I was born and raised in rural New Zealand outside a town called Bulls, which is the kind of community where everyone rides ponies, hunts and attends horse races and shows.
My parents were accomplished riders – my mother was the Deputy Master of the local hunt club and my father represented New Zealand as a member of the show jumping team at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Both of them encouraged me to ride and put me on my first pony at the age of 5.
My father was – and is – one of my biggest heroes. When I was young, I also idolized Catriona McLeod, who was on the New Zealand eventing and show jumping teams. She was a great rider and her horses were always immaculate
and had the best tack. That made a huge impression on me.
Matchbox was my first pony. He was small, grey and a real brat. On his good days, he was hard to beat in the show ring. But at home he threw me off nearly every day. Still, I loved showing on Matchbox – and on ponies in general. At one time I had a team of five ponies that my mom and me would take to shows. My Mom was a great sport. She helped with riding and grooming, and was a great traveling companion. We had a lot of fun together at shows.
Riding hunts really taught me how to ride. I never really liked hunting. I couldn’t understand why we were chasing a crazy hare around the paddocks in freezing cold weather all the time. But it taught me how to ride off the seat of my pants, which is something you can’t learn any other way than by doing.
Over time, I came to realize that my favorite type of riding was jumping because there was always a clear winner.
In New Zealand, I trained with Sarah Breakwell, the sister of fellow New Zealander Peter Breakwell, who also now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, and with Dressage trainer Katherine Darympal. My parents felt strongly that Dressage makes you into an excellent all-around rider. I also trained with Greg Best as a Junior and then with Butch Thomas, who became one of my biggest influences. Katherine was tough and demanding, and she taught me to have a great feel for what a horse was doing underneath me. And Butch taught me to trust, use my eye and believe in myself.
I decided on show jumping as a career when I was in high school. When my friends went off to University, I went to Scotland to work in a yard and gain more experience. After Scotland and a bad show season, I considered other careers. I even studied computer programming for a while. There is nothing wrong with it; it’s just not my passion.
Soon after, I got a job offer from Butch Thomas and moved to the United States to work for Willow Tree.
In 2005, I had a serious fall during training that nearly took my life. With determination and hard work, I came back from the accident more committed to show jumping than ever.
In 2007, I won the Friday GP at Thermal – the only one clear out of 66 horses and on a horse whose first GP start was just the week before. For obvious reasons, that was my biggest accomplishment to date.
During this time I worked exclusively for the Mendez Family at Maple Leaf Farm. This was a very successful partnership with both Cathy Mendez and I winning many championships in both the hunter and jumper arenas.
I also had both the honor and pleasure to ride Millennium, owned by MLF. Millennium and I placed 6th in the 2004 Olympic qualifiers and US Nation Cup member. Millennium was retired in 2009 at the age of 17.
My other Grand Prix horse is Karl Du Chateau (Smarty), originally owned by the Mendez Family and now by me. Smarty and I have won numerous Grand Prix's and he is still my number one Grand Prix partner.
In the Fall of 2009 I branched out on my own and started SandHaven Farm. In early 2010 Jeff Fields, now my husband came on board as my partner.
