Ginger has had over 20 years of experience with horses, including volunteer work and 11 years as a Riding Instructor. She has taught about 2000 students, both children and adults, in her Riding Instructor career.

Ginger teaching an English Lesson at Sun Pony Ranch

Biography, Early Years: Ginger's love of horses was apparent from the time she was a pre-schooler "riding" a horse (the back of her father's recliner) while watching westerns on TV. At the grocery store, parents had to kindly ask her to get off the mechanical horse so their child could have a paid ride; otherwise she would sit on that horse for hours.

Pony Rides gave way to real lessons at Summer Day Camp. Her interest and passion for horses continued to grow.

Ginger, Age 11, Petting Triple Crown Winner, Citation, at Calumet Farm, Kentucky

Then, at age 12, her serious riding career began when, for Christmas, she received a 10 lesson punch card for riding lessons at a local Riding Academy. From there she continued weekly English Riding Lessons on Saturdays during the school year and daily lessons at summer day camp.

By age 14, she had gained enough experience to be "hired" as an unpaid Stable and Lesson Assistant where she did barn work and helped in the riding lesson classes in exchange for free lessons and riding time. During this time she also began mentoring under the Barn Trainer, learning training techniques.

Instructor Experience:

Somcrest Stables Riding Academy (4 years): At age 16 Ginger became an English Riding Instructor at the stables she had been with for 4 years. Somcrest Stables Riding Academy was a large 55 stall, 3 Arena facility specializing in the English Riding style.

Ginger (age 16) with Somcrest Riding Academy School Horse

Somcrest was owned by Steve Rupert, a school principal at one of the Junior High Schools in the Cleveland, Ohio school district. Many elementary schools in the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan Schools had Summer Day Camp programs. Steve had developed a program where any of these schools could send groups of children, each week during the summer, for riding lessons. Every student who signed up for the Riding Lessons at their School Day Camp Program, would then come once a week, every week, for a one-hour lesson during the 10 weeks of summer. Both Public Schools and Private Schools utilized this program. During the summer, there would be 2 lesson rings of 10 students each, going for 7 or 8 one-hour lessons a day on weekdays. On Saturdays there would be more classes that were not affiliated with the schools.

While this system may seem like an "assembly line" process pushing through 60 to 80 different students per day, Ginger DID get to know each of her 300 to 400 students over the course of the 10 week summer sessions. This was invaluable experience for her as she gained knowledge in understanding effective teaching methods and styles by personally working with so many students. This concentrated effort gave her a profound learning experience to understand the students differing needs, comfort zones, and interaction with many different horse personality types.

During the school year, Riding Lesson Classes continued on Saturdays at Somcrest. When Ginger turned 18, she became Head Instructor and for the next 2 years had the added responsibility of helping to supervise the other Instructors and Assistants.

Capricorn Riding Academy (7 years): After moving to the Dallas, Texas area, Ginger became Head Instructor, Trainer, and Day Camp Director at Capricorn Riding Academy.

This facility featured both English and Western riding styles. Classes were for all levels of abilities, including English and Western Pleasure, Trail Riding, Jumping, and Low Level Dressage. Classes ran all day long on Saturdays and Sundays, and at other scheduled times on weekdays throughout the year. Many of the classes were scheduled through the area Recreation Centers and Community College Continuing Education Programs. During the summers there was a Horsemanship Day Camp where campers learned horse care as well as horseback riding.

Ginger Teaching at Capricorn Horsemanship Camp

At Capricorn, Ginger developed Scout Programs for giving lessons and instruction to Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts for them to earn their Scout Badges in the Horse Care and Horsemanship areas. Also, while at Capricorn, Ginger developed a college level Horsemanship course for Southern Methodist University (SMU) to use as a credit course in their Physical Education Department. SMU students taking this class each semester earned P.E. Credits on their college transcripts.

Current: Sun Pony Ranch: Now in Colorado, Ginger, along with David and Monica Signer, formed a Partnership and started Sun Pony Ranch. Ginger is the Riding Instructor for the Riding Lesson program. English and Western Riding are taught to both Children and Adults for different levels and abilities.

While Ginger's prior Riding Instructor experience was wide and varied, she has since developed a lesson system that allows for more student/instructor individual attention and time. Group Lessons are classes of 4 to 6 student riders and are 1 ½ hours in length, including Ground Work time.

Horse Training Experience:

Ginger began learning horse training when she started working at Somcrest Riding Academy at age 14. Because of her short stature and light weight (as a teenager), the Somcrest Trainer used her to start to ride the 2 year old, unbroke horses he brought in from his farm. In these early days, long before "Natural Horsemanship" or "Horse Whispering" became buzzwords, this Trainer used natural and humane methods to start ("break") and train his horses into riding horses. The 6 years Ginger worked with this Trainer as her Mentor were invaluable for learning and understanding horse behavior and effective training methods.

Later, when working on the ranch in Wyoming, Ginger also worked with another horse trainer and learned more about western training.

During her 7 years at Capricorn Riding Academy, Ginger was the Barn and School Horse Trainer. She was responsible for deciding what horses to buy for the Riding Lesson Program, and then training them to become School Horses. She taught her Advanced Riding Students training methods and worked with and instructed them as they learned. She also consulted for and worked with individuals if they wanted her help and expertise in purchasing a horse of their own to make sure it was a good "fit." She worked with students who had their own horses and had training issues. Ginger was responsible for working with the Lesson Horses and training them to jump for the English Jumping classes.

Ginger Working/Training Capricorn School Horse

Education:

Ginger's love of horses and enchantment with the West led her to Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, where she could further her education with some Horse-based classes. She earned her B.S. degree in Range Animal Science (Range Animals: Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Swine). Classes included such courses as: Range Management, Agristology, Animal Diseases, Horse Judging, Range Animal Physiology, etc.

Her extracurricular activities in college included the Agriculture Department's Clip & Brand Club (Officer), Range Management Club (Officer), and Rodeo Club.

The Rodeo Club supported students in their Extracurricular Rodeo activities, whether intramural or National Competitions through the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA).

The Clip & Brand Club fostered further development for students majoring in Range Animal Science and included providing training for organizing and conducting judging contests, livestock shows and exhibitions, agricultural meetings on campus, etc.

The Range Management Club is a Student Chapter of the Society of Range Management, an International Society whose membership includes ranchers, business persons, administrators, technical specialists, researchers, educators and students. The Student Group allowed students to become involved with educational programs and seminars.

DON'T HAVE THESE PICTURES

First Horse/Western Riding:

Growing up in Ohio, Ginger's main riding and teaching experience was all in the English Riding Discipline -- until she went to college in West Texas. Upon arriving in West Texas ranching country, she found a whole new world. Sul Ross State is a University well respected for it's Agriculture Department and especially the Range Animal Science Program. The University also has a Rodeo Team that is a perennial favorite for the NIRA Rodeo National Championship Title. In this atmosphere, Ginger threw herself into learning the Western Riding Style. She bought a 3 year old Registered Quarter Horse gelding, Ole Dan, who was already trained as a Reining Horse. She learned about Rodeos and trained her horse to Barrel Race. She only rode barrels in Intramural Rodeos because she wanted to keep his main focus on Reining and Western Pleasure.

Ginger on her Reining Horse doing 45° turn

Ginger and her Quarter Horse, "performing" at college

Ranch Work Experience:

Wishing to expand her Western Riding experience further, Ginger decided to become a "cowboy." During the last 2 summers of her college years, Ginger worked as a Ranch Hand in Wyoming, on two different ranches. She participated in normal ranching activities such as branding (her job was vaccinating), moving cattle by horseback, "starting" (formerly known as "breaking") a 2 year old filly, riding fence, etc. During this time she learned to ride a Cutting Horse and learned to Rope.

Volunteer Work - Colorado Horse Rescue:

Ginger spent 4 years volunteering at Colorado Horse Rescue. She was active on the Adoption Committee helping to match potential horse adopters to the right horse for them. She also was a Ride Evaluator, helping to determine what type of Rider and experience level would be suitable for the horses that came in to the CHR facility. Another of her "duties" at CHR was to help promote the program by showing some of the horses, with other Ride Evaluators, at the Colorado Horse Expo held every April at the National Western Stock Complex in Denver.

Ginger showing a CHR Horse at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo