CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

HOW IT STARTED

My parents always said it was because I was born 2 weeks after they hit at the racetrack.  However it happened, they found themselves saddled, if you will pardon the pun, with a horse crazy daughter.  After years of begging, I finally started taking lessons at nine.  When I was twelve my father heard about the original Fox Hollow Farm in Chester Springs, PA (Lockie Richards was there at the time) and started driving us out from the city for our lessons.  I continued riding through college, with Jan Gille at the Potomac Horse Center in Maryland and when home, still at Fox Hollow, then under the direction of Jeremy Beale.  Since that time, I have ridden with Buddy Brown, Peter Leone, and Maurice Honig, among others    

ON THE FARM

In 1980 I filed Horsefair as a fictitious name at the Chester County courthouse, acted as a sales agent, and started looking for a farm.  We found it in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania and started a commercial horse boarding and training facility in 1981.  While training horses to show hunters and dressage, I also fox hunted and galloped racehorses.  My focus has always been on paying attention to the details that predict behavior and offer the most benefit to horses and riders. 

In addition to teaching, riding, and managing the farm, I was head riding instructor and trainer.  This included coaching at dressage and hunter shows.  I also organized horseshows and clinics on-site.  We sold 2004 and I now freelance  teaching, training, and giving clinics.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

INSTRUCTION 

      Classical Balance Seat riding for pleasure, dressage and hunters (field and show) 

         Responsiveness training for horses 

         Awareness training for humans 

         Therapeutic Riding Instructor, 1999 to Present

         Train riders for Special Olympics Equestrian Teams and coach at the State Games at Penn State University since 1999  

  JUDGE 

          Local hunter shows 

          Therapeutic horse shows

   SALES AGENT 

          Horses sold for pleasure, competition, and foxhunting

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN 

 Horses: Prey Animals Living with Predators 

EDUCATION