Local equestrienne rides to victory

Agoura Hills resident Lori Duffant was recently awarded the Amateur Senior Training Level Rider Championship for 2002 at the U.S. Eventing Association’s Area VI (California and Hawaii) awards ceremony in Fresno. Her horse, Uncle Buck, was awarded the Senior Training Level Horse Championship. The pair were also fourth overall horse and rider in the U.S. for their division, and in 2001 were National as well as Area VI champions at the Novice level.

Duffant has trained with Cory Walkey as well as fellow Agoura Hills resident Jennifer Johnson at Mill Creek Equestrian Center in Topanga. Johnson also received an award in Fresno for Red Rover, a horse she has been training who was named Reserve Champion Novice Horse for Area VI in 2002.

Along with her husband Brian and 10-year-old son Alex, Duffant relocated from Portland, Ore. to Old Agoura "because it is an established horse community with a terrific public arena and miles of trails in Cheeseboro Canyon Park."

Three-day eventing, an Olympic sport, may be characterized as an "equestrian triathlon" challenging horse and rider to display skill and stamina in dressage, endurance/cross-country jumping and show jumping.