When Serena was 9 years old, she paid a dollar in quarters for her first horse. Sunny was a 5-year-old stallion with a nasty attitude and a lot of baggage. He’d been headed to an auction when Serena intervened.
Although the ill-mannered pony was a challenge, he met his match in Serena, who’d been in the saddle before she could walk. Her grandmother, who lived just up the road, introduced her to horses, and Serena’s older sister, Shawnea, who is 10 years older than her, loved to ride, too. “I spent every free minute I had at my grandma’s barn. I’d quickly do my barn chores and then get in the saddle,” Serena says. “I started by riding my grandma’s and sister’s trained horses, and when I got a little older, I remember my sister using her rodeo queen money to buy a pony I could ride. She was a killer pony, straight up horrible, but she taught me a lot.”
By the time Serena was skilled enough to take on a project like Sunny, Shawnea had been to her first Walkabout Tour and was hooked on the Method. “I remember her coming back from the tour with a green halter, lead rope, stick and string for me. She taught me what she’d learned and helped me with the first two weeks of Sunny’s training,” Serena remembers.
Soon, the sisters were religiously watching Clinton’s training program on RFD-TV together, and learning everything they could about the Method to better their skill set. “I’d grown up around horses, but as soon as I started using the Method and saw the results I could get, I was all in,” Serena says. “It wasn’t just about the horses getting better, either. I loved the potential I saw in myself.”
Serena spent her middle-school and teen years taking in free horses with problems and flipping them with the Method. “I loved how quickly I could get results and that the horses remembered what I taught them,” she says.
Attending the Academy and becoming a Method Ambassador was a natural choice for the dedicated horsewoman. “There is nothing I love more than training horses and helping people learn how to work better with them,” she says. “When you realize what you and your horse are truly capable of, it opens up a whole new level of enjoyment and fun.”
Serena is based in Farmington, Arkansas, where she trains horses for the public and teaches private lessons and clinics that focus on the Fundamentals level of the Method. Learn all about Serena on her website and contact her directly at 707-357-2326 or [email protected].
