Describe your involvement in the Arabian horse breed as a volunteer, and what your accomplishments are:
My involvement in the industry on the everyday level consists of training and a large lesson program. In the last few years, we have added a non-profit, Arizona Reining Equestrian Team, into the mix to promote the sport of reining, bring Arabians into the spotlight as credible reiners, and to give non horse owning kids a way to enter a national level competition. As it is a non-profit, all lessons and show fees are contributed to ARET, and I do it completely on a volunteer basis.
Additionally, I am the Vice Chair for the AHA working western committee which has been an outstanding opportunity to learn about the mechanics of AHA, and I work on the Region 7 show commission, mainly in scheduling.
What are some of the highlights and successful moments involving the Arabian horse for you in 2015?
This year we were asked to bring horses to the IEA in Oklahoma City where kids draw a name out of a hat to see who they will ride. We brought four arabians and, although they were only horsemanship mounts, kids riding arabian won 3 national championships. I felt like it was an outstanding way to get arabians into the main stream and open competition!
2015 was an incredible year! Highlights for me were:
Jody Strand “catch riding” a reiner for the Celebrity Slide, and winning!
Youth Nationals:
Champion Showmanship, McKenna Bein
Champion Trail, and reserve, McKenna Bein (Champion on a horse we bred!)
Champion English Trail, Shelby Reid
Champion Western Trail, Shelby Reid
Champion Reining, and reserve, Karoline Lewis
High roller champion arab open SH Karoltta
High Roller Reserve PB Futurity DU Kharnival
If someone were to describe you, what would they say about you?
I would hope that someone would describe me as a woman of integrity, always putting the future of the arabian horse first.
Who has been your biggest influence in the Arabian breed in getting you to where you are today?
When I was a kid, my mom was my biggest influence as she took me places and introduced me to the vastness of the industry. Professionally, I’ve have been molded by many professionals. Mentoring is everything in this industry and I have been privileged to have information shared with me along the way!
Name one show ring quirk you have:
Just one? I’m not even sure I can narrow it down to a top ten! I would say being at the gate on time. Since I get to dabble in show management as well, I know how much easier the show runs when exhibitors do their job. In working western, we can shave an hour off the day by just having the riders ready to enter when the previous horse in done showing