One is lucky in life to have discovered a passion for an artform, profession, hobby, or social cause. But the truly fortunate are those that are able to spend their lives with that passion, working to achieve and weathering the inevitable lows. For Laura Backus, founder of Pendragon Stud Equestrian Center in Larkspur, CO, that passion for horses began with a family connection and bit of well-intentioned subterfuge.
“Well, You Just Go Do It.”
Laura spent the first few years of her life in Florida close to her aunt Lynn Shepard and her decidedly non-horsey mom, Leslie. Lynn (who also founded STRIDE Dressage in Ocala), encouraged Laura’s very early interest in horses by finding a Shetland pony for her to ride. Behind Leslie’s back.
“My aunt would pick me up after school. I would change out of my school clothes into my riding clothes, ride the pony, and change back into my school clothes, do my homework, and then she would take me home. My mother never knew, it was all behind my mom’s back,” Laura recalls, laughing. The chicanery worked well until Laura had a riding accident. “I was already bitten by the horse bug by then so it was too late. My mom was a single mom and very, very young. She kind of took the ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ mentality and supported me all the way up until she died four years ago.”
Laura describes Leslie as ‘a bit of a flower child’ and the pair moved freely around the country for a few years. “Even though my mom had me when she was really young, she was extremely fiscally smart. She would buy a property, we’d live in it for a few years, and then she’d flip it and make money on it,” Laura explained. Leslie’s real estate acumen would later assist them in their future purchase of the 78-acre tract of land in Colorado that would become Pendragon Stud Equestrian Center.
Growing up, Laura knew that horses needed to be a part of her life. She moved back to Ocala in 1980 for a few months to live with Aunt Lynn and her husband who was a manager at a racing facility. At the time, Ocala was primarily full of Thoroughbred racing training and breeding facilities. The polished sport we have now was still a scrappy start up that neither Lynn nor Laura were familiar with. “Lynn introduced me to Eventing. But she didn’t know much about it either,” Laura recalled. “She was like, well, you just go do it. So I did and I won which was beginners’ luck for sure! I didn’t win another event for like six or seven years but that one hooked me.”
Photo courtesy of Laura Backus.
Fully introduced to the eventing community, Laura headed back home to Colorado where she knew what she wanted to do. “I just went in feet first.”
As a young adult, Laura tried to start a life and career outside of horses. However, her efforts did not provide much success. “I really didn’t want to do anything else. I did try. I tried to do office management. I went to college for a couple of years. I tried to do other things but would get very depressed when I wasn’t riding and around at least one horse.”
She gained experience as a working student for dressage trainer Debbie Bowman in Virgina then moved to Indiana for four years where she was able to compete at more upper-level events. She met her husband Dale and had daughters Madeline and Charlotte when Leslie had a catastrophic accident that left her quadriplegic. Laura and Dale knew that the best way forward was to move back to Colorado live and work communally.
Creating a Community
Laura Backus leads a cross country walk with students.
Pendragon Stud Equestrian Center opened for business May 1,1998. Located near Larkspur and about an hour outside of Denver, the Backus family transformed the bare acreage into a full equestrian center with horse and hay barns, indoor and outdoor arenas, and family homes. They also have a cross-country field and grow their own hay.
Leslie’s experience in real estate helped the family expand their footprint with a long-term lease of an additional 110 acres and 10 years later purchased a neighboring 10-acre farm they named Little Creek (fans of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, stand up). All the while the family was able to achieve their goal of living together to take care of Leslie who in turn fully managed the farm’s operations.
The farm works as a teaching and boarding facility. As a proud Pony Club graduate, Laura has a clear teaching philosophy to ensure that her students progress safely up the levels. “We start beginners off on the lunge line. They have to be able to do at least 10 lessons on the line and show that they can walk, trot, canter without stirrups and hands before they can get off the line. Anybody that sticks through that program, you know that they’re pretty horse crazy and dedicated to the process, not just the end result.”
Laura is able to cater to committed individuals through her lesson program but she also hosts Hunter Hill Pony Club and runs the friendly starter Beginner Horse Trial and a series of camps for all ages and levels. “We do beginner camps for just a day. We do intermediate day camps. We do Eventing camps where adults come for three or four days before Horse Trials to tune things up. We have unmounted camps, which I never thought would be big and they’re huge.”
Laura manages a busy lesson program for about 40 students and the boarding/training program across the Pendragon and Little Creek farms. The boarded horses in training live at Pendragon and the various camps and pony club activities are hosted at Little Creek. Laura also has a small breeding operation so her broodmares, babies and retirees also live at Little Creek. There are plenty of activities taking place across both farms but Laura is able to keep the programs intimate and communal. All students are invited to optional social and educational activities such as Grand Prix Show Jump course walks and veterinary webinars. There is a legendary haunted barn and hayride for Halloween that Laura says is ‘really scary’ and doubles as a fundraiser for Hunter Hill Pony Club.
She designed an inclusive program and makes it clear to students and parents of students that all are welcome. “The first thing I tell people after a few lessons if they say that they’d like to join the program is that we are all inclusive. My mother was disabled. We have gay people and we have people of color. If they have a hard time with that then we are probably not the program for them. I am very upfront about that to begin with because I don’t want judgement and I don’t want drama in the barn. This is a hard enough thing as it is.”
Education and the Importance of Certification
Photo courtesy of Laura Backus.
Students can use the Pendragon program to help them achieve whatever goal they have for themselves. For some students, this is primarily a recreational activity and they’re happy to take lessons, volunteer at shows, and participate in schooling shows. Others have definite aims for themselves that require clear planning. Laura sits down with those students in early January to make a goal sheet so there is a pathway for competition and training objectives.
The Backus family also have a small farm in Summerfield, FL, which enables them to spend the four winter months there for training. Some students train with them just for that time while others make the trip back to Colorado. Pendragon’s most prominent student is Madeline Backus, Laura’s daughter, who has competed to the CCI5* level in the United States and overseas, is a USDF silver medalist and ‘A’ Pony Clubber. Madeline has stepped up as an Assistant Trainer at Pendragon by taking over many of the active riding and training roles Laura has stepped back from, while Laura manages the all-important administrative needs that her mom Leslie originally handled.
Laura is proud of her generational business and credits her emphasis on continuing education to her program’s success. “I think the biggest thing is, you can’t be a teacher if you haven’t been taught by good teachers, right? I was really blessed with Debbie (Bowman). I worked with Denny Emerson who is a phenomenal educator. I had my aunt who was a great teacher as well in the very beginning. I’m constantly learning. Probably 25 years ago I did a seminar with Daniel Stewart and I learned so much. My teaching got exponentially better by just going to one of his seminars and keeping an open mind about it.” Crediting her mentors and other dedicated instructors, Laura continues, “I’m standing on the shoulders of giants. There’s so many good trainers I’ve learned from and they don’t even know that I’ve learned from them.”
Madeline Backus, Laura Backus, Leslie Backus and Libby Stokes.
Many trainers have ambivalent feelings about the USEA Eventing Coaches Program (ECP) but Laura is clear in her support of the growing program. “I think it’s a really good thing. I think it needs to develop more and they need to require certification in the country. I’ve been told numerous times it’s not going to happen, but it’s going to have to at some point. You have to be certified and licensed to be a nail technician or an aesthetician and those aren’t life threatening sports, right?” Laura says that as a British Horse Society BSHI, ‘H-A’ in Pony Club, American Riding Instructor Association (ARIA) certified instructor, she became ECP Level IV certified in order to coach Young Riders.
Requiring certification doesn’t vibe well with independence minded Americans but Laura considers it necessary. “I know it’s not popular, but I think it’s just growing pains. And if we want our sport to continue to grow, we will have to set a standard and we have to have the ability to say that we are accountable as instructors.”
Laura makes sure to acknowledge her family while discussing Pendragon’s success. She credits husband Dale and their 34-year marriage for supporting not just her professional ambitions but supporting Leslie after her accident. They have a second daughter, Charlotte, who missed out on the horse gene, but as a professional cyclist shows the same commitment to high adrenaline sport as her mother. Charlotte is currently pregnant with her first child which will make Laura a first-time grandmother. Naturally, the baby is due the same week as The Event at Rebecca Farm.
Laura Backus is a USEA ECP Level IV Eventing Instructor. In 2025 she was awarded The Cornerstone Instructor’s Award by the USEA and has multiple recognitions from the U.S Pony Club, Colorado Horse Council, and American Riding Instructors Association (ARIA). She owns Pendragon Stud Equestrian Center, LLC, an eventing sport horse training and breeding facility in Larkspur, Colorado.
