///////// MEMBER ROUNDUP
NOTABLE NON PRO Lia Savas overcame an allergy to horses to learn to ride, and she has never looked back. By Allison Armstrong Rehnborg
56 MARCH/APRIL 2022 | REINED COW HORSE NEWS
FLETCH PHOTOGRAPHY
W
hen Lia Savas of Central Islip, New York, was a little girl, there was nothing she wanted more than to spend the day tagging along with her horse-crazy older sister at a local barn. There was just one problem. Back then, if Savas so much as touched a horse, it usually meant paying a visit to the hospital later that day. “I wanted to be exactly like my sister, Maura, so I did everything she did,” Savas said. “But I was allergic to horses. When my sister would go to her riding lessons, my mother practically had to tie my hands behind my back so I couldn’t pet any of the horses. As soon as I would touch my face [after touching a horse], my eyes would swell up, I would have an asthma attack, and then we’d be off to the hospital for a nebulizer treatment. It was a nightmare.” To cope with her unrequited love for horses, Savas collected Breyer models and taught herself to lope on four legs. She’d jump the couches in her parents’ living room, perform lead changes, practice her pirouettes and more. Far from outgrowing her love of horses, as her parents might have hoped, Savas nurtured her obsession instead, waiting patiently for the day that she’d be able to ride. “Once I turned 18, I decided I was going to do whatever I wanted, so I
Aboard Metallic Nickel, Lia Savas rode to the Northeastern 2021 Region Award in the Non Pro Bridle.
started going to the barn,” Savas said with a laugh. “I’d cut classes at college, go to the barn and hang out. At first, I could only survive about 20 minutes around the horses, then 30. I’d wipe myself down with wet wipes and take antihistamines. Eventually, I outgrew it. I guess when you want to do something bad enough, you just do it.” These days, Savas still spends all her free time with horses, but she doesn’t have to worry about breaking out in hives anymore. Although she grew up in Malverne, New York, an area better known for its Grand Prix jumpers
than its Western riders, Savas is as Western as they come with experience competing in American Quarter Horse Association ranch versatility events, trail riding, team penning, cow sorting and, of course, reined cow horse.
GOING WESTERN
Once her allergies were behind her, Savas spent all her spare time learning to ride. Soon, she was fearless, to the point that when she was presented with a mount that had a penchant for rearing, she felt confident she’d be able to stay in the saddle.
