I was lucky, at a young age, to get a job working under show jumper Susie Hutchison, a woman who had a profound effect on my riding career and life.

I remember going to work for her at Indio, Thermal, Showpark and a lot of other venues in Southern California. I very honestly was completely out of my depth and at first quite overwhelmed by the experiences, but I grew to love the scene of it all and truly enjoyed jumping the young horses for her.