My family has been the most significant influence on my life. They have provided a great foundation on which to build my future. From generation to generation my family has taught family values which, in turn, have led to the learning and appreciation of discipline, respect, manners, love, making good choices and being a good example to others. Together, with these tools for building character, introduced to me early in life, I have learned to set high goals for myself and strive to reach those goals and have learned that hard, persistent work is very rewarding.
At an early age, I realized that I wanted to show horses; therefore, my mother, a show professional, began training me in the basics of showing in halter, showmanship, western pleasure and western horsemanship. I learned quickly that listening, following
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The real work had now started as I had to practice, take care of my horse and work all activities around my schoolwork, which came first. My determination, hard work and my passion for the sport paid off as I began placing first in every class that I entered; therefore, I won the World Title several times. By the time I was fourteen, I became President of the Palomino Horse Breeder’s Youth Association, which included leadership, organizational planning, activity planning and helping younger members achieve their goals as I had done. This presented opportunities for me to learn as well as to use the skills that I had previously learned. This was quite an experience as I became friends with young people from all over the United States, many of whom are close friends today. I began to really appreciate the family values that I had been taught early in life as I realized that not all families taught the same values, most obvious of which are respect, manners and discipline. My family’s influence, training under professional trainers, show arena rules and ethics and meeting many people through my show travels have