Here is the story of me!

OK, this is all about my riding career, and how I got to be a trainer. I hope you enjoy the story, because it sure has been interesting to me. It all began long before I even existed, because I had a trainer for a Mom!

While she was growing up in Parma, Ohio, my mother's family lived on a small farm. They owned several of their own horses, and rented a few extra stalls to boarders. She trained both her own horses, and any boarders who required breaking or training. She also took instruction from a noted local horseman, who was able to teach her many secrets and techniques over the years.
(See photo of mom riding-1945!)

When mom was 25 years old, her training career was put on hold. She had met my father, and they decided to get married and raise a family. They bought a house in the city, and proceeded to have 2 children. My brother came first, and I was born 2 years after him.
(See photo of mom and dad-1948!)

I arrived into the world in 1952. I was in a hurry, so I almost appeared in dad's car, on the way to the hospital, and had to be pushed back twice! As it was, I was officially born only 15 minutes after we all arrived at the hospital. This hurried entrance into the world set the tone for a very interesting life. Little did I know what I was in for, when I took my first breath!
(See photo of one of many first encounters) (See photo of my first horse!)

My experience with horses began almost immediately. Mom always had two or three horses to work with, and as a result, I was literally riding before I was born (really!). Once I came into the world, my mom made sure that, as soon as I was able to hold myself upright, I was sitting on a horse.
(See photo of me at 5 years old) (See photo of my first canter-sorry it's blurry, but I thought it was hysterical)

My first memory of my life with horses was the time I got in trouble (not unusual for me) and crawled through the fence and toddled down to the barn barefoot, and in my diapers. My mother's frantic search found me hand feeding the horses some hay (the dears didn't even eat my fingers). And I can still remember the joy of finally learning how to post to a trot when I was six years old, or how I actually even learned to stay on over a jump, when I was eight.
(See photo of me at 8 years old)

As soon as my brother and I were old enough to go along, my mom was back at horse training and instruction again. She began to teach at a place called "Camp Robin" when I was ten. She had dozens of students, and taught group and private lessons. She required some help with the groups, and I assisted her for the three years we were there. She even taught a few blind children, and I had to run alongside them, to help them guide the horses. Also, she organized and held several horse shows a year at the camp, and they were a huge success. But things soon came to an end...in my thirteenth year, an interstate came through and tore down the camp! So mom had to find another stable in need of a trainer.
(See photo of me at 12 years old) (See photo of mom teaching at camp) (See photo of one of the shows-I am on the far left)

She discovered a position was available at a very large local stable that had over 150 horses on the premises. It was called "Lakewood Stables" and in 1965, it was one of the only sizable stables in the area. She was able to establish an extensive riding program there. Again, she required assistance, and put me to work. I helped her teach many weekly groups of up to 8 students, with a wide range of abilities. They ranged from beginner, to intermediate, to advanced. Every summer we also taught 8-week courses to large groups of girl scouts, so they could earn their horsemanship badges. There was an enormous amount of business, and we had up to 250 students a week at times! She kept this riding school running for 10 years, and it was very profitable for both of us.
(See photo of my mom) (See photo of Lakewood Stables (now Rocky River Stables) in 1965)

In addition to being an assistant instructor, there was a constant influx of new horses. They were to be used either in the riding school, for rental trail horses, or possibly to be re-sold at a profit, depending on their quality. Many of these horses arrived in big vans, from "out west", wherever that was. Many came from questionable circumstances. They needed to be evaluated, and in many cases, trained quite a bit. So guess who usually got the job? ME! Between injuries (ha ha), I learned an awful lot about how to ride a wide variety of horses. I also learned a great deal about horse psychology, and how a horse's mind works. I learned how to teach them how to be happy with their work, and how to make them actually want to do your bidding. I guess that is the best way to get a "feel" for horses...ride an endless amount of them, and you will develop it, or die. I certainly did go to the "school of hard knocks", however! It was a pretty wild time.
(See photo of mom teaching at the stable)

Then, 1966, when I was thirteen, my mother bought me my first horse! My very own horse! I was elated! His name was "Brandy", and he was a Thoroughbred Morgan cross...and he was hot as a pistol! He taught me a lot about riding a difficult and energetic horse, and how to control my teenage temper (well, sometimes).
(See photo of Brandy)

While we had the riding school at Lakewood Stables, I received quite a bit of instruction from a German dressage trainer called Michael VonDerNonne. Dressage was not very common, in this area, back in the 60's. He taught me many new things, and enlightened me about a school of thought that I was not even aware of. I was able to teach these new techniques to my horse "Brandy", and we ended up showing successfully in dressage shows, and also, some events.
(See photo of Brandy jumping) (See photo of Brandy extending)

The next major step in my life came in 1967, when my mother and father purchased 5 acres on the outskirts of the city. We finally were getting our own farm! They built a nice house, and a barn with 5 stalls, an all weather outdoor arena, and lots of pasture fencing. We named the farm "Fairwillo Stables". I began teaching private lessons here, by myself, at the age of 16. This is earlier than most people begin to teach, but I certainly had attained a lot of exposure and experience up to this point. I felt that I was lucky to have a trainer-mom, to enable me to learn at a very young age how to teach and train.

Then tragedy struck! My father was diagnosed with cancer, and we were told that he only had six months left to live. Unfortunately, they were right, and he died in May of 1972. Now my mother and I had a dilemma...how to support ourselves and our horse habit and our new farm! She decided to take dad's insurance money and build an additional 18 stalls, and an indoor arena, and basically, set up a training stable. So, in addition to the riding school at Lakewood Stables, we now had built our own 26-stall boarding and training facility! We were pretty busy!
(See aerial photo of the property)

All during this time, I continued to take instruction from several notable trainers in the area. Among those were Michael Von Der Nonne, Bill Mihelega, Hugh Kincannon, and of course my mom. I also attended numerous clinics given by national professionals, when they traveled to this area; the most famous of them being Hugh Wiley, who had recently won a gold medal for the USA in horse show jumping.
(See photo of me showing one of our jumpers)

In addition to all of this, we had purchased a couple of brood mares, and tried our hand at raising some babies. In the course of about 10 years, we foaled out, raised, broke, trained, and sold about 25 foals. I spent many a sleepless night waiting for the arrival of the newbies. And believe it or not, we somehow managed to deliver two sets of twins! The first set did not survive, but the second set did! We were local celebrities for a short time, appearing in the newspaper and on TV. What an unbelievable experience. Don't ask me how it is even possible for this to happen to us twice, considering the odds.  But anyhow, we sure had fun breaking and showing those babies. A few grew up to be pretty good show horses!  One even ended up on the Metroparks Mounted Police team, and gave them many years of reliable service.
(See photo of the twins)

Somehow, in the midst of all this chaos, my mom and I bought and trained Thoroughbreds off the track as well as Morgans and Arabians. We went on a show campaign with a few of these horses, over a period of about 5 years, and were very successful. We attended many "C" rated shows, some "B" rated, and a few "A" rated. I even won the very competitive Hunter Seat Equitation 14 - 17 class at the Chagrin PHA horse show! I was able to train our horses to excel, and we won many state and regional year-end awards. One horse in particular attained enough points to be invited to the Nationals. She was half-Thoroughbred and half-Arabian. She was a once-in-a-lifetime horse, and the bond that we had with each other was unique. She was big and strong and had lots of heart. There was nothing that mare would not do for me. Her name was "Silver Toy", and I will never forget her.
(See photo of Toy) (See photo of Toy jumping) (See photo of Toy in arabian costume)

Finally, in 1978, my mother wanted to retire, so my husband and I bought the stable from her, and I started my own business. Little did I know what I was getting in to!

After we had purchased the farm, I had to do most of the work myself. We went out on a financial limb to buy it, and we were in debt for several years. I worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, because we couldn't afford to have employees. My husband had his own job, which took him out of state frequently, so he was unable to help very often. I was responsible for all the feeding, stall cleaning, barn management, and maintenance of the premises. In addition, I had to manage all the financial aspects of the stable, including board and lessons income, hay, shavings, and grain purchasing, equipment expenses, insurance fees, and taxes. I also managed the veterinary and blacksmith care of all the horses, and all the other countless hidden tasks involved in owning and running a stable.
(See photo of me working)

I had quite a few students, as well, and had about 20 people and their horses in training. Almost every weekend in the warmer weather, and sometimes in the fall and winter, I would go to horse shows, with at least 4 students. We had purchased our own 4-horse van, and we would haul them to shows, and I would school them there. Some people had their own trailers, and on occasion I would have as many as 8 students per show. We had a lot of success, and I was always very proud of all of them!
(See photo of the van at a horse show)

Finally, in 1987, after 10 years of running things by myself, I had had enough! I felt worn out, and started suffering from burn-out. I also had begun to develop back problems. The doctor said the back problems could be managed if I reduced the amount of physical labor I was doing. So, we put the farm on the market, and sold it to some very nice people from New York, Dennis and Barb Wilk, who wanted to start their own horse business.

Since the sale of our stable, I have lived in a normal house in the suburbs, and I free-lance my training. I no longer suffer from burn-out, and my back is now pretty good! I teach at several different local barns (see below), and I am enjoying my job again!