie.

“The horse that I had originally gone to that barn to try didn’t work out, and so they were like ‘well do you want to try him’, and we were like ‘he’s not really what we were looking for’, but give him a shot anyway, and so we clicked immediately and so we were like ‘he’s the one’ and we brought him home,” Polk said.

Because of the transition to riding Donnie, Polk encountered a mental obstacle and lost confidence.

“When I got Donnie I was very unconfident, I didn’t really have any faith that I could do anything,” Polk said. “In the first couple shows that I was doing with him that kind of turned into me taking that out on people who were around me.”

Polk said building a relationship with Donnie took time and was not always easy.

“The first couple months were really hard in terms of he doesn’t know what’s happening,” Polk said. “I’m trying to bond with him, I’m trying to ride, we’re taking him to shows, and it’s really hard to make that transition. He’s in a new place, he hasn’t been here before, he’s now living here, it’s a new way of doing things… About two months ago, we started to really connect [and] we started to really understand each other.”

Despite these obstacles, Polk said it is important to be stable and in control when riding.

“If you’re stressed, they’re stressed,” Polk said. “If you’re breathing fast, they’re breathing fast. They kind of match with you and so it’s really important to keep yourself in control and that helps you keep them in control. And so mentally it’s a very complicated sport.”

Throughout her time riding, Polk has been able to bond with her peers. Gegax said she became closer to Polk when she was newer to horseback riding.

“I met Lauren in 2021 when I was still new to Georgia and the sport,” Gegax said. “We became close as we rode together, and started spending more time together. We have helped each other through a lot of ups and downs and she is one of the biggest parts of my support system.”

Polk said horseback riding has allowed her to rely on her peers without having rivalries in competitions.

“[Horseback riding] really allows me to connect and put my trust in [my peers] and be one on one, not be toxic, not hate each other, [and] not be competitive,” Polk said.

Polk said the horseback riding community is both unique and supportive.

“[My community is] so supporting,” Polk said. “Everyone wants to help everyone, it’s so supporting, they help me with everything, I help them. There’s not really much like that.”

For the future, Polk hopes to go to the Olympics and one day have her own barn.

“In terms of long time, I would like to have my own barn,” Polk said. “I’d like to train others. I’m trying kind of training younger horses, and I’m doing that a little bit at our barn, we have a three year old at our barn, and so I’m trying to see if I like that before I go off to school to do something for that.”

Ultimately, Polk hopes to keep horseback in her life as she moves forward.

“I’d just like to keep it in my life, and hopefully become something like a teacher and go to the Olympics, and just kind of go up in the levels,” Polk said.