Jewish Louisville woman takes passion for riding to Maccabiah Games

Andrea Glazer of Louisville, a competitive equestrienne,, has been named to Team USA for the 2017 Maccabiah Games. (photo by Alex Banks)

Andrea Glazer of Louisville, a competitive equestrian, has been named to Team USA for the 2017 Maccabiah Games. (photo by Alex Banks)

Andrea Glazer rode her first horse when she was 6 and, figuratively speaking, never dismounted.

“I think it’s in my blood,” she said. “My brother and sister [stopped riding], but my mom and I still ride together.”

She grew up to become a competitive rider.

Now, the Louisville native is taking her love for the sport to Israel. She has been named to Team USA to compete at the 2017 Maccabiah Games, the so-called “Jewish Olympics.” At 22, she will be the youngest member of the team’s equestrian squad.

It will be her first appearance at the games. Though she applied in 2013, she withdrew to try out for the Junior Olympics.

“Ever since,” she said, “this has been my main goal.”

But Glazer faces two obstacles in Israel.

First, she has always trained in three events – dressage (horse-rider ballet), cross-country, show jumping – but in Israel, she will compete against riders who specialize in the jumping phase.

“These are people who really have been doing just dressage their whole lives or just stadium (another name for show jumping). I’ve done all three; I wasn’t specializing, but I guess they thought I was good enough.”

Second, she will have to compete without her own horse, an 8-year-old bay thoroughbred named Noble. While other riders are flying their horses over, she and another teammate must draw names of horses from a hat.

That means, during competition, Glazer must clear jumps as high as four feet on a mount she barely knows, and they’ll only have a couple days to get acquainted.

“Some may draw from a hat and get an easy horse to ride; others may be young horses that you have to ride with every bit of experience you’ve ever learned.”

“It makes it harder for me for sure,” she added. “A lot of people, like the Israeli team, know their horses, get to ride their horses, so they have a big advantage.”

Glazer clears a jump in Ocala, FL. Watching in the background is Neal Shapiro, an Olympic medalist in the 1972 Munich Games, who is working with the young equestrienne.

Glazer clears a jump in Ocala, FL. Watching in the background is Neal Shapiro, an Olympic medalist in the 1972 Munich Games, who is working with the young equestrian. (photo by Karen Abrams)

To neutralize that advantage, Glazer has been by training on several horses. Plus, she’s working with two notable trainers – Neal Shapiro, a silver and bronze medalist in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, and Julie Richards, a bronze medalist in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

“Hopefully, no matter what horse I get,” Glazer said, “I’ll be able to use my skills I’ve developed over the years to put in a good round.”

Richards, who has been working with Glazer for 1½ years at her farm in Georgia, said her protégé has a tough, but not insurmountable, challenge.

“She’s very dedicated,” Richards said. “She’s a brave rider; she’s got a lot of a natural talent.”

“If she wants it, she’ll get there,” Richards said. “There are so many people in the sport riding only one horse and getting confident on that one horse. She’s been working with me riding other horses on our farm, and she’s leased many new horses … I have been impressed with the way she has it down.”

Glazer has been riding almost as long as she’s been walking.

In fact, Karen Abrams, her mother, recalls the day Glazer and her sister, Mallory, sat in the saddle for the first time.

“I do remember it,” said Abrams, former chair of the JCL Board of Directors. “The girls had their lesson first then I had a lesson. I almost cried; I was so excited to see that they both loved horses.

Mallory (Glazer’s sister) rode until she was 14. Nicholas (her brother) rode until he was 18, so they stuck with it a long time. But they didn’t live and breathe horses the way Andrea did. She would have lived at the barn if I would have let her.”

Glazer, riding Bea, when she became the 2015 Intercollegiate Intermediate Ride rof the Year. (photo by J.J. Sillman)

Glazer, riding Bea, when she became the 2015 Intercollegiate Intermediate Rider of the Year. (photo by J.J. Sillman)

Glazer said her father, Jeff Glazer, who does not ride, has nevertheless been “passionate” in his support for his daughter sports career.

The Maccabiah Games, which run from July 4-18, were first held in 1932 in British mandate Palestine. This year, about 10,000 athletes from more than 80 countries are expected to compete in 43 sports. The Maccabiah also has masters, juniors, paralympic  and open divisions.

An Adath Jeshurun member and BBYO alumnus, this will be Glazer’s second trip to Israel. “Before my bat mitzvah, I went with my family. I’m so excited for falafel.”

She’ll also find time to work with her horse and connect with the rest of the equestrian time (all women) with whom she’s only communicated on Facebook.

After the games, Glazer, senior marketing major at Auburn University, will fly directly to Melbourne, Australia to take a marketing job with the Melbourne Cup, the biggest horse race down under.

Previously she had a marketing internship at Churchill Downs.

“I interned there when American Pharoah won the Triple Crown and I got to meet him,” Glazer said. “He was so sweet and so nice. You’d expect him to be mean and crazy but no, he loved to be petted. He was great.”

Horses are definitely in her future.

One hundred percent,” she said, “and in the racing industry. After Churchill Downs I knew this is what I want to do. Horse racing and marketing, they’re my passions.”

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