And thank you for your interest in learning more about me on both a personal
and professional level. While my intentions are to train, teach, and compete
for the rest of my life, my future will undoubtedly be shaped by my past.
Please keep reading for all of my background information, and be ready for
some little-known tidbits about the Valerie Vizcarrondo you thought you knew!
For more information about my riding, career highlights and my recent results,
please click on the links above.

I am so lucky to wake up every morning and enjoy going to work. I currently live
in the small town of Harwood, MD, just minutes down the street from my training
facility. I live with Duke, undeniably the best dog ever. Duke relocated to Harwood
from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He has caught on very quickly
to the whole eventing scene. You may have seen him at the Area II events, he is
the blue tick coon hound who loves to run the cross country course next to
the minibike!

Harwood is located just south of Annapolis, and we are a community that
takes horses (and sailing) very seriously. Although I am originally from
Indiana, I have spent most of my life in Maryland. I went to high
school in "downtown" Annapolis, where I had no choice but to play
lacrosse and pick crabs! While lacrosse might not be for everyone,
I do strongly encourage anyone visiting during the summer months
to grab a mallet and learn how to eat shellfish Chesapeake Bay style!

Although I've had my sights set on a successful riding career from
the time I won my first lead line class at age two, I took school
very seriously. In 2003 I graduated with a degree in Communications
from St. Mary’s College, a public honors college in historic St. Mary’s
City, Maryland. I graduated as the valedictorian of my class, and
was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Between living near the
water and spending my whole life on the back of a horse, I try never
to take for granted the beauty of the space around me. During college
and since my graduation I have been active in many environmental
organizations that bring awareness and action to the preservation
of the environment around us.

Though I graduated from school several years ago, I don’t think you
should ever stop learning. To help keep my mind and body limber, I am
a Level 2 yogi, and I look forward to my evening classes each week.
Yoga class, a very humbling experience at times, reminds me how lucky
I am just to be. After a bad day at work, I have to remember that I should be
grateful for and about everything it is I have the opportunity to do, see, and
experience. I do not think that learning should be restricted to text books
and classes. I love to travel, and I've yet to find any better way of learning about
yourself and the complex world surrounding us all than by getting out there and
experiencing it.

With all of my responsibility, I do not have the luxury of going to exotic
places for weeks on end. In fact, I have a terrible fear of flying. I was extremely
proud of myself for surviving a plane flight to and from a backpacking trip
through Italy. I recently enrolled myself in a photography class so that I can
better document and preserve my excursions in the future. My next adventure:
a dog sledding trip in January 2008! Nonetheless, a simple weekend getaway
here or a week long trip there can be super refreshing, and I've found that time-outs
from day to day realities amazingly put life in perspective. I have a policy that I
encourage everyone to live by, and that is:

You can sleep when you’re old.

I don’t have time for sleep right now, and I never plan on getting old.
Not when there are so many wonderful and exciting things going on all around me.
Carpe diem! and enjoy every moment.