Helena

NZPCA D, D+ and C Certificate

Trail Guide/ Wrangler. Leading guests aged 6 and up who are mainly beginners on trail rides. Most of the hours I spend working however are caring for the horses in the herd, and maintaining the barn area.

I have been working as a wrangler/ trail guide full time since August 2022, at three different guest ranches/ resorts in Colorado, USA. Horses are ridden in western tack, however all had been trained 'english', with direct reining aids.

Employment aside, I have been riding from a very young age back in New Zealand, and began showing at nine years old. I had no experience riding western prior to arriving in the US in May 2022.

Working with horses aged 1.5 years to 30 of a variety of breeds Learning the herd of 215, feeding supplements, giving medication and feeding extra hard feed to older or skinny horses Checking and recording vitals Mucking out pastures (not during winter due to snow), stalls, and barn area Co-piloting sleigh teams, including tacking up for driver Communicating and providing basic horse riding instruction to mainly beginner guests Aiding in horsemanship, riding, grooming and roping clinics.

From a professional standpoint, I have ridden a vast range of horses during my work as a trail guide. From 5 year olds with limited milage, to older horses who have issues with guests from learning to take advantage of inexperienced riders. In my work due to the high number of horses in the heard I have been assigned many horses, and was frequently given a new horse every week or even day to ride. Some definitely were saints, others had vices such as being spooky, rude, or 'lazy'.

Competing growing up in (in order of most time committed)

Dressage Showing Eventing Showjumping Mounted Games (only a couple of times)