A Little History...

    So a little history about myself and how I became involved with horses....

    When I was 7 years old my grandfather told my mother she should get me into riding lessons to keep me out of trouble. LOL  My grandfather loved horses and was the local milkman in St Thomas for many years and that is where our families love of horses came from. With that advice my mother contacted the stables in our town and that is how my journey began.

    With riding lessons going well my instructor suggested my parents buy me a pony and begin to show.  So for my 16th birthday I received my pony Curious George and began my showing career.  Now George was an old pro at this. He had been Ontario Champion 2 years in a row but he was not going to make it easy for me.  I spent lots of time on the ground and got up and dusted myself off every time!!  We become an amazing team and after a few years it was time for me too move up to a horse.   After a long search I found a big black, green broke, 16.0 hand 5 year old Percheron/Thoroughbred cross named Black Magic which I purchased myself. I renamed her Argentina after a poster I saw of a woman in a Spanish dress riding a black horse advertising trips to Argentina. I began the process of teaching this big beauty to jump and I still have her to this day at 28 years old.
 
     Now my love of paints came early in my horsey career but there were very few paints showing hunter and it was almost frowned apon, so when I moved to Alberta in 2002 and saw how many paints where here I thought now is my chance!!  My best friend at the time told me that Strathcona County was the horse capital of Canada so I thought this is where I need to be!! I bought my first paint from a PMU barn in Rocky mountain House and brought home my first foal.  I named her Rebas Twist Of Colour.  

     I began to train and learn all about western pleasure, halter and the APHA world.  In 2007 I had an opportunity to sell my condo for almost triple the price I paid and bought 110 acres of land just outside of Hay Lakes Alberta only a half an hour for Edmonton.  It was nothing but a hay field but I had BIG plans!!  I named my facility Silverwood Equestrian Centre and dedicated it to my mother and father who helped me achieve my dreams. I began with a mobile home and 1 small paddock and a round pen.  As my plans grew so did my farm.  I had a barn built and finished the inside by myself including 10 stalls and 2 tack rooms. I built another 6 paddocks pounding each post myself and putting up all wood fencing.  In 2010 I was able to put up an indoor arena and start to purchase some horses for my breeding program.
   
    As my passion grew so did my program. I learned of all the best studs and began to gear towards the best of the best!! Brooks and Dunn and The Big Sensation would be the first to catch my eye so I bred to them first getting some amazing babies. But I wanted to be different and do something I had not seen before.  I finally decided that rarer colours such as grey tobiano and grey overo were the way to go.  I had not seen anyone do something like this before.  I purchased a few amazing mares to go with this program and renamed the farm GREYSTONE FARMS.

   Now finding just the right stud to cross on my mares was very important. I finally decided to bred my own stud from some of the best names in the industry.  Along came Nemo aka Sensational Sky.  His Sire was by the #1 Paint stallion in Canada Quorum and his Dam is by the #1 Paint stallion in the World Zippos Sensation.  I could not have asked for a better cross!!  Nemo not only has the breeding to back him up but is also homozygous w/20 and is 5 panel negative.  His first foal Arya looks just like him and has already sold to the US!!

    As we move into 2025 I will keep producing amazing foals with lots of colour, confirmation and cadence and will uphold the highest standards for APHA.  Let me help YOU fulfill your dreams as well and give me a call to plan your next show partner!!