Bending Line Saddlery’s owner and founder, Laurel Bodkin, is just another horse-crazy girl like so many others before her. She started riding at Canterbury Farm’s original location in Elgin, IL before “Tally Ho” relocated to Lamplight Equestrian Center once the Canterbury property moved to Hampshire, IL. Laurel continued riding on the intercollegiate team at Iowa State University before moving to Kansas City, where she finally purchased her first horse, an ex-Grand Prix Jumper named “Steel”. After pretending to be a jumper for 3 years, she moved back to the Hunter ring as a part of the Champion Equestrian crew.

As an equine and swine vaccine developer by trade, Laurel moved from Kansas City to Florida and closed the door on her career in corporate America to pursue her lifelong dream of being a business owner, and so Bending Line Saddlery was born in February of 2021. Bending Line is a fresh, new, mobile retail space that serves the English equestrian show communities of Central and Southern Florida. Laurel loves celebrating in her client’s successes, from those competing in their first short stirrup division to the Grand Prix ring. She has unlimited ideas for where she wants to go and how to grow her business and is enjoying every moment of the process! Laurel currently rides at True Blue Farm in Sarasota with her horse “Chet” (Chartered Flight).