My Life with Horses

The Begining

I began my journey with horses at age 8 when I took a summer horse camp. It was the foundation I needed to be a horse crazy girl for life. That fall I joined the Snohomish County 4-H horse program. During my youth I competed in local and state 4-H horse shows in Dressage, English and Western equitation. I played around in the western games events and learned how to drive and jump. My 4-H experience was invaluable as I competed in Hippology and Horse Judging at the county, state and national levels. I learned so much from the Snohomish County program and I to continue to support the group. I also rode in local open horse shows and trail rode as much as possible. I went to Texas and rode in the Old Chisholm Trail ride in San Antonio, a truly fantastic experience.

I was fortunate to be able to have a weekly lesson with a very qualified instructor as a youth.  In addition at age 12 I attended my first “natural horsemanship” clinic with Steve Rother. This experience opened many doors for me. I attended many more clinics from Steve in the following years on several horses. This allowed me to take a firm hold of the information, exercises and desired responses. At any opportunity we would go and watch the tours of clinicians that stopped by the area.

The Search

As I graduated high school, 4-H and was preparing for college I wanted to continue my life path with horses. A college with an equine degree was the obvious choice. I attended Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming for one year. I learned so much in that year, mostly about what I wanted from my passion in horses. The degree I was in applied traditional methods of horse training for the show circuit. I wanted horsemanship. The following year I attended The University of Montana-Western, pursuing a Bachelors of Science in Natural Horsemanship. During my classes I rode with noted Montana horseman Jeff Griffith and Eric Hoffman.

My college degree still left me desiring more from horses, I was still in the hunt to find the missing links. I audited some major clinicians tour stops, rode with Lynn Palm, Monty Bruce and Terry Wegener during my search. I finally discovered Dennis Reis and Universal Horsemanship. The program offered was what I had been looking for. For me, it made my efforts worth while, honed my basic skills and showed me the path to advance. I have attended a 30 day school at Reis Ranch and a 30 day advanced Instructors school. Within Dennis’ program I have achieved 12 endorsements.

I currently reside in Snohomish, WA with my horses and loyal companion Hank the red heeler. I attend and ride with Dennis Reis many times each year. Both to improve my skills and to spend time with so many qualifed horse people. I work both in Snohomish and Bellingham,  WA and am available for training, lessons and clinics in both areas. Please visit my training page for more information.