I grew up in town, on a small acreage, in a large city in Texas. That I was extremely horse crazy from the time I was 4 would be an understatement, but at that time, having a horse wasn’t in the cards. In the summer of 1989, we moved from a small town in Oklahoma, to the then small, planned community of Flower Mound, Texas. Finally. My dream would come true, only 7 years after falling in love with horses.
My first horse was a 5 year old, blood-bay, grade, appendix bred gelding named Butch. He was kind, thoughtful and pretty much bombproof. He’d come off the local dude string and he was my best friend. Daddy gave me 6 weeks to tire of feeding him twice a day. Obviously, he underestimated my determination. We rode all over the community, he and I, having adventures. Butch, was the beginning of my journey.
I’ve been around horses my entire life since then. Everything from exercising polo ponies, to barrel racing, to roping calves in and out of the arena. I rodeoed in high school and received a college scholarship to Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, NM where I competed in the goat tying, breakaway and barrel racing. After two years there, I needed a change, so transferred to Tarleton State University and in 2002 received a Bachelor’s in Business Administration. While there I interned with a reined cow horse trainer for three years. After graduating I went on to train barrel horses, coach up and coming rodeo stars, as well as taught riding lessons to many horseless kids. In 2008 I moved to South Dakota to the Ducheneaux Ranch to work with their horse program.
Moving here changed the way I view my relationship with horses. My focus has shifted from making barrel/rodeo horses, to making broke horses that I can run barrels on, using the horsemanship principles of Ray Hunt/Buck Brannaman. Since 2010 I have ridden annually with Buck Brannaman. You can often find me at barrel races from South Dakota to Texas. I’ll be the one riding in McCarty reins and a snaffle bit, so be sure to say “Hi” if you see me!
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