Equine Instructor, Virtual Coach, Equestrienne, Author, Speaker, Mentor and Horse Educator.

Sam's early introduction to horses involved riding barefoot, bareback, and in a simple halter. She progressed from jumpers to Three Day Eventing while seeking exposure to diverse equestrian disciplines, training styles, and breeds. She trained at Jumper and Dressage barns, helped tune-up school horses, conditioned race horses, started colts, and even attended jockey school for a glimpse into racing the racing world. She left the United States and moved to the United Kingdom to ride under two gold medalist Olympians with hopes of accomplishing her competitive goals.

Her clinic experience as a student spans instructors of various backgrounds from numberous continents. Initially, Sam immersed herself in all aspects of Show Jumping, Dressage, Three Day Eventing—competitor, as a working student, groom, jump crew, event organizer assistant, and event crew. She learned from national and international trainers, riders, chef d'equips, Olympians, and top coaches.

Later in her career, Sam witnessed first-hand the difference between what the general public saw in the "success stories" of top level competitive horses, versus the behind-the-scenes severe, long-term, detrimental physical toll the equines were experiencing. She started to question the "system" she had so vigorously followed for years. She began to connect how the horse's mental and emotional state were affecting the horse's physical health and behaviors. She realized that focusing solely on results often overlooked the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of both horse and rider. Witnessing the "at all cost" mindset, typical in the horse world, which left many horses "paying the price" for unrealistic human demands, she chose to step away from the world that she had dedicated herself to for more than a decade.

Years later, Sam returned to horses moving away from the competitive side of the sport, to seek a more fulfilling, partnership with a horse-centric approach. As an alumni of The United States Pony Club, she became head instructor for a club in Hawaii and then the Joint District Commissioner. While initially only teaching lessons, troubled horses naturally gravitated to her, and she dove back into the horse world. Although with a different mindset, unknown to her, she was missing fundamental aspects of understanding and communicating with the horse.

As many horse folks do, she finally met "that one horse" that she just couldn't figure out how to help. As a last resort, she sought mentorship from a talented horseman, who despite having met years prior, she now had a completely different availability to absorb and learn from him. Other, "real world" horse folks- not working for the general public, contributed to her learning journey. Her experiences year after year, helped her to create the foundational shift to re-evaluate her perspective, perception, and interpretation of the horse, honing in seeing the value that having empathy, insight, and understanding has to the equine.