It’s a chilly morning in Ocala, Florida, and Lauren Nicholson is chatting on her phone while hacking How Easy GG, an 8-year-old gelding that’s another one of the Anglo-Arabs for which the 5’9” rider has a well-known affinity. “Georgie,” who is currently competing at the modified level, is treading in the same Anglo footsteps as some of the greatest horses Nicholson has ridden, including full brothers Snooze Alarm—the horse that made her a five-star rider—and Vermiculus, the now-18-year-old with whom she won the Defender USEF National CCI5*-L Championship at Kentucky last year. 

The year has started off predictably busy for Nicholson—hence the multitasking phone call while riding—but she’s enjoying the process with a string of promising horses. Among them is Larcot Z, a horse she got the ride on a couple of years ago, after he’d been produced through the three-star level by his former owner, Reagan LaFleur, and Will Coleman. Nicholson and the 12-year-old Zangersheide gelding (L’Arc De Triomphe—Kocote De La Londe, Socrate De Chivre), owned by Jacqueline Mars, won an advanced section at Rocking Horse Winter II (Florida) Feb. 13-16 on their dressage score of 26.8—despite Nicholson riding with a broken rib from a fall earlier in the day. 

We caught up with Nicholson, 37, to find out more about her current crop of advanced horses, which include not just Larcot Z and “Bug” but also Prontissimo, an 11-year-old Baltic Warmblood owned by Christa Schmidt, and I’ll Have Another, a 12-year-old Latvian Warmblood owned by Brandye Randermann, who is aiming for his five-star debut at Defender Kentucky this spring. We also heard about what she does in her spare time, and what hobby makes this person who stares down five-star fences for a living actually panic.

You and Larcot Z won the advanced division at Rocking Horse II on your dressage score. What’s he like?

He’s always been quite lovely in all phases. He was owned by Reagan LaFleur, and she was a student at Karen and David [O’Connor’s] when I worked for them, and she brought him to the farm. I tried to buy him then and there, and I always followed him as she produced him up to the two-star level and intermediate. She was not only a talented rider, but talented academically and really smart. She was headed to university and put him with a good friend of mine, Will Coleman, to keep him going while she was at school. But then she got a really good job offer after school and decided to sell him. Will called me right away, and I bought him. Done and dusted! 

I’m not a big fan of buying horses that are already going. I would rather produce them, but I’d been quite close to him through his career and just really liked him. And we got on quite well. I think it takes at least 18 to 24 months to really click with a horse and get a partnership going. I felt that at the end of last year, and then as he came out this spring. He’s ready to rock and roll. 

He’s always lovely in show jumping. On cross-country, I was banged up from a fall off a catch ride earlier, so I just wanted to get around efficiently. About halfway around the course, as we dropped into the water, I felt my rib go, and then he had to get the old lady home. 

Oh wow. You broke a rib in your fall earlier in the day?

Yeah. I don’t bounce as well as I used to, but I’m all fine a week later. That’s what I always think about falls: A week, a month, or six months later, you’re all fine.

You won on your dressage score. How was your test? 

He’s getting a lot stronger. I think we’re getting really proficient in that phase. We’ve really been working on his strength and power in the last year and now he’s getting flashy, as well. He’s got a ton of points on the table as he’s walking out of the ring now, which is exciting.

What’s on tap for him?

We’re talking about aiming for Millstreet [International Horse Trials (Ireland)], so he can do some of the bigger tracks. I like to do two or three four-stars with them before we do a five-star. I’m thinking he would be a great Aachen [(Germany), site of the 2026 FEI World Championships] horse, too. We’ll see what that looks like. He had a slow year last year. He had horrible tick fever in the spring and was in the hospital. It really took him out. But then we did Cornbury [House Horse Trials (England)] in the U.K., and he was super. 

We did Boekelo [CCIO4*-L (The Netherlands) last autumn], but it had rained so much and at the end of 100 horses, it was knee-deep mud. We talked about it, and Ms. Mars said he’s so young and nice, don’t risk it. So I withdrew. 

She sounds like she’s a supportive owner and good to work with.

I’m really spoiled. Christa, Ms. Mars, Brandye: They’re the ultimate horsewomen. They never make you feel bad about making a call like that. With some owners, that isn’t always the case.

It looks like you have a lot of depth in your string of horses. What are your plans for this year?

We’ve done some reshaping of our program this year. When I was first getting into this profession, you had to have a large string of horses to end up with enough five-star horses to be in the mix and represent your country. Things have changed a lot. In the last five or six years, that doesn’t work as well anymore because the technical aspect of the sport has gotten much higher, and you have to do a lot more of the training yourself. Now you have to have under 10 horses, and success is a bit cyclic. It goes and comes. I’ve really cut back on my number of rides. 

You’ve got a strong team that you work with, and it sounds like you really help each other out. How has that been valuable to you? 

There’s a huge value to catch rides and getting the miles and having the support and oversight of being in a program and not just doing it all yourself. The best lessons I’ve learned haven’t been in actual lessons. They’ve been informal lessons, as far as shaping your career and building your program. These days, kids don’t have a lot of experience or mentors as far as how to run your program at home, how you take care of the horses, how you understand soundness and body conditioning, and feeding and medication. It’s great to have this team atmosphere and to be able to bounce ideas off each other. It raises the level of your training.

What’s “Bug” up to? 

He’s trying to buck me off on a daily basis. He had a minor injury that they found when they were doing evaluations for the Olympics last year. It was a ligament. Not a hole but just fiber patterns that were off. That’s why they do those vet evaluations. I was so relieved, because we wouldn’t have known about it.  It’s a blessing they found it because, had he run on it, it would have been career-ending. It’s hard when they’re that age. You feel quite an obligation to protect them. But he definitely loves a job. We might do a few four-stars. I won’t force him into anything. I never want to have a horse stop the sport from anything other than it being our choice.

Before Bug, you had another Anglo-Arab, Snooze Alarm. They don’t seem like a common breed in eventing. What do you think makes them so successful? And do you have any others you’re bringing along? 

I find them super smart and very brave. I’ve always, despite my height, preferred a smaller horse. They’re also very balanced and clever, and they seem to last for a long time. One thing about this sport is that it takes a long time for a horse to get to this level. Because of their breeding, they seem to last longer.

Georgie is an Anglo-Arab and Selle Français. I’ve done one event with him, and he won. This spring, we’re just going to take it an event at a time. So far, he’s been very fun. And we’ll look at maybe doing the three-star at Maryland at the end of the year.

You give a lot of your time back to the sport and have held several positions for the U.S. Eventing Association and U.S. Equestrian Federation. With how busy you are training and competing, why is it important to you to do that?

That was one thing that Karen and David really drilled into us. They really tried to educate us about how important it is to give back to the sport. If you want to keep enjoying it, you’ve got to show up for this stuff. I try to really encourage my students and the younger generation to do the same. Yes, it’s work, and it takes time, but it’s important to understand how things get done in the sport. You can’t have a fit about a rule and not understand how that rule got made. It’s important to understand how things are getting done and to be part of the process.

What’s one thing about you that might surprise people? 

Well, me and my mom are wicked “Real Housewives” fans. That’s my ugly secret. My mom’s favorite is “The Real Housewives of New York City.” I actually just started it. My favorite is Beverly Hills. 

If you’re not riding or watching “Real Housewives,” what else do you like to do?

I love to cook—I’m a wicked cook—and gardening. Everybody laughs when I say that because it’s so domestic. I like to grow things I can eat. And whenever we can, it’s nice for my husband [Irish course builder Samuel Nicholson] and I to get to Ireland to see family. I’d also really like to do some traveling in Asia. My husband has, and I’d really like to go there and the Caribbean. 

Do you like to snorkel and dive?

We went snorkeling on our honeymoon [in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.] Neither of us had ever had that sunny, Mexican beach vacation experience.

I really liked it [but] I did get super panicky when all of the people from the boat were in the water. I looked up and there were all these bodies in the water, like a Titanic moment. I completely peaced out and got out of the water. My poor husband was, like, ‘You just bailed!’