Walk, Trot, Canter

How An Overachiever Got Back On The Horse

By Trilogy® at The Polo Club Member Brook Dougherty with Lauren Del Sarto

In Charleston, South Carolina at the Middleton Place Equestrian Center, 10-year-old Lauren Del Sarto sat astride Mini Haha, the shaggy pony she planned to ride to victory in the walk, trot, canter class.

Lauren was equally shaggy in a Winnie the Pooh turtleneck, rubber boots, a second-hand boy’s jacket, and wild bits of blonde hair poking out at all angles from under a third-hand velveteen helmet. It was what her family could afford. She didn’t notice the other girls with their perfect jodhpurs, leather boots, and expensive ponies with neatly braided manes.

Lauren took her turn and was pleased with her performance. She wondered where she would hang her ribbon. She waited for the announcer to call out the winners. Fifth, fourth, third, second. Her name would be next. Except it wasn’t. Lauren couldn’t hold back the tears, but her trainer was having none of it. She pointed out the impeccable grooming of the other girls and the superior quality of their mounts. When she called Lauren “sloppy,” she stopped crying and in that moment, her love for Mini Haha was replaced with a desire for a fancy horse and a determination to win that was so fierce, it would inform the next five decades of her life.

It took a few years before her family was able to afford Cracker Jack Surprise, the $700 steed that Lauren rode to win after win. Nothing got in her way. When she had to wear a back brace to combat scoliosis every single hour of the day except when she rode, she dealt with it. She sold Cracker Jack and moved up to a nicer horse continuing to improve and to win. At 16, Lauren represented the United States in an International Horse Show in Puerto Rico where she was named Best Visiting Junior Rider. She rode her first year in college, but put it aside for other dreams, graduating from James Madison University with a major in mass communications and a minor in journalism. New York City called and she landed a communications job at Morgan Stanley.

One weekend, Lauren attended the wedding of a friend just outside of Palo Alto, California and stumbled across the Horse Park at Woodside. The sprawling cross-country course spoke to her like a cabana boy asking if she wanted a cocktail on a hot summer day. This was where she was going to live. She returned to New York, handed in her resignation, and couldn’t wait to get back into horses. She arrived on the West Coast with two goals: find a job and find a barn. Within five years, Lauren bought her first show horse since her teen years, a beautiful young bay named Pippen. Their first competition was the HITS Horseshow in Indio, California. She was back in the saddle, riding, winning, and living her truest life until an injury in a motorcycle accident halted her return and instilled a fear of flying over fences she couldn’t rise above. Pippen was sold. Her career continued to flourish including a marketing position with Dorothy Hamill’s Ice Capades before launching her own agency that specialized in corporate sponsorships. Tommy Del Sarto was one of those sponsors. She married him and became a stepmom to his three incredible daughters. They bought five acres in the country and Lauren built her dream equestrian facility which led to the creation of an equestrian construction company she ran for three years. She settled into pleasure of riding and tried turning Tommy into a cowboy. Life was good, but it was a lot of work and after five years on the farm, Tommy was ready to turn in the pitch forks for golf clubs.

They decided to try early retirement in the Coachella Valley. Lauren’s goal was to focus on personal health and enjoy all the meditation, yoga, mineral baths, and natural medicine the Valley had to offer. They bought a home in a golf course community and let the party begin.

After eight months, Lauren was bored out of her mind. Looking for a part time job, she came upon an ad for a newspaper delivery route and serendipitously reached out to inquire. Seeing her qualifications, they asked Lauren if she’d like to manage the Coachella Valley edition of their alternative health publication, which she did for a year. When the owners didn’t agree that a more integrative health publication would be of greater interest to a larger audience, Lauren decided to start her own and Desert Health News was born. It was an instant success.

With her new retirement career underway, Lauren decided to finally return to the ring. This was bucket list time, and somewhere deep in her soul, she had a hankering to revisit her teenage self. Lauren found a local barn and a great trainer who put her on a prized jumper. That uncanny fear she had previously felt returned, and she requested to downgrade to a “more controllable” sized pony. But even over small jumps, Lauren was terrified of falling. After a few lessons and many tears, she patted the pony on the neck, remembering Mini Haha and how much she loved her, dismounted, and handed the reins to the trainer. Then she walked away. She was too old, too broken, and it was just too late.

After eight years in the desert, Lauren heard about a new neighborhood being built across from the exact polo grounds she had shown at 20 years ago. A visit to Trilogy® at The Polo Club with its equine motif and laid-back vibe was all it took for her to know this was home. Tommy had already joined a neighboring golf club and loved the vibe as well. They settled in and embraced all the community had to offer.

Three years later, a routine mammogram and biopsy revealed stage one breast cancer that instilled the greatest fear Lauren had ever felt. She dove into researching options resourcing the many medical and natural health practitioners which she was now working with through Desert Health. In lieu of a lumpectomy and radiation, she decided on cryoablation, a minimally invasive procedure that freezes the tumor, and within a year was deemed cancer free.

Beating cancer birthed a new kind of fearlessness in Lauren and the desire to get back in the saddle. She called her trainer and booked a lesson. When the trainer brought out a pony, Lauren laughed and said, “no way. I’m ready for a horse.” She was paired with Tristan, a stunningly beautiful chestnut, and set her eye on competing once again. They began training for the hunter and equitation divisions, the same divisions she competed in as a kid.

Then, while practicing on show week, Lauren found herself on the edge of a full-blown panic attack. All her new courage had evaporated. She thought about walking away again, but instead turned to the breathing and mindfulness techniques that got her through cancer and helped instill calm.

The day came. Showtime. Lauren mounted Tristan. Tendrils of fear threatened to filter up, but she tamped them down by claiming her confidence and deciding she wasn’t too old or too injured or too sloppy. She had on the perfect boots and breeches, and her hair was neat as a pin. It was a beautiful day. She was in an international arena once again, and it was time.

After four days of beautifully jumping course after course, she entered the ring for the equitation flat: walk, trot, and canter. Lining up for the judges at the end of the class, she thought she did okay. It didn’t matter, though. She had done it. The announcer read off the names of the winners. Fifth, fourth, third, second. Oh who cared. Then they announced Lauren Del Sarto and she cried. She was back.

Lauren will tell you that these days, she’s not training for the ribbons. She’s training for the love of riding. She will tell you that when you lose your passion and get it back again, it is a spiritual moment to be treasured. She will tell you it’s about loving the horse and the sport, not merely the competition. What she may not tell you is how many ribbons she’s won since returning to the ring and how much her teenage self totally digs each and every one of them. n