About

I grew up riding horses in Reno NV, after riding whatever I could get my hands on, a friend of the family gave me my first horse “Malika” when I was 10 years old. Malika and I showed in the rail classes at Arabian shows, did endurance rides, and eventually dressage, which got me hooked. A few years later my parents bought me an OTTB named Nevada Special, I took him from Training Level to Third Level, and won many Junior Championships on him. From there, I moved to San Juan Bautista, CA to live closer to my coaches Liz Searle, Jeff Moore, and Laurel Bruun. I was a working student for them from 1993-1997. In that time working closely with Jeff Moore, I learned about breeding, managing a farm, and training a horse to Grand Prix. After my time there, I moved back to Reno and started my own training business. Shortly after my return to Reno I was injured in a skiing accident and took a couple of years off from riding to heal, in that healing time, I took the opportunity to travel a bit and explore new places. In this time I also worked for Large and Small animal Veterinarians, as a Vet Tech and Office Manager. But Reno and the horses kept pulling me back. So in 2006 I settled back in Reno, and restarted my training business. Since then I have trained several horses to Grand Prix. The process takes time, but the journey is worth it.

In 2021 love and life had me relocate to the town of Columbia, MO. I am excited for new adventures ahead and new communities to become a part of.

Jeff Moore was instrumental in my basics of dressage, he taught me how to train a horse to Grand Prix, and he taught me how to create a program to move horses up the level and think of them as individuals. He is a brilliant mind, and an amazing teacher of both rider and horse biomechanics as well as “horse think”. I believe you cannot have one without the other, you must understand why and how a horse is doing something as well as how and why a rider is doing something to truly progress. I continue to work with Jeff when I can, time and distance has made that tricky over the years, but when possible I never miss an opportunity to learn from him. I also have studied the biomechanics on my own with his recommendations. Dressage is a difficult sport, and I am making it a goal in my teaching to help my students understand “biomechanics” in a simpler way, by thinking outside the box and not getting caught up in the training process having to happen on a certain time frame. Since 2018 I have also worked closely with Kathy Pavlich while in Reno. She became a great coach to me at home and at shows. I am hoping I can get her to Missouri one day for a clinic.

Over the years I have also organized or taken clinics with the Baron Hans Von Blixen-Finecke, Heather Blitz, Chelsey Sibley, Scott Hassler, Catherine Haddad-Staller, Rachel Saavedra, Brian Hafner, Ingo Pape, David Wightman, and Willy Arts. In 1995 I attended one of Tom Dorrance’s last clinics. He was unlike any other “cowboy” I had ever watched or learned from, his understanding of how horses think and react was incredible, since that clinic I have also attended clinics from Buck Brannaman. I have also attended seminars with Mary Wanless and Dr Hilary Clayton. I was also invited to the last 2 years of the Hassler Young Dressage Horse Symposiums at Riveredge and Hassler Dressage. In 2014 I was invited to travel to Verden, Germany with USEF as part of the Young Horse Experience training program.

I enjoy helping and teaching clients that have an eagerness to learn, try new things, have open minds, and are dedicated to developing their skills. I enjoy staying with a horse and rider as long as possible to give them a solid foundation and move them up the levels. The most important thing is not showing or riding to the Grand Prix level, but to enjoy your process, your horse, and the people you surround yourself with in that process.