From: clever@sequent.com (Cathy Cleverley)
Subject: My Bio
Organization: Sequent Computer Systems (Canada) Ltd.
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 18:18:27 GMT


I am really enjoying reading all about everyone on the list!~

I am Cathy Cleverley and live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.~

I grew up in King Township, north of Toronto, which is horse central
for Eastern Canada.  My neighbours are people like Jim Elder
(represented Canada for *years* on the jumper circuit), Joker's Hill
Stables (for a long time a major event centre), Jamie Smart, Hugh
Graham, Lisa Carlsen, Beth Underhill, Mac Cone, etc.etc.etc.  And
that's just the hunter/jumper people.  Also Janet Burns who sponsors
Cindy Ishoy and her family are all directly south of us on the next
concession.  I am now friends with the woman who manages Mrs.  Burns'
TB breeding operation around the corner, and have gotten to know Mrs.
Burns and her (adult) children in recent years.~

We also have all the major TB farms in our area, most notably
Kinghaven (With Approval, Izvestia et.al)~

I grew up as the horse-mad child.  I can remember when the York Hunt
used to hunt on the fields behind our house.  But, I never had a horse
as my parents were under the impression that to own horses you had to
a - keep it at home - necessitating a barn and~
b - have pots of money like the people they knew who had horses.

I'm sorry know that I didn't push my parents a little harder.  I know
I certainly could have hung out with the Addison's (Mrs.  Burns'
daughter - who I now house/dog/barn sit for once in a while) and
ridden etc, but it was not to be.~

When I was 25, my then husband worked for IBM and they had a riding
club.  That was 10 years ago.  From starting out at this sort of
western trail type place, I haven't looked back.~

I quickly moved on from the western place (I always rode English) and
took lessons thru a winter with John Pearce.  He suggested that what
I needed was time in the saddle so I went out and bought Briskada aka
Bailey, a then 11 year old AQHA mare.~

My husband and I split up and Bails and I moved to Ottawa.  I
continued to ride and take lessons there with Sarah Hickman, who has
become a good friend.  Sarah has her Level II coaching.  At 18 she
spent a year at Goodwood House training in dressage with John
Lassiter.  She then showed her TB hunter for a number of years.  She
now does a little bit of everything, including training a
Standardbred filly that they race!  I learned *so much* from her.  In
the winter when it was too cold to ride she did horsemanship classes.
This included saddlery, feeding, bandaging, braiding and general
stable management.~

In 1990 I moved back to King City, to figure out what I wanted to do
with my life.  A trip to Florida and a day at the Tampa Winter
Equestrian Festival had me thinking that I should *work* with horses.
I approached Mac Cone about working for him starting in the fall of
1990 and he was agreeable.  When the fall came around, he had just
hired someone else.  I wanted to work and ended up at Kingsbrook
Farm, a TB racing stable.~

I probably learned more from my 5 months at Kingsbrook than from the
previous 7 years put together.  Being with the horses day in and day
out provides all sorts of learning opportunities.  As well it was
mares and foals, yearlings, stallions and track lay-ups.  I continued
my association with Kingsbrook until a couple of months ago,
including doing foal watch and being part of the foaling team for two
seasons.~

For those of you who don't know this, working with horses is a long
working, LOW paying job.  After 5 months of 6 days a week, 8 hours a
day for minimum wage, I decided to go back to the real world.  I now
work for Sequent in Canada as a Sales Administrator and can thank
Megan Brenninger for directing me to this list.~

I currently have Bailey at a friend of mine's home/barn.  She lives
with a Standardbred/Clydesdale cross named Babar.  I haven't been
riding much, but I do go and do the barn chores 3 - 4 times a week.
My goal this summer is to spend lots of time riding, as that is
definitely my weak area as far as the horses go.~

I am also in the throes of young Thoroughbred lust - ie I *want* one,
preferably one that I've known since it was foaled.  The most likely
candidate is a 2 yr old filly that Sarah bred, who is currently in
Ottawa growing up.  I could be ready to have her in another year or
so, when she is green broke.  I would like to bring along a young
horse and go on to show some - something I've never done.~

I've gone to shows as a helper.  The big thrill was helping out at
the Royal Winter Fair in 1991.  A filly I was grooming ended up 2nd
in the Gov Gen's Cup class - a confirmation class for 3 yr olds.~

Because I came to this late in life, I never take for granted that I
am making my dream come true by being with and learing about horses.
--
Cathy Cleverley                                 clever@sequent.com
Sequent Computer Systems (Canada) Ltd.          +1 416 629-4000
"An expert is anyone more than 100 miles~
from home with a set of slides"
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian