We All Start Somewhere

Everyone comes to the equestrian world in their own way, but most equine professionals start young. The typical story is they’ve been riding their whole life and becoming a professional was just a natural step. I am NOT your typical professional. I haven't done anything in a typical way from the way I started riding to the way I handle the equestrian world now.

Like a lot of professionals, I did start riding as a little kid, but unlike the majority I quit shortly after I started and didn’t keep riding. I wasn't exactly an overconfident kid and when a horse took off with me that was the end of the whole riding thing. Fear got the best of me, but when I was 17 my friend convinced me to lease a horse with her, and since I was a teenager and very confident in what I didn’t know, I started riding a lovely horse in someone’s back yard. Falling quickly into the "how cool is it I have a horse?!" mindset, I rode all the time in the Northern Ohio weather.... outside, in the snow, all winter long. Leasing that horse, and going all in, started me back with horses and I haven't looked back since.

When I went to college, I joined the equestrian team and moved from walk trot up the levels, even getting to compete at IHSA Nationals. Lucky for me the team was very small so even though I had almost no experience I got to ride and compete at every show. Over summer breaks I started working in a barn at a summer camp in Western North Carolina and learned A LOT about riding, horse care, and teaching from not only my boss but the amazing girls I got to work with every day. By my senior year I had the opportunity to work at a dressage barn and learn the beginnings of what would become the base of all my training and teaching, and barn management skills after being made camp manager for a summer.

When I graduated, I didn’t want to get a job with my degree. That was a two-part problem, there weren't jobs for new teachers in 2009 and the idea of being in a school and stuck in a schedule like that made me panic. A friend from camp suggested I try a working student job for a bit and that sounded like the best idea to avoid being an actual adult, so I did it.

I took a job as a working student for what was supposed to be a year at a sales and training barn. I loved it and, while I definitely had a rough start of falling off every other day the first month, I learned so much and realized being an equine professional was my calling. That year turned into two and then into my whole life.

I bounced around a bit working at a lesson barn, a summer camp as their riding director/barn manager, and a tack shop just to make it work teaching lessons where and when I could. That was, until I went for a very interesting riding lesson..... I went for a lesson with a friend to a new-to-me trainer (we had talked maybe twice before) and she asked if I would want to take over the farm she was running. She was moving to a larger farm and thought I would be perfect based on what she had heard about me. At the time I was teaching lessons on my horses at someone's back yard farm, this would have been a huge upgrade and a huge leap of faith because it wouldn't be part time anymore, it would be my entire life. After a few days of "oh my gosh what if I fail?" I interviewed with the barn owner and took the job.

I was there for 8 years until I moved to my current farm in 2020. Now I run a full boarding and training facility, teach lessons, and still get to work at a summer camp part time. My path may have had a lot of turns and loops, but I did end up in the exact place I should be.

I hope hearing my story gives you hope that no matter how you get your start or how long it takes to learn, there's always a place for new people in the horse world no matter how old you are.