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Horses
are my passion. Anytime some one asks, "How
long have you been doing this?," my first reply
is, "I was riding before I could walk." This
is my story.
 My
grandparents were in the racehorse business.
They raised and raced quarter horses in Idaho,
Oregon and Nevada for many years. I remember
riding around the arena again and again, in
the saddle in front of my granddad. After I
was too big to do that anymore, I had a pony
that mom and dad would haul up to my grandparent's
place as often as possible. Granddad taught
me how to train him. When I was about eight
years old I started negotiating with Grandma
to have one of her horses. After convincing
my mom and dad that I needed a horse of my own,
she agreed to sell me one. I chose a sweet little
blood bay colt out of a group of yearlings;
he cost me $500.00. In order to pay for him,
I worked it off by cleaning, grooming, foaling
and training. Grandma kept track of it by the
hour and deducted it from the balance on my
horse. I named him Cracker. It was love at first
site and we became inseparable. I trained him
myself, with some guidance from my granddad
here and there. That's really when I got the
bug, the "horse bug." My granddad says that
once you get it, you can never get rid of it.
I had several horses come and go through the
years, but that little blood bay with the Roman
nose will always be my favorite.
 Through
the following years I broke colts and exercised
horses as often as I could around the community.
I also showed in 4-H and took grand champion
Green Horse on several occasions. After high
school I attended Meredith Manor International
Equestrian Center, which is a riding school
in Waverly, West Virginia, known for its in-depth
equestrian program. All of its courses are related
to horses by theory, science and practice. I
rode western and dressage there, graduating
with a Riding Masters V. I then worked for numerous
trainers and owners in different states, training
in various disciplines (cutting, reining, barrel
racing and polo). I also rode a lot of sale
horses and broke many colts; some for show,
some for racing.
 After
moving to Texas, I didn't work with horses for
about five years, during which time I pursued
a corporate career. I missed the horses terribly
but I gained certain valuable skills that enabled
me to open and operate my own horse training
and riding instruction business. I have developed
a training and teaching program called "Be One Training" which envelopes the essence of "Becoming
One" with the horse through the use of natural
horsemanship skills. I am an advocate of Ron
Meredith, of Meredith Manor, and Ray Hunt.
This
is my lifelong dream and I hope to continue
to build my business and have a long-standing
reputation within the horse industry as being
a "good horsewoman." I thank God daily, for
the gift of this life and the ability to do
what I love the most.
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