Karyn Shirley:

It all started when I was 3.  You could even say it was all my parents’ fault.  You see, I wasn’t raised in a “horsey” family.  We lived in a residential  neighborhood, with a small yard and a small dog.  Then, they took me to “Corny’s Shoe Store” in Ridgecrest, CA where there was a pony-go-round.  Just like the ones you see at the fairs, except we didn’t have to pay, you got a free ride with the purchase of a pair of shoes.  Maybe that is why I am also a shoe nut . . . .

At any rate, I shortly threw my dolls away and insisted on model horses, puzzle horses, anything connected with horses.  For my ninth birthday, I received a year’s worth of riding lessons (once a week and it was $4 an hour).  Within a month I was “ruined” for life.  I never looked back & rode for the same trainer for the next 9 years of my life. We showed the little local circuit, and I did really well, the standard western pleasure, equitation, trail & showmanship classes.  When I was 15 I got my first horse, Dusty, a TB/Appaloosa cross that had managed to fool her previous owner into thinking she was impossible to deal with.  That began my interest in a better way to do things. (I had Dusty till she was 35 and was put down due to extreme arthritis in her knees),

A couple decades, a multitude of horses, and LOTS of shows later (local, regional and national level) I had become disillusioned with the horrific things people will do to win a ribbon and title.  From breeding horses with genetic “diseases” to over feeding to the point of founder;  “training forks” that were 8” long, sharp spurs, “cathedral” mouth pieces, tying draw reins to the horses’ hocks, etc.  I was done with it and walked away from the show circuit. 

That was also about the time I met a gentleman by the name of Buck Brannaman. He REALLY changed my outlook on life AND the way that I train horses.  I immediately began utilizing his methods and noticed significant results that I could not get with traditional training methods. 

In 1998 I moved from CA to NV in search of a new life.  I continued my quest of a better way to do things with Natural Horsemanship and started using it to train a few horses bound for the show pen and had great results.  I also became deeply interested in the reined cow horse events.  Being as we are so close to Reno, home of the National Reined Cow Horse Association’s World Champion Snaffle Bit Futurity, this was a very natural transition.

In 2003, I was offered the opportunity to apprentice with a World caliber Reined Cow Horse trainer, Doug Williamson in Bakersfield, CA.  Doug has won the “Snaffle Bit” twice, in 1992 and again in 2002. He has made multiple world champions in both the AQHA and the APHA.  Doug normally has about 45 head in training and we rode 10-16 hours a day.  I traveled the “big time” show circuit with him and I learned so much during my year there.  He is my very good friend to this day and I am welcome to ride with him anytime.

In 2004, my father was diagnosed with liver cancer while living in Redding, CA. I made the difficult decision to move closer to him, hence my arrival in the Carson Valley.

I currently own 4 horses: a 5 year old Paint gelding, a 7 year old Paint mare, a 3 year old Quarter Horse filly and a 16 year old Lusitano mare.  I believe that all horses should be cross trained in different venues and should be kind, quite, obedient, responsive, respectful, soft and most of all, our friend.