Tabitha

I am currently a student at Virginia Tech where I am majoring in Agribusiness. My classes are focused on how to manage, market, and finance a business with a focus in the Agriculture industry. Even though my classes are not equine focused, my classes are teaching me how to run a successful business that can be used in the equine industry.

My family and I live on a horse farm based out of Fincastle, VA. My mom has worked as a professional trainer for the majority of her life and had her own lesson program on our farm from 2013-2021. I helped with training the horses, managing the barn, and would occasionally teach riding lessons to beginners. I have also worked and trained under Ragan Roberts who has taught me professional skills outside of a small lesson program. My time in Alpharetta, GA, working as a working student, has definitely taught me the most on how things should be in a professional environment. I was working alone when we traveled to shows and my duties would include schooling horses, lunging them, cleaning stalls, bathing horses, feeding, clipping, etc. I can confidently say that my experiences there have made me assured of myself that I can handle any type of professional equine environment.

Throughout my high school and college career, I have been apart of IEA and ISHA teams. I have been appointed by my coaches to be a captain for my teams and have been complimented on my management skills and ability to keep a positive environment. I have also worked for a prestigious hunter/jumper show barn in Alpharetta, GA. My time there taught me how to be efficient with barn chores and maintaining the barn and horses to a high standard.

I have grown up riding and competing so I have ridden many types of different horses and have experience in many disciplines. Jumpers and equitation are my strong suit, but I've also participated in hunters and eventing. Problem horses are also a strong suit of mine because I am a confident rider who doesn't get shaken up easily. I have trained multiple green and young horses who have all turned out to be competitive in the hunter/jumper show rings. I also have experience with restarting OTTBs.

In 2019, I won IEA Nationals which was just my freshman year of high school. The following year, I rode for my team for IEA nationals where we were reserve champions. The next two years, I individually won AEL Nationals. I am currently apart of the Virginia Tech equestrian team and I am individually qualified for regionals. Outside of team work, I compete with my own horses in equitation and jumpers where I've been winning medal classes and 1.05m jumpers.