My Horse Story

For whatever reason, some people come out of the womb obsessed with horses. There’s no explanation for it, these kids haven’t even seen a horse yet, but it’s all they can think about. I was one of those people!

Although I’ve loved equines as long as I can remember, my horse story didn’t really start until I was 7 yrs old and my parents agreed to let me take riding lessons at a local stable. I remember my dad saying to my mom, “it’s just a phase; she’ll grow out of it.” Boy, was he wrong.

I continued taking lessons once a week for four years. I looked forward to my lesson the entire week and was sad when it was over. Eventually, I moved on to other stables and leasing horses.

My first horse was named Pepper. She’s a thoroughbred cross that is now happily semi-retired living on my parents’ property. She was definitely too much horse for me in the beginning, but she taught me how to ride better and be in control of myself whenever working with horses.

At this time, I met two trainers who would change my life and the outlook of my riding ability. They poured their hearts into teaching me about horses and sharing with me all their knowledge. They let me work with other horses to learn and understand more. The majority of the training techniques you read about on this website stem from what I’ve learned from them.

Next, I purchased what was supposed to by a project-pony named Bella. She was fat, blue-eyed, and disproportionate…but she could jump! Never have I met a horse with so much potential. Bella helped get me to the next level in my riding and taught me how to handle a different type of horse. Luckily, my mom fell in love with her and decided to keep her for herself.

When I was 18, I sold all my horse-stuff and moved from Virginia to Oklahoma to go to a Bible College. I never thought I’d ride a horse again except when I went home to visit my family. This was a hard time for me.

In-between work and classes, I started watching Heartland. (🙌) This TV show kicked up the desire in me again to work with horses. Eventually, I decided enough was enough, I had to have a horse. This is how I met my POA pony, Tucker. I purchased him unbroke and wide-eyed with the idea that he would be a resell, but that quickly changed.

Tucker is one of the many loves of my life who has been with me through it all: homesickness, becoming an adult, falling in love and getting married, graduating from school, and everything else life has had for me.

Now I know that for the rest of my life, there will be horses. I’ve turned my passion into my career and I love every minute of it! I strive to continually learn more from these wonderful animals and I want to give back to them what they have given to me.

Stay Connected With Me

There are always new things happening at Equine Helper! If you’d like to stay connected with me, here are the platforms you can find me on:

• Equine Helper YouTube Channel
• Equine Helper Instagram
• Equine Helper TikTok
• Equine Helper Facebook Page

My Horse Expertise

I have experience in a number of disciplines such as hunters, equitation, show-jumping, dressage, and foxhunting. I’m also an equine massage therapist certified through Equissage. My latest obsessions are liberty training and eventing.

My Horse Bucket List

• Call a Tally-Ho (COMPLETE! Tally-Ho means you’ve sighted the fox on a foxhunt.)

• Ride My Horse Through A Residential Area (COMPLETE! I rode Tucker from my boarding stable to a local college 2 miles away.)

• Train My Horse to Go Tackless (COMPLETE! Tucker and I have been working on this for a while now!)

• Take My Horse to a Fast Food Drive-Through (COMPLETE! I took Bella to Chick-Fil-A for a fundraiser they were doing. She loved their waffle fries.)

• Rescue a Horse (COMPLETE! I looked after a young horse named Dolly who was abandoned at our stable. I started her under saddle and was able to find her a great home.)

• Teach My Horse Liberty (COMPLETE! To some extent…Tucker knows basic liberty techniques. We continue to work and get better.)

• Do Something That’s Out of My Comfort Zone (COMPLETE! Jumping scary jumps, galloping down steep hills while fox hunting, getting back on the horse I just got bucked off of, etc. etc…)

• Teach Someone How to Ride a Horse (COMPLETE! While I’ve had a fair share of lesson students, the first person I taught to ride was my mother!)

• Gallop Up Next to a Runaway Horse and Save the Day (COMPLETE! I was able to stop a little girl and her runaway pony)

• Learn to Trim Hooves (COMPLETE! Growing up, my farrier would let me trim my horse’s hooves and then double-check my work.)

• Have a Career With Horses (COMPLETE! Thanks to Equine Helper, I get to spend much of my time doing what I love!)

• Ride My Horse on the Beach

• Ride a Cutting Horse

• Enter a Horse Trial

• Do an Endurance Ride

• Go on an Overnight Horse Camping Trip

• Ride My Horse Across a State (I would say the country but that apparently takes about 1 year to complete)

• Tame a Wild Mustang

• Train a Mule

• Teach My Horse and Insane Trick

• Compete in Mounted Orienteering

• Learn to Drive a Horse and Buggy

• Master Upper-Level Dressage

More About Carmella

Besides horses, there are few other important aspects of my life. I believe in God and I believe that He gave me my passion for horses for a reason. I believe God gave me a passion for horses so that I could be a blessing to others in that field.

You have your gift so you can reach people that others couldn’t. First and foremost, the purpose of Equine Helper is to help horse people looking for an answer to their questions.

I’m married to a wonderful human being named Collin. While not necessarily horse-savvy, he’s very supportive of my passion and is even considered the mastermind behind Equine Helper. We were married in 2017 and it’s been the best whirlwind since.

I have the cutest dog in the world. Her name is Trico (Try-co) and she is my best-bud. She’s some kind of mutt, but you can tell that there’s some terrier in there somewhere.

I love the outdoors and adventure. I sometimes daydream about being in the Wild West or on some epic adventure through the wilderness. 

Before I took the direction I did in life, I wanted to do something in film. I’m a movie buff all the way. Some of my favorite movies are The Pursuit of Happyness, Dances With Wolves, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and basically any Quentin Tarantino movie.

Well, enough about me.  You can read all of my latest horse articles by going here!

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