I began collecting at age 11, when I got the Palomino family Arabian Mare
for a birthday gift. I still have her and adore her.
I started going to shows when I was 17. I participated in Rocky Mountain
Model Horse Expo and did pretty well for myself. I dove right into the open
division. I had been showing real horses for a few years prior and felt like I
could handle it. I won some and I lost some, but I learned a lot and made a lot
of really good friends. After that, I would go to RMMHE and ring steward and
clerk for Karen Gerhardt until I decided to hold my own show, the Cornhusker
Classic. It was in a tiny ballroom in a Holidome. It was thrilling and scary
and I wanted to do it again and again.
I have since held live shows at Siouxland Horse Fair (my first experience
holding a show many miles away from me), my own successful Buccaneer Live show
series, Nebraska Horse Expo's Nebraska Model Horse Expo, a couple of smaller
independent shows, and I was co-chair of NAN in 2012 with Stacy Faraci. I love
the excitement of holding a show and giving out awards. I hope to do it again
sometime very soon!
My showing career has come in fits and starts, but now I have a fairly
competitive show string. But even before that, I met and have become good
friends with a number of awesome people from all over the world through the
hobby and showing. Ribbons are nice, but those friendships are priceless!
In my non-hobby life, I have 2 cats - Stuart and Gurlie - and a horse -
Cooper. Stu and Gurlie are both generic cats. They are both such little
characters though! Cooper is an Arabian gelding that I do Western Pleasure with.
He has been shown in Hunter Pleasure by a friend and by his trainer and Western
Pleasure and Halter by me. He is a winning halter horse and has placed well
amongst his peers in both under saddle pursuits. My "day job" is Computer
System Specialist at Lincoln Public Schools in Lincoln, Nebraska. There is a
merry band of 5 of us in the Help Desk to provide support or dispatch field
techs to almost 10,000 users. It is challenging and a lot of fun! My "evening
gig" is voiceover and web work for AutoRestoMod in Aiken, South Carolina. This
allows me to enjoy an aspect of the automotive industry that interests me
greatly (classic car restoration and modification) and work for and with some of
the nicest people I have ever met, including fellow hobbyist Gina Witters.
I look forward to serving NAMHSA as President. I have enjoyed my time of
the Board of Directors as a Region Rep and VP and hope to contribute in some way
to the organization for a long time to come.
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