I grew up in the Santa Cruz area and started riding at the age of 5. As a junior rider, I competed in dressage and hunter jumpers participating in many junior and year end championships. At a young age, I started to enjoy riding difficult/problem horses for friends and barn mates; at 14 I began starting horses under saddle and specializing in off the track Thoroughbreds, preparing them for new careers in the sport horse world.

While traveling and away at college earning a degree in Equine Studies and Business Management, I began working my English show horses out on some working cattle ranches. I found that giving them a real job outside of the arena proved to be very enhancing for the horse’s mind. I was then chosen for a Ray Hunt winter workshop in Texas. Once the workshop was over, I was asked to stay to work and live in Texas for Ray. Working for Ray I was immersed in starting colts in what most people would call the “natural horsemanship” style, but also known as what Ray would just call common sense. I was in Texas for a little over a year- and I loved every second of it.