About Me

I was born and raised in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, IL.  I was born an animal lover and horses always were my favorite.  My Dad liked to bet the horses and he would take me to the racetrack with him.  I remember going to the track as a small child with my Dad and Grandpa.  I loved to watch the beautiful horses!

Of course, I always begged for a pony, a puppy, anything...  Neither of my parents were animal lovers, so for a long time I only had a tank of guppies.  I finally got my first pet when I was 9 or 10.  He was a hamster that I named Snowball, I finally got a puppy when I was 13.  She was a purebred beagle named Patches, How I loved her!  I taught her many tricks and commands, even "horse" commands.  She would break into a run with a cluck and would stop on whoa (didn't we all do that?).

I started horseback riding lessons when I was 10.  1 was in heaven!!  I started with Park District programs in the summers.  It was English style riding at a local stable.  My instructors always said that I was a natural.  I won a blue ribbon in my first show, a schooling show, on a lesson horse.  I progressed to advanced lessons at a show stable and was jumping courses.  I love jumping!  I rented my favorite school horse, Woodstock (he loved to jump too!), for a local show.   We took the Junior Working Hunter championship!

My first "job" was at a local stable the summer before I started high school.  I helped around the barn (cleaning stalls, grooming and tacking livery horses, etc.) and also was a trail guide.  I was paid 25 cents for every person that I took out (and nobody tipped trail guides back then either).  I didn't care about the money, I was riding for free!  I had always saved my allowance to rent a livery horse, it was $3 per hour then.  At this stable, I met the person who introduced me to the model horse hobby - Jean Hejmanowski.  One day I overheard her say something about Breyer horses, I asked her if she collected Breyers and told her that I did.  She then told me about the hobby.  I had no idea! I had collected Breyers since I was little.  They were the only thing that I asked for on birthdays and Christmas, So now I had something to do with all the horses sitting on my shelves!  Jean invited me to her house to see her collection. I was shocked when I saw a repainted Breyer (it was a FAS, too!).  I remember saying "oh, I could never do that to a Breyer". Famous last words!  I started into photo showing.  I subbed to the Model Horse Showers Journal, put out by Marney Walerius, one of the founders of the hobby.  Marney also put on a big live show each year, Model Horse Congress.  After a couple years in the hobby, I convinced my parents to let me go to Congress.  I roomed with Janice Meixner and Kim Groverman, from Florida.  What a blast!  There weren't many live shows in Illinois then, so once I got my own car, I would go to live shows in Indiana (Indy Con), Michigan (Kalamazoo Live), and Iowa (Triple B).

When I moved to Colorado in 1998, I was worried how active the hobby was there.  No need to worry - Colorado has a wonderful group of friendly model people!  There are more live shows in Colorado than I ever had in Illinois.  My first Colorado live show was Rocky Mountain Model Horse Expo in April of 1999.  I met Fran Lowe (who hosts RMMHE) and Sarah Rose (she had her gorgeous dapple grey Brioso there!).  I also met my best friend and model buddy, Heather Roell.  Heather is the one I have to thank for this website, it was her Christmas gift to me!

Besides the model horses, I have always managed to have contact with real horses.  When I was 16, I answered an ad in a local newspaper looking for someone to clean horse stalls.  I was hired and it turned out to be a racehorse barn.  They had Standardbred racehorses (harness horses).   I worked for the Rays for about six years.  It was a family business and they treated me like one of the family.  I worked at their farm, where they had a swimming pool for the horses.  They also stood a stallion (Prize Winner) and would have a couple foals each year.  I loved working with foals!  I would also help at the track when the horses raced.  They owned Childewood Hanover, one of the top pacers in the nation at the time.   I went with him to invitational races in Ohio and Canada.

I quit working for them when I got a "real" job at a factory.  There I met a friend who kept her horse at her dad's house, a block behind my house.  As she lived farther away and didn't get out to see her horse much, Cinnamon became "my" horse.  She was very spirited but sensitive and obedient, I loved riding her!  We had a lot of fun together.

I currently have access to two horses - Bandit, an Arabian, and Haagen Dazs, an older horse.  They are great horses, very affectionate and fun to ride!  I'm trying to find more time to spend with them.

I moved to Colorado in 1998 and absolutely love it here!  I love the mountains and the wildlife!  I also am into gardening.  I am quite proud of all my flowers.  I also have a small vegetable garden each year that produces more tomatoes and zucchinis than I know what to do with.  Besides my gardening, my dogs and my model horses take up most of my time.