When she was just a kid, growing up in rural Brill, Wisconsin, Ann Lapacinski was lucky to share a passion for horses and showing with her mother.

“When I was in kindergarten I can remember getting picked up by my mom on our old horse Rusty who was a Quarter Horse/Welsh Pony cross and we would ride him home bareback,” she explained.”

As she got older the family got involved in 4-H and competition. Ann’s sister showed too, but really didn’t like it. Ann and her mom, however, really did.

“Then we went through our county fair and won our first state championship and  started thinking  ‘what else is out there.’”

For the past few years, Lapacinski has been finding out….just what’s out there.

“We did open shows and moved up over the years,” she said. “I remember early on thinking the fair was like the pinnacle of horse showing. If you won there then that was it. It blew my mind to find out that people were showing every single weekend. As we met more and more people we started doing more and more. We moved on to the Buckskin Association for a while and that was great. The first horse I showed in the Buckskin Association was called Stars Taxi and she was a 100% ranch-bred mare. We showed her in everything we possibly could and won a couple Buckskin World Championships before we retired her to our farm.”

Then, in September of 2020 while working as an anesthetist, Lapacinski took her mom (who is also a nurse) out to Nichols Performance Horses in New Alburn, Wisconsin to look at a yearling by the name of Maybe Next Time (Hot Dog) that Sherrie and Dave Nichols had bred.

“My mom and I went out to see him in our scrubs and my mom just held him and said ‘I love this horse’ and when we saw him move we knew we had to have him.”

Lapacinski said the 2019 bay gelding by The Next Detail out of Luke Im Hot was so long and lanky that he looked like a hot dog, which is how he earned his barn name.

 “At the time we bought him our barn wasn’t finished so we put up portable stalls in the garage and he lived in the garage for six months until the barn was finished,” Lapacinski recalled. “We had 85 round pen panels to create a pasture for him and we moved them every two weeks or so.”

For Hot Dog’s training, Lapacinsk turned to Dawn Baker, of Baker Futurity Horses in Sunbury, Ohio.

“I have watched Dawn ride over the years, even before she became a horse trainer,” Lapacinski said. “She’s had such an incredible career and while I like to do a bunch of fact finding and word of mouth from other people but there is just something about her when she rides.”

In April Baker and Hot Dog were Circuit Champions in Green Hunter Under Saddle at the Orange Blossom Circuit in Ocala, Florida, where they were also Sudden Impulse Level 1 Green Hunter Under Saddle Champions.

“He has finally grown into his body,” Ann said. “He is slow legged with a flat front leg. He profiles beautifully. When you see him on the rail you can’t help but look at him. He has such reach and is so soft in his movements.”

They followed their success in Florida up with a win in the Novice Horse Open Hunter Under Saddle at the Back To Berrien Futurity in Michigan in June and were also the winners of the $2,500 Limited Horse Hunter Under Saddle Maturity. Ann also showed Hot Dog to a win in the Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle Maturity at the Back To Berrien Futurity.

“Dawn has never discounted who I am and has never made me feel insignificant,” she said. “From the start, she has listened to me and asked me about my goals. She is the first trainer I have had who actually lets me participate in the process.”

That was evident last month when she piloted Hot Dog to a win in the Breeders Championship Futurity 4-to-6-Year-Old Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle at the National Snaffle Bit Association (NSBA) World Championship Show. Baker and Hot Dog also claimed a World Championship title in Green Hunter Under Saddle.

“This was my first year showing at NSBA and that in and of itself was a goal,” Ann said. “To watch your horse progress with trainer that you love and trust and respect is huge. I just want to have a great ride each and every time, placings are secondary to that.”

Hot Dog will be shown at the Quarter Horse Congress, AQHA World Show and the Florida winter events in Amateur and Limited Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle with Ann in the irons and with Baker in Level 1 and Novice Horse Hunter Under Saddle.

“He is the sweetest horse,” Ann said. “He wants to be everyone’s friend and he is always happy to see you. He knows I am his person and now that he is in this program he is so happy. He is just a kind soul.”

Owning a horse with such an even temperament makes life so much easier for a busy professional like Lapacinski.

She  earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Wisconsin at Madison where she was a Pre-law/Political Science Major.

“I wanted to save the world and go into International Law but then I started diving into the LSATs and studying for them and realized it wasn’t for me,” she said.

Lapacinski went back to school in Green Bay, Wisconsin, this time to study nursing.

“My mom is a nurse of almost 40 years and she always said to go into nursing because you would never want for a job,” she explained.” After graduating knew I wanted to do more so I worked in the Cardiac ICU for four years and then went back and got my Masters in Nurse Anesthesia.”

Lapacinski worked at Level 1 Trauma Centers in pediatric trauma and burn trauma. Now she is an independent practitioner, a role she loves because she can set her own schedule, making showing easier.

“I love my job and it’s an amazing field,” she said.

In 2013 Ann married her longtime love, Ben Larson, who works in software design and implementation.      

“We have known each other since sixth grade CCD and started out as friends,” she explained. “We were friends through middle school, started dating in high school before taking a break during college. We reconnected in 2005 and have been together since.”

During the Covid pandemic, Ben and Ann purchased 40 acres southeast of Osseo, Wisconsin.

“It’s called Prairie Creek Quarter Horses,” Ann said. “When we bought it there was just a house and a garage so we put up a barn and installed the fence and got to really design it to our needs. I would love to expand it one day but for now it’s perfect for us.”

And it will be the perfect place for Hot Dog one day.

“I know I am going to own him forever, he is definitely my heart horse,” Ann said. “He will be swimming in the pond at our house at 16.”