Eric LaPorte:
Eric grew up around horses. His father raised and trained ranch horses in France; since he can remember, he’s been chasing cows and riding horses!
Being a cowboy was his first priority, but wanting to learn English brought Eric to Francois Gauthier in 1995. That’s where he first saw the reiners. It looked exciting. Watching Francois and Luke Gagnon “made me want to try. I was only going to stay for a few months to practice English,” says Eric, “I ended up staying three years!”
Eric returned to France and began to train reiners there for seven years. In June of 2006, Eric came back to North Carolina to train under Brian Bell and Bryant Pace. Eric tries to model his days after three important quotes:
“Do your best everyday. It doesn’t matter if others are a bit better than you, as long as you can go to bed knowing you did your best…” -- Dad
“It’s better to have a colt who bucks because his cinch is too tight, than to have one buck because the saddle is between his legs!” -- my boss when I was 10 years old
“And then the one I guess who marked me the most…
I once asked Shawn Flarida to helped me at a show when he came to France… after the show I asked him what I should do to improve my training skills… he said:
”Ride better horses!”
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