In high school Annie spent her free time training backyard horses to become dressage horses in Arizona.  In college at Colorado State University, she studied Equine Science but spent even more useful time trailering her self-trained Arabian to lessons and to show at Prix St. Georges.  After college, the thirst for knowledge and improvement in dressage lured her across the country, where she grew tremendously as a rider on the East Coast working with Lendon Gray and Beth Baumert.  There, she had a chance to ride a variety of horses from every breed and developed her riding skills with help from some of the world’s best trainers. She also explored writing and has several published articles in Dressage Today, including the column “Tips for Trainers who Teach.” 

Every horse she met taught her something, but her most rewarding horse was a hot Lusitano stallion that arrived without the ability to walk, trot or canter rhythmically and ended up as her first partner competing at Grand Prix.  He was not a top-quality horse, but he had an incredible heart that allowed Annie to combine her love of horses with patience to uncover his strengths. Annie’s basic training model is built on this kindness and understanding to show off each horse’s talents in a way that he is happy and proud to be ridden.  Meanwhile, this brings great joy to her life since she is still a horse-crazy girl.

Annie follows every available path to improve her knowledge and skills of the sport.  She trained in Germany to better understand their system, but also found herself drawn to the lightness of the Portuguese riders, where she trained for five years.  Now, she is proud to be a part of the team at Anita Williams Dressage in Eagle, Colorado.