Brizy

I'm Bri and, like many equestrians, have been obsessed with horses all my life. I grew up in Orange, CA riding/showing Western Pleasure with my grandfather from ages 7-15. With him I learned the finess and art of showing a quality show horse, however I lacked the basic knowledge of just riding on the trails and basic horse skills. That's when a neighbor started teaching me the rudiments of riding. She had a BLM Mustang named Starlight. In order for me to be able to ride her and take her out on trails, I had to learn how to ride her bareback and stay on. Thus began my horse education. For the next 5 years I often exercised my friends' horses, riding them on trails and showing them in the ring.
In 1997, I moved to Norco, CA where I landed my first job working as a foreman for a team of Belgian Drafts. Working with driving horses is a much different world than your typical show barn. I very much enjoyed working with these gentle giants (or giant couches as I often referred to them), but I had to move again in 1998 to an area of Southern California which wasn't horse friendly. Hence my 10 year horse hiatus began.
Flash forward to 2008, I moved out to Austin, TX. By then I was a stay at home mom. Being in TX and seeing horses all over the place, the horse bug began biting me again. With no friends in the area, nothing to keep me otherwise occupied while my son was at school, I started feeling out for barns which were looking for volunteers. I wasn't prepared to offer to ride or anything, just content to do barn work or clean tack. Luckily, Kathy at Austin Tri-Star responded and it's thanks to her that I'm now fully addicted to horses again. Through her, I was able to live out my dream working with horses and meet wonderful new friends, among them Natalie with Equine Innovation. Thanks to Kathy and Natalie, I've been able to fill in the gaps of my horse knowledge, sense and training that I wasn't able to procure in CA. I'm still learning more and more each and everyday and am loving every moment of it. Thanks to Kathy, I'm finally able to own my own horse for the first time in my life and not have to worry about working someone else's horse for them (although I don't mind it). :)