Horses were my passion from an early age. I wanted to spend my life working with horses, but had no idea how to make this happen. I was extremely lucky to meet a few good people who helped make it happen - people who encouraged me, people who believed in me, people who gave me an example to follow. One of these people is Terry Berg.
We first met in 1990, when was barely twenty years old. I had arrived from Germany six months earlier, with dreams of becoming a professional cowgirl. I had found a job working for a successful Quarter Horse trainer who used rock grinder spurs, thin twisted-wire bits, and wire tie downs force horses into submission, along with angry outbursts to force assistant trainers into submission. My tourist visa had expired. When I made plans to leave, my boss threatened to have me deported. I felt disillusioned. I felt close to breaking. I felt I had reached a fork in the road. I had to toughen up, or get out of the horse industry. I found it impossible to toughen up enough, so I seriously considered getting out. Terry Berg, who trained at the same barn, took me to the side and said something I’ve never forgotten:
“There is another way.”
I did not quit horses because of that sentence.
Soon afterward, Terry started operating her own training facility. She invited me to work for her - which I did, for three years. It was a good decision. I worked hard, but never felt intimidated. Terry taught me many valuable lessons, without ever threatening me or screaming at me. I started lots of colts. I rode lots of challenging horses. I showed some of them. I learned the ins and out of the horse business. I learned about fairness and respect - between horses and people, between people and other people. Though our life paths diverged eventually - hers toward serious reining competition, mine back to my dressage roots - we still like and respect each other very much.
There really is another way. Thank you, Terry, for pointing me in the right direction all those years ago.
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