About Me

I was the typical horse-crazy little girl asking for a horse for Christmas every year and begging for riding lessons. I finally started taking regular lessons when I was 10, at Thorobrook Farms in Harrison, NY. I rode there for a few years and showed in some local hunter shows (When I say local, I mean very local - I usually just rode in the schooling shows at my barn!) In high school, I bounced around at different barns, never really finding a place that suited me - or that was close enough to suit my schedule. I spent those summers at Vershire Riding School, where I was introduced to eventing. For college, I attended Mount Holyoke College, where I competed on the riding team for 2 years as part of the IHSA. I consider my time at MHC to be a major part of my riding education. Though the focus was on hunt-seat equitation, there were plenty of opportunities for dressage and some cross country (How many colleges do you know that have their own XC course on campus?!?) After college, I found myself riding at a small local barn where I also did some teaching of beginner riders. I took a break from showing, but developed my 'horse sticking' skills - at that barn, they took advantage of my small size and often put me on whichever pony had been particularly bad that week. A few years later, I started grad school in Syracuse, NY. I had to focus more on my schoolwork, but did some riding at a dressage barn in the area. When I moved to North Carolina in 2004, I began taking lessons at a small eventing barn in Chapel Hill. A couple of years into that, a crazy red TB mare named Piper showed up. After spending my riding life on countless schoolhorses (the good, the bad, and the ugly!), I finally took the plunge and thanks to Piper's difficult temperament, bought my first horse for $1 (I payed with a $5 bill and got back change!) Piper and I eventually started working with Annie Nienaber and after several moves, ended up at Terrell's Creek Farm. We competed semi-successfully (depending a lot on Piper's mood, and maybe a little bit on my courage) at the Beginner Novice level at events around the South. As Piper got older and less sound, I had to cut back on competing and sadly, in July 2013 I lost Piper to a neurological condition. When I felt ready for my next horse, I started combing the CANTER websites because I knew I wanted an OTTB. To be continued.....