OUR EXTREME DREAM

About me in a nutshell...

PAST

I did not grow up with horses.  Rather, my family and I lived in the suburbs of Chicago.  The only time I had ever been riding was on the special occasions when my family took me on a guided trail ride.  We've all been on those.  Every horse knows its job and follows the one in front of it.  Something like that would bore me now, but back then I was on cloud nine.

When I was 14, my family decided to sell everything and move on a sailboat.  The plan was to sail around the world, but like so many times, life happens and plans change.  We somehow wound up in Jacksonville, FL at a small, family-oriented place named Seafarers Marina.

It was there that I met a friend, Glen.  He had an aunt, Louise, who was into barrel racing and quarter horses.  He and I would help her around her barn in exchange for the chance to ride. 

Across the street from Louise lived a woman named Coral.  She was fascinating to me and took me under her wing.  We became extremely close.  She is the one who introduced me to mustangs.  She had 3 of them at that time - Chief, Sierra, and Spirit.

On my sixteenth birthday, Coral and my family took me to a BLM adoption in Waycross, GA.  We went just for something to do and see what it was all about.  Without going into long details, we somehow wound up adopting my first horse/mustang, Rocky.  He was a 2 year old stud colt from Nevada (Sand Springs West).

Rocky was a handful from the beginning.  I knew very little about horses back then.  I read what I could, but so much of Rocky's early training was accomplished by trial and error.  There were many times when we butted heads, and I had several bumps and bruises to prove it.  Somehow though, we made it through together.  I don't know who taught who more during those first few years.

PRESENT

I currently live in Jacksonville, FL, along with my husband, Erik.  We have been married 9 years.  We've got a beautiful 6 year old daughter named Coralee.

I am in my sixth year of teaching.  Oddly enough, I work at Oceanway School, Home of the Xtreme.  I am certified to teach 6-12 grade math.  However, I love what I teach now - 8th Grade Algebra.

We have four horses.  I still have Rocky who's almost 17 now.  Then, we have my daughter's 17 year old pony (Beauty), our almost 8 year old Kiger (Linc), and our 10 year old rescue mustang (Izzy).

One day, my family and I hope to have a rescue and training facility for mustangs.  It would be called "We D.R.E.A.M. Farm."

Desire to Rescue Every Adoptable Mustang