Biography
At age 11, having broken my leg playing football with boys and growing up to be 5’9" and built like a refrigerator, I faced a cold, hard truth: my figure skating career was over. I started taking dressage lessons instead. The rest, as they say, is history.
I represented the United States for the first time at age 18, and attended three North American Young Riders Championships, earning Team Bronze in 2003 and Team Gold in 2005. I did all this while attending college, studying public policy and urban planning. I wasn’t entirely sold on making riding my career until training for four months with George Theodorescu; it was a defining moment in my riding life. Shortly after, I made (and won) my Grand Prix debut at age 20, and have now attended three National Championships as a professional.
After graduating from my education in 2006, I worked for some top American professionals before setting out on my own. I now run my 135-acre training facility in Marshall, Virginia, near Washington DC, where I train horses and riders.
I have three competition horses: Clairvoya, or ‘Cleo’, a 1998 Hanoverian mare who I’ve brought to Grand Prix; Ellegria, or ‘Ella’, a 2001 Westphalian mare who made her Prix St Georges debut in 2009; and Victorious, or ‘Midgey’, a 2002 American-bred Dutch Harness Horse gelding who I’ve trained from unbacked. I also still own my Bellinger, or ‘Billy’, a Trakehner gelding and my first Grand Prix horse, who, at 17, finally realised that being hot and unrideable was a waste of effort, and is now a marvellous schoolmaster for my clients!