About Me

About Me


 
   I retired three years ago after training horses full time for fifteen years.
   I started by giving lessons and starting a colt here and there. I progressed through training and showing all around for a color breeder to competition in reined cow horse.
   I apprenticed for two years with one of the top cow horse trainers in the country. My last job entailed training cow horses for a small ranch in Colorado.
    As the years flew by I became more and more freaked by the accepted methods of treatment used on show horses for the sake of the industry. I began to question every choice I made, from keeping horses in box stalls to starting long yearlings.
   Adding to my thoughts and questions was the fact I was twenty years older than most of the "up and coming" trainers I competed with, and seemed to be destined to wallow in the limited open classes for the rest of my career.
   Was I disillusioned because I couldn't push myself and the horses I was hired to ride hard enough? Or was it simply because I was a no-talent hack screaming foul to cover my own inadequacies? 
  
   Is it possible to train and show a happy, healthy and winning horse in my much loved Reined Cow Horse competitions?
             Exploring where this conundrum takes me is the purpose of this blog.
    My training philosophy and method come from a combination of my jobs, the trainers I rode with, both good and bad, and lots of reading.
   My stories are as true as my recollections make them. They explore the way horses have shaped my life, and now I can share it with you. Too cool.
            These days I am a writer for the Fountain Valley News in Fountain CO. and happily waiting
          out my five years of banishment from the pro-circuit to regain my amateur status. My horses,
Madonna and Odin, seem to like the non-pro life as much as I do.

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