Beginnings

I started my journey with horses at age nine when I learned how to ride on the U.S. Cavalry horses at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas. My journey then took me to California where I had the privilege of training with equestrian and renowned polo player, Sue Sally Hale.

My great passions as a teenager were three-day eventing and spending time with my horse Fibber trail riding, taking him swimming in the Carmel River, and as an instructor, watching him teach children how to ride. I also participated in local hunter-jumper shows, learned how to play polo, and started several horses for friends and clients.

This was also the time when I had my first “taste” of dressage. I was taking lessons with my second horse, Rumour, and experienced the feel of a horse doing an extended trot – I felt like I was flying….

Reconnecting

After a break from horses for college, a move to England, raising a family, and starting a career in Nutrition and Dietetics I reconnected with my “horsey” past and started going on “hacks” in the English countryside.

This is also when I had my second “taste” of dressage. I was taking a lesson and experienced what it was like to ride a horse moving in a correct, rounded frame – the swinging back, the springy trot, the rhythm, the pure joy of moving forward freely… at that point in my riding career it was an accident but my goal then was to feel that again someday. .

Continuing the Journey

Since then I have immersed myself in classical dressage, have discovered “natural horsemanship”, and have rediscovered my enjoyment for teaching others about my passion. So now having learned how to have a better, safer, more harmonious relationship with my horses I continue my journey with them and want to share that with other people.

I have been actively involved in the horse rescue community since 2005. In January of this year I became a foster home for Save a Forgotten Equine (SAFE). In addition to providing a temporary home for several foster horses, I have had the opportunity to provide training for them depending on their needs.

As well as being an avid reader, I regularly participate in and audit clinics, including those of Jon Ensign. Henrik Johansen. Buck Brannaman, Ken McNabb. Conrad Schumacher and Hilda Gurney.

My greatest teachers, though, have been the horses whose paths I have had the fortune to cross.

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