Audrey Pugh Gutridge Award
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
(Editor’s note: The following presentation was made on Wednesday night during the Kentucky State Fair World’s Championship Horse Show.)
Gayle Lampe, William Woods University Professor of Equestrian Science, has devoted her entire adult life to the horse industry and the development of talented young persons to participate in it.
Gayle has had a passionate love for horses all of her life. Since the age of ten, she has been actively involved with the American Saddlebred and acquired her first Saddlebred when she was sixteen. As a young girl, she rode at Rock Creek Riding Club. It was at Rock Creek that she came to know and admire K. K. Gutridge and Audrey Gutridge. K. K. was working for Jim B. Robertson, and he was training the great “Tres Chic” and CH Princess Julia. Gayle was enamored with K. K. and developed a life-long respect and friendship for K. K. and his energetic and talented wife Audrey.
Gayle also spent many summers studying under the well-known instructor, Annie Lawson Cowgill, at her farm in Milan, Missouri.
After high school, she chose to attend Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, where she says she spent four of the most glorious years of her life. She rode everything she could, maturing into an accomplished horsewoman under the guidance of Shirley Drew Hardwick, Martha Jones, Karen Minnick, Linda Wallen, Mary Hubbell, and others at Stephens.
After graduating from Stephens College, she took a teaching position at William Woods University in nearby Fulton, Missouri. When she came to William Woods, there was a lovely brick barn with 16 stalls and a four-stall annex. Today, William Woods has five barns with over 100 stalls and two huge indoor arenas.
Her dedication to William Woods and the American Saddlebred played a huge role in transforming Equestrian Science into a respectable major at college. William Woods changed from a college offering riding to interested students into a University with a major in Equestrian Science.
When Gayle took over at William Woods, she knew what she wanted to do. At first she taught Saddle Seat, Hunt Seat, and Western. Now there are instructors for Hunt Seat, Saddle Seat, Western, and Dressage.
The list of students who developed under Gayle’s tutelage would be far too extensive to list here. To name a few, we could mention Sarah Byers, Renee Biggins, Kim Cowart, Mary Markum Orr, Evan Orr, Julia Kerner, Zach Duffy, Jessica Savanelli, Janet Crampton, Maureen Lydon, Michelle McMahon, and the list goes on and on.
Gayle has judged at every major horse show in the country, as well as judging in South Africa and England. She also coached team U.S.A. in the World Cup competitions in South Africa. She has been awarded the UPHA Instructor of the Year Award, the UPHA Distinguished Service Award, the ASHA Lurline Roth Sportsmanship Award, and The National Horseman’s Castleman Award.
Gayle shows no sign of slowing down, and it is quite evident that she will continue to be a major force in the Equestrian Science world for many years to come.
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