I've gotten to do a lot of things in my life....mom, horse trainer, dog musher, logging, mining, camp cook, photographer...and each of these things have given me a new perspective on life.   About work ethics, love of nature and the sheer joy that animals can give you. 

My horse experiences started when I was five with ponies to ride.  We were raised in Fairbanks, Alaska where the winters are VERY cold!  But the summers were awesome.  Our neighbors had horses/ponies and the owner, Libby Wescott, put me up and turned me loose....I spent the summers with my sister running rampant bareback, switch in hand, and wide open. When I turned 13 my mom had enough of my hormones interfering with my brain and I was "forced" to learn Transcendental Meditation AND ride with a German trainer from Canada, who, taught of all things......Dressage.  For a barrel racing fool, this was the kiss of death!  But those lessons cemented in my mind what I wanted to do.  My mom hoped I would lose interest...it didn't work.  When I turned eighteen I left for Potomoc Horse Center to get certification in stable managment and instructing.   Something I am very grateful for as  they are the ones that taught me that the "right way is the only way".  No excuses.  At that time the teaching staff at the Maryland facility had some incredible instructors from England where horsemanship is an art and their standards  were incredibly high.  I was lucky enough from that graduating class, to be picked as a student to work at  the barns at Gladstone, as a lowly slave.   I chickened out....girl from Alaska syndrome got in the way.

Well, to make a long story short, I have spent the last 45 years riding horses!  I have stopped here and there to try different things, but have always come back to horses.   My greatest joy is not in the winning...it's figuring out how to make a horse perform HAPPILY!  Sometimes it takes lots of detective work.  Chiropractors, farriers, vets, accupuncture and massage therapy.  Horses can't speak, but their reluctance/resistance to work can often be because of issues that we can fix for them. Proper saddle fitting and feet head the top of the list.   If their feet are in pain, it travels up their shoulders to their polls, neck back and clear into their hindquarters.