LifeLine

I am 19 years old and I am an only child. I grew up in Brighton, Mi with my parents, my dogs, my cat, and, briefly, my cousin. I went to public school for Kindergarten and first grade but then went to 2nd and 3rd grade at a private school in Northville, William Allen Academy. In 4th grade I entered St. Patricks Catholic School in Brighton and went there until high school. In 5th grade I started riding horses at Sterling Training Center, a training barn that had Morgan horses. My cousin, Caleb, came to live with us in 6th grade. He lived with us for a year but he has always been like a brother figure. Having him at home was such a blast. My parents bought me my first horse, 'Ace', when I was 11. My first season showing Ace (2003), we won the 13 & under Hunter Pleasure National Championships, and then the World Championship. The following year I started riding another seat, Saddle Seat, as well as continuing to show Ace in hunt seat. I also started high school at Father Gabriel Richard High. I had a good group of friends at Richard but my main focus was the horses. In 2005, Ace & I won the national and worlds for hunter pleasure and also the national for hunt seat equitation. Equitation is the sport of riding where the rider's position and horsemanship are judged. I fell in love with the sport. In the beginning of 2006 my parents bought me my second horse, "Sophie", a 5 year old mare who I was going to ride Saddle Seat. I showed her a few times that season and had success. The following year (junior year of hs) we moved my horses from Howell, Michigan (30 minutes from my house) to Marshall, Michigan (an hour and a half way) to work with Mary Carlton of Crystal Farms...the best equitation trainer in the country. Riders 'age out' of equitation when they turn 18 so when I went to Mary's I had 2 seasons left. My life long goal was to win equitation worlds with Ace and I wanted to pursue saddle seat equitation on Sophie. In April Sophie died unexpectedly...that was really hard. It was definitely a point in my life that I wont ever forget. Thankfully I had a great support system that helped me through it and many generous horse owners who loaned me their horses while I looked for a new partner. Right before Nationals we found my current saddle seat horse, Lovey, and she was perfect. I went to Worlds and won the national saddle seat equitation championship on Lovey and I reached my dream on Ace and won the Hunt Seat Equitation World Championship. To this day that was the best day of my life. Nothing will ever top that for me.
That was in the beginning of senior year. Senior year rocked. I had a blast with my friends and I spent nearly all my free time training for equitation with a personal trainer and just having a blast. Then I broke my arm like a week before Christmas. Which oddly enough freed me up to hang out with my friends more and it didn't put me behind too much with my training...I rebounded really quickly.






The summer after Senior year was the best summer of my life - easily. I basically lived in Marshall with one of my riding friends, Chelsea. She is my best friend and we had a blast. College was an ongoing challenge for me - I was registered to go to school in Missouri for the horses at William Woods University but I pulled out at the last minute because I couldn't find a barn for my horses down there that I liked and I decided to go to Western Michigan University. At the last minute I pulled out of there as well because my family's financial situation changed and I had a choice between going there with student loans or keeping my horses and going to Washtenaw Community College for a year without student loans...So I chose Washtenaw. I went there the last two semesters and tried to figure out what I wanted to major in. I have always been interested in law...and I am very passionate about politics...I was exciting about getting to vote last year for like a week! So I looked into going to MSU for prelaw but then I found the Paralegal Studies program here and it seemed like a good option. So here I am! I spent my last winter and this summer working at Crystal Farms, riding as much as possible. Although I am going to school to become a paralegal and possibly go to Law School, my dream is to become a Morgan Horse Trainer and Equitation Instructor so I am trying to continue my education in that while going to school. My parents needed a money break this show season so they couldn't pay for me to show but I ended up being asked to show a Crystal Farms Client's horse, Nemo, and I am preparing to take him to Oklahoma City in October for the National and World Championships.

Other than horses, I would say my hobbies include reading, hanging out with my friends - I throw some fun bonfires in the summer, movies, and goofing off and laughing. This past summer I also worked for the Morgan Connection...a national horse magazine. I went to Michigan Horse Shows and wrote write ups about them. It was such a blast and it led me to consider a minor in journalism. My family, my faith, and my friendships are very important to me. Oh I love country music...and pretty much any other genre that have lyrics that I like. Oh and I love sunsets or sunrises...mostly sunsets since I hate waking up early but I think they are so beautiful...really the sky in general amazes me.