From fire to trophy saddle, Rookie Champ met challenges

By Horsetrader staff

BURBANK — Katrina Larsen and Dazzle N Chrome have never competed in a trail trials class, but they faced intense obstacles and challenges on their course to a reining title.

Perhaps the biggest one came when they were apart, not connected, when a policeman stood in front of the car she was in with her grandparents, telling the teen-ager, “no…you cannot go in there.”

It was about 6:45 p.m., a half-hour after the Eaton Fire ignited like a blowtorch on Jan. 7. Fifteen minutes earlier, Katrina had been doing schoolwork at her grandparents when she learned from a barn mate of a fire at their barn, Eaton Dam Stables.

“We jumped in the car and drove up there,” says Katrina. Flames already had passed over the road.

“The police were telling us to turn around because the people in there and the horses in there were not going to make it,” she says. “We didn’t want to leave because those are our horses and our people and our home. The barn is your second home because we spend so much time there.

Katrina and her grandparents, Mark and Pam Larsen, used an alternative route to the barn, dodging embers and branches that occasionally struck the car. Having negotiated the first obstacle — getting to the barn — they went to work helping stable owner Sharon Gray evacuate 39 horses. All of them made it to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, where most still remain temporarily alongside other animals evacuated during the worst L.A. wildfires in history.

Katrina says Dazzle N Chrome, whose barn name is “Captain”, recovered from the episode in measured steps that assured his lungs were clear of any smoke damage. At first, daily hand-walking was the limit, then some lunging. It was weeks before she would ride Captain again.

“He did have a little bit of a cough for about a week after the fire, and he recovered well after his cough went away,” she says. “Our tack room survived the fire, so I was able to eventually get my saddle. I rode him really lightly — no maneuvers — for two or three weeks after the fire. We started ramping things up. I just circled him a lot and kept him moving with some turns. After about three weeks I started doing some stops.

“He really likes that dirt in the Equidome,” she adds. “He liked having that big arena, too — it was really great.”

In that arena Feb. 8 — almost a month to the day from that fiery night at Eaton Dam Stables — the duo won the Jack and Linda Baker Reining Classic Rookie Championship.

Did the trial by fire have an impact?

“Honestly, it was pretty traumatizing,” she admits. “Being there was traumatic. And I did not know where Captain was going. I put him on the trailer with Sharon’s pregnant mare because they were my priority at the time. I knew they were going somewhere, but I didn’t know where they were going.”

Faith is important to Katrina and her family, and they credit God’s hand for her courage, her commitment and any accomplishments in her wake.

“I remember thinking I didn’t know if Captain was going to be the same after this — after being traumatized, after being in all that smoke and the fire. And physically, too. After being at L.A. Equestrian Center for a couple days, it was obvious he was fine. At least that’s what my mind was telling me about him. I still didn’t know if he was going to be the same horse.”

When it came time to show, Captain was the best version of himself. The duo stayed connected in their best run ever, which may have been their last.

Katrina, a 15-year-old who self-supports her horse activities, lost her employment at the now-decimated Eaton Dam Stables where she worked and gave lessons. Her immediate course is unclear.

“I kind of knew this would be the last one, and so I really wanted to do well,” she says. “I pushed myself because I wanted to end on a good note with him.”

She also was motivated to do well for her support team — Sharon, her trainer June Tabor in Solvang, her supportive grandparents and parents, and other contributors along her equestrian journey that began atop a rental string horse in Griffith Park when she was age 4.

“I remember riding around that same facility with Katrina when she was four years old — and the way her eyes lit up to be on such a majestic animal,” says her dad, Nic. “She has been riding ever since. Eleven of her 15 years have been riding horses. It has been such a blessing — just amazing.”

The family lost Katrina’s mother, Mu, to cancer two years ago. Nic remarried, and Katrina’s stepmother, Ellen, is another enthusiastic member of family support.

“God has blessed her with many talents,” Ellen says. “It just shows that when she was displaced from the fires — she had been saving up for a saddle by cleaning other ladies’ stalls and doing lessons and things like that — and to have the barn burn down, she lost any possibility of putting any money away for the saddle. But through her perseverance and the talents God gave her, she was able to win a saddle. It came full circle.”

Katrina says the saddle is awesome, but that wasn’t why she rode.

“I wanted to do well for our barn and for Eaton Dam,” she says. “We worked hard, and I wanted to show June’s hard work she put into us, and Sharon’s, too. I am showing Sharon’s horse, and I want her horse to look good. I think that was my mindset going into it. I wanted to do well for our barn and for my family — for Captain, too.

“I’ve worked hard, and Captain’s worked really hard for me to be able to perform,” she adds. “I think that pushed me to want to do well. I knew that we have it, and we had worked really hard.

“Obviously, we’re not able to buy just a super fancy horse to go win shows on,” she adds. “So, we just take what we have and we make it work. We critique where we can and we go show and have fun and learn from it. It’s not all about the winning — but obviously it’s a bonus!”