From childhood, I knew I wanted to work with horses. This was a passion instilled at a very young age as my family started me with horses at age three. When I was old enough for a library card, my journey began.
I would go to the old Lakewood library, and check out as many books as my father would allow at one time -- all of which were about equine care, equine anatomy, physiology, and horses in general. My parents encouraged me to follow this passion, and my family helped me get involved with horse people in our community so that I could begin my "equestrian career". While I think my parents had hoped my horse obsession was a phase, turns out decades later I haven't let up. Ha!
I had some wonderful opportunities to work with horses in my youth which helped me decided that I wanted to be a large-animal veterinarian. I was honored to receive one of several national undergrad scholarships at the time from Colorado State University's College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. With great enthusiasm, I accepted and so, began my journey in pre-veterinary studies, primarily focused in equine science and a minor in agricultural science.
Life threw me a curveball in 2006, as a drunk driver changed the course of my life forever. Thankfully, even with all of the injuries I sustained, I was fortunate to make a full recovery after about a year and a half of surgeries, therapies, and making a new start.
Because of the injuries I had sustained I could not attend university, and lost my scholarship at CSU. Being one who didn't want to take on the large amount of student debt associated with vet school, my career path changed--for the better I say. : )
My own physical therapy and journey to recovery played a role in sparking a new interest -- equine rehabilitative care and sports therapy. I saw the lasting and powerful effects of things like acupuncture, massage therapy, physical therapy, and later, PEMF, and was astounded. If these modalities could help me recover from such a horrific accident, multiple surgeries, and over a year of rehabilitation, surely they could do the same for horses.
During my recovery, I ended up studying business, and became a TPA consultant for one of the country's leading third party benefits administrators, but I never gave up my passion for working with horses and their people. I continued my education in equine studies, this time focusing more on integrative therapies.
In my early 20's, I worked with OTTBs from Arapahoe race track in Colorado, and learned a great deal about equine rehabilitation through those years of experience which I later applied in my work with local horse rescues. During this time, I also worked on a cattle ranch through the summers, allowing me to obtain an even deeper understanding of the horse (and the cattle industry). For fun, I barrel raced and went to local gymkhanas which helped me learn a great deal about BALANCE.
By my mid-20s, I had begun working with students of my own, teaching fundamentals of riding as well as coaching new horse owners on horse purchase, and horsemanship, care, and horse maintenance. I began schooling OTTBs that were not suited to racing in order to show their potential in other disciplines. During those years, I also served on the board and co-founded several horse related organizations in order to further my knowledge, and help the horse community where I lived.
One such organization, afforded me the opportunity to work at King of Hearts Ranch as the organization's Vice President where we rehabilitated literally hundreds of horses over the course of my five years with them and ultimately came to be known as the fastest growing equine rescue in the country.
By 2015 I had moved to northeastern Colorado where I worked with horses on a consulting basis, as well as rehabilitated horses for riders competing in a plethora of disciplines. During that time equine sports therapies and equine nutrition became focal points.
Around that times, I took a great interest in saddle fitting, as I noticed that general education regarding saddle fit was lacking at large in the horse world and I was frustrated with my own challenges in helping the many rescue horses I would foster or adopt. Most of the horses that came to me were suffering from the pain caused by ill-fitting saddles. I began studying saddles and saddle fitting, gaining knowledge from experts in Colorado and beyond, and I am now able to share that knowledge that I have learned over the years with others.
Later, I began to hear about BEMER from a friend and took great interest in this device. I was introduced to PEMF coil devices by my local vet at the time, which I then began using on a special case -- a horse that had suffered extreme neglect. I was so impressed by my findings in using two different devices, that this led me to study PEMF therapy, PEMF devices, and to certify in PEMF therapy through the AOPP and several other institutions. Side note - BEMER is amazing and is helping horses all over the world!
Also during that time, I had returned to my studies, and through the years have learned from bodywork experts such as Jim Masterson and Mike Scott. Eventually, I completed a series of certifications or re-certifications through continued education. My education continues today and will for the remainder of my life.
Eventually I relocated to northwest Arkansas in 2022 to live near my family. It didn't take long to get involved with the AR horse community, and fall in love with the beauty of the Natural State.
Most recently, I have returned to an old interest -- thermography. Some years ago I had an injured quarter horse mare, and despite her seeing multiple specialists, no veterinarian I took her to was able to diagnose her. I resorted to thermal imaging on a hunch, and sure enough, we were finally able to determine that the horse had a mysterious shoulder injury. Thermography helped me so much with that mare, and I always wanted to learn more about it and eventually was able to invest in my own equipment and education on the subject in order to help other horse owners and their equines. Presently, I continue to study equine thermography via the works of Maria Soroko-Dubrovina, a "pioneer" of equine thermal imagine in veterinary application.
I'm thrilled to be serving the NWA horse community, and hope to continue to collaborate with fellow equine professionals, and to help horses heal and live their best lives now and in the future.