I’m your textbook horse girl.

I took my first riding lesson in 1986 at the age of 5. I fell off. I was hooked for life.

Since then, there have been more ups and downs than a 5 star cross country course. I rode as a kid, but was always a bit of an outsider on the very exclusive Virginia circuit. My barn had the rusty trailer that ships into the AA show that everyone gives the side eye, pretending not to see the kids who get run away with during the under saddle class or fall off in the warm up ring. On a good day, I could pin with the best of them, but the main problem was those “good days” were few and far between, and much more due to luck than any sort of plan.

In my 20s, I wised up - if you can call graduating from college and immediately taking a job managing Hunterdon, Inc through their last season of WEF after being back in the saddle for only a year wise. I’m proud to say that not only did I manage the heck out of that place, I also made it through the whole season without an ulcer. Upon our return to New Jersey in April of 2005, I was told that the business was being sold, and I had earned a good recommendation to look for another gig.

Well, continue on I did. I had the privilege to work for some of the top names in the sport, establishing myself as a freelance groom/trainer/rider/manager/catch-all. I worked indoors, the Capitol Challenge, and other major shows up and down the east coast for the majority of my 20s.

After 8 years in “the biz”, I burnt out and dusted off that old college degree, establishing a career in marketing. I thought that horses were done forever, until in 2018, I tentatively started to half lease a horse at a local show barn in Boulder, CO where I lived at the time.

Fast forward to today - I’ve bought and sold two horses and am on my third. My husband and I placed horses high on the list when we made our move back to the East coast, and I landed in horse heaven - Richmond, VA, just miles from where I grew up. Follow along on all of my horsey adventures, and please share your own as well!