How old is karen healey

Marielle Friesen: I am a true country girl, lived all my life at the farm. My home province Brabandt, almost on every corner there is a field full of horses. So even though my parents were not really into the horses I have been surrounded them since birth. My neighbor had horses and I used spend every free minute there helping out. At my 6th birthday my greatest wish came true when my uncle gave me a pony as present. My parents let me to keep him but I had to take care of everything by myself.

His name was Daylight and I have to say, I learned a lot from that stubborn pony. But I can say my faith was written with that pony, because I knew already then was going spend all my life with horses!!.

WH: How did you come to have a passion for the sport -through your parents? Or through your trainers and Jan Verellen? MF: My uncle was dealing a little bit of horses so he gave me all the time new young horses to ride.

I was a part of pony club so we trained there all together. Every week we had a show. That was so much fun. At 16 I went to the Equine college in Deurne to become a professional horse rider. The education took for four years and after that I went to do my practice at Leon Thijssen and John Steeghs. I think that the schooling and practice gave me a solid base to become a professional rider, but I have to say that the most important things I have learned by watching all the best riders training and showing their horses.

Still today, I watch the other rider how they work and every time I get some ideas how to become better myself. WH: Did you ever do the equitation? What are your thoughts on equitation as a foundation for show jumping? MF: I think that equitation a fantastic foundation to show jumping because the riders learn from the start the right balance, nice rhythm and the great style of riding.

Equitation is actually something that we lack in Europe but we should develop it more. I never did equitation myself because we did not those classes. In Thermal there are so many different classes, so there is always something for everyone, no matter on which level you are.

I find that a great system, like that you have so many heights for amateurs and professionals. In Europe, we have less variation of classes. So that means that the horses and the riders as well, have to be ready very quickly, and to jump quite difficult and high classes. Maybe we could develop that system a bit towards your way, to have more options for riders. We have sent lots of horses to the U. S to compete and to find new owners. But when we heard that sometimes the Dutch horses were a bit too fresh when they arrived, we decided to change our concept in order to help our horses and new owners to get a better start.

So, now, when we sent five horses to California, I followed with them and helped the horses to get accustomed to the new system. Meeting with Karen was really fantastic. I did not know her before. But when I arrived in California I used again my old method of learning: I watched good riders to ride and good trainers to train. I soon realized that Karen was really really good. I did not know her before, but I was very impressed of her working and I also realized how much I needed to learn.

So, at the end I asked Lise to introduce me to Karen and I simply asked her to help me. WH: What were your impressions of Karen? MF: Karen is truly a great trainer. She explains everything really simple and with these small micro changes she miraculously gets the horses to perform better and better, so that at the end the horse moves really in balance and everything seems to be very easy.

I know already that I got a lot of new tools into my tool box to train horses at home in Europe. MF: The Netherlands is one of the biggest horse countries in the world, so of course it is a great advantage to live and work there. I have showed since young age in all kinds of shows from the small local event to the internationals shows.

During my career I have ridden a lot of young horses and produced them from the beginners to the high-level sport horses.

So, I must say that all these competitions and experiences have been good for me. MF: It is a good thing for me to keep producing the horses here in Holland and get them well prepared for the American market. WH: What is your view of the sport and how does it impact the training plan and path you chose for you and your horses?

MF: It costs so much money to compete in the highest level of sport so we are not pursuing that career but have chosen a different path. Our strategy is to train the horses from young age to a certain level that they can do a nice career as well schooled horses with motivated amateur riders.

Kylee also shared that it was a really emotional and important win to succeed in a class honoring Karen, with whom she has a history from her junior years. Karen Healey is an amazing horse woman and she has always been an inspiration to me. Addyson Cord and Zidane, Reserve Champions. Alexa Leong and Cintas, Third Place. Addyson Cord and Zidane took a close second place in the course with a smooth and calculated ride, followed by Alexa Leong aboard Cintas in third place, who also put in a top notch round together.

For information on contributing to this fund, contact Ruth Frazier at info cpha. They taught me a lot of stuff in their free time, like how to do the ironing. I went to the University of Canterbury in Christchurch for no particular reason.

Mostly, I liked the buildings, which just goes to show how people often make poor decisions at 18, because Canterbury is a high point of Brutalist architecture. The law itself is fascinating! Practicing law not so much, at least not for me.

So I did a double major in English and Classics, and got involved in a lot of student theatre, and I liked all of that so much that I stayed on for an honours year, and then did an M. And like many New Zealanders of my age, I was getting itchy to leave the country and see some other parts of the world. I thoroughly recommend this. I loved my students and my colleagues and I made some fantastic friends, and I even got better at Japanese, forever wiping that shame from my heart although sadly not from my GPA.

This was exciting! So I moved to Australia, where everything is poisonous and the trees have evolved the useful ability of exploding into flame, and started writing a dissertation about superhero comics.

It turns out it was very difficult to be a fulltime PhD student and keep up a fledgling career as a pro novelist. I also realised that, though I still wanted to teach, I would prefer to have more hands-on teaching time than the life of a university academic allows.