At the young age of four, Kelly's parents knew that their young daughter would not settle for riding in Western Pleasure or showing her horse in halter. Kelly showed a keen interest in horses as soon as she could walk. On her first visit to her aunt's farm, she jumped her cousin's horse appropriately named Escape over the small fence that surrounded their front yard and cantered away into the pasture. "I knew that I was going to get into trouble, but I knew that it would be worth it."
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That was the beginning of Kelly's jumping career. At 8 years, she started taking riding lessons, and immediately began finding anything and everything to jump. Barrels, logs, picnic tables, and anything else that she could prop up. Determined to have her own horse, she had a "fundraiser" at her 8 year old birthday party. After inviting the entire 3rd and 4th grade, she re-quested that everyone bring a $5 donation toward the "buy Kelly a horse" fund. Instead, everyone brought her a stuffed horse. Her mother would not allow her to collect receipts and return all of the small stuffed steeds, so Kelly immediately started doing odd jobs and saved $1,000 by the time that she was 12 years old. With money in hand, she got a newspaper and bought the only horse that was advertised. "Pokey" a 2 1/2 year old Foundation Quarter Horse mare (just started 60 days prior), was her new companion.
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Pokey was Kelly's transport to town, the local convenience store, the beach, her friend's soccer games, and houses. She also began showing her in every 4H event. Then Kelly went to a 4H clinic on jumping. She was sold, and begged for an English saddle for Christmas and never looked back. She found a jumping/hunt seat trainer, and begin taking lessons. She then began showing in all of the local shows that she could and having quite a bit of success. She won numerous local championships in hunter over fences as well as jumpers.
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In high school, Kelly began to develop an interest in eventing. Living in Corpus Christi (just a few miles north of the famous King Ranch), the opportunities for competing were slim. After college; however, she was able to expand her interest. She moved to South Carolina, which is one of the biggest areas for eventing. There, she acquired a black TB gelding who she competed heavily in dressage as well as through Training level in eventing. Excelling in dressage, he was the Combined Training and Dressage Regional horse of the year in Training Level. Kelly reached a plateau with him in jumping. He did not have the heart to go to Preliminary. She then sought out a horse that could take her there.
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George, i.e. Fortis Atticus entered her life. "He was a Thoroughbred off the track that was almost donated because he would only spin in circles in the dressage arena. His previous owner had him for 30 days and wanted to get rid of him. I saw his potential, and when I jumped him, I knew that he had the heart and the ability to go where I wanted to go."
Kelly was not the only person that saw the horse's amazing potential. In her first clinic with David O'Connor, David said that we should put a big "S" on his chest for "super jumper." He told me not to even think about selling him, because I would never find another like him. Two years later, when she was riding with Jim Graham, he told her that if George didn't go lame or Kelly didn't get pregnant that George would go to the World Games. He said, "You can write your own ticket with that horse."
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Kelly competed George through the Intermediate Levels with amazing success. He succeeded on the regional, national and international level. In 2002, George helped bring his team to 2nd place in the USEA Chronical of the Horse Area IV Adult Team Championships which qualified him and Kelly to compete in the National Adult Team Championships. In 2003, he was named the Central Texas Preliminary horse of the year, and Kelly was named the Preliminary rider of the year.
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As Kelly was experiencing highs in the show arena, she was also experiencing lows. "As I started to move up the levels, I began to lose my confidence. At the time, I had no idea how this lack of leadership would affect my horse. I assumed that he would just pack me around. George began to be more difficult to handle, and he stopped loading into the trailer. At this point, I knew that I had to do something."
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After days of attempting to load this top competition horse who had been all over the country and internationally to show, Kelly became very discouraged. Her neighbor suggested that she call a friend of hers who was a nurse. "I really had no idea how a nurse could help me, but I was desperate. I called the lady, and she came out and starting playing with my horse on the ground. I had no idea what she was doing. It looked so foreign to me. Within 15 minutes, my horse was loading in and out calmly, and then standing without trying to run out backwards. I was amazed. I asked the lady how she did that, and I asked if she could show me some of these methods. She agreed, and I set up a time. I then went and talked to the barn owner who was irate that I allowed a Parelli person on the place, so I ended up moving to another "Parelli friendly" barn down the road. There, I met with the nurse again and she showed me the seven games. Better yet, she also gave me all of the information that I needed to get started with Parelli. I immediately bought the level one pack and the tools. I was so excited that there was actually a program that I could go through to achieve a high level of safety and communication with my horse."
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Kelly stuck to the program, completed a ten week school module and attained her Level 2. That following summer, she received her Level 3 during her first University Module. She stayed on, attending two more University Modules in which she continued to develop her savvy, and received stars in Young Horses, Foundation Training, Horsemanship, Dressage, Jumping, and Reining. Kelly also took on the role as the Parelli Tour Manager for the 2005 National Tour. In the Fall of 2005, she attended the new 6 Week Course Module as well as took part of the Faculty training. At that time, she also received her 2 Star Parelli Instructor rating. Kelly received her third star in 2009 and received her Level 4 in January of 2010. Kelly now lives outside of Aiken, SC at her farm, Looking Glass Farm where she says "my horse is my mirror". She resides there with her husband, Jim, her son, Reed and top student Nicola Steffanina.
Kelly's goal is to help people become safe with their horses, as she was helped. After her students firmly develop this foundation, then she hopes to help them in areas of competition such as jumping and dressage.
Kelly is available for group and private lessons throughout the United States as a clinician.
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