Education

My affinity for horses is probably genetic, skipping a generation, from my paternal grandparents.   When I was five, I was thrown off for the first time.  On my way home, between sobs, I told my mother, “When I get a horse, I’m going to name him Stupid.”  That is when my parents signed me up for riding lessons at a local stable.  I trained in hunters for most of my childhood. I have also worked at thoroughbred and standardbred training stables, played polo, worked at a cow/calf operation, and worked with problem horses. I always figured I would go to vet school, so I studied Animal Science at Cornell. I learned that I was too squeamish for vet school and discovered that animal behavior was my passion. I was introduced to round pen training in college, as well.  I earned my master’s degree in Conservation Biology at Yale with the intention of working with endangered equine species.  After grad school, I worked in Montana on dude ranch for one last fun job before I started my career or went back for a PhD in Behavior.  The next-door neighbor introduced me to his four mustangs. Though I never considered myself a specific breed person, I fell in love with these animals. I adopted my first BLM horse in 1996.  In 2000, I started with BLM in central Nevada as a Wild Horse and Burro Specialist, where I got to work with the wild ones in the wild!