Just so you’ll know a little bit about me . . .

Now a semi-retired grandmother, I've been involved in the horse world my entire life – as a horse owner and breeder, as a competitor, as a horse show and event organizer and even as a producer of a nationally-acclaimed syndicated television series about horses. 

Professionally, I've pretty much been an innovator and entrepreneur providing strategic planning and consultant services to numerous companies, as well as creating business enterprises utilizing unique applications of developing technologies and services.

Working within the equestrian industry, I co-produced the first nationally syndicated television series about horses (The American Horse and Horseman with Dale Robertson in 1973) with husband, Charles.  I helped to revolutionize and jump-start the equestrian home media industry in North American with the creation and development of proprietary wholesale and retail videotape distribution systems (EquiVid in 1987, The Discovery Trail in 1988 and Equestrian Vision US in 1989), produced an award-winning video documentary chosen by Equus Magazine as one of the five top videos of the year (The Complete Mule, 1992), and founded and was instrumental in the creation of the original HorseTV concept and program distribution network (1999.),  I created the first 24-hour-a-day streaming television channel on the Internet (The HorseTV iChannel, 2004), created and developedboth NickerNetwork.com, a breakthrough on-demand television programming service on the Internet (2007), and the Pegasus Television Network, a 24/7 digital television network distributed through affiliated channels in local television markets and mirrored on the Internet.

In the the early 90's, one of the very first equestrian Internet portals (HorseNet.com) was created by my son Richard and myself. (Although many of these domains are now controlled and owned by others, the remnants of these websites created in the infancy of the Internet can still be found via the Wayback Machine, an enormous searchable depository of historical Internet websites.) A live messaging and chat community on HorseNet organized by discipline and interests preceded   Facebook by years -- and the e-commence aspect of HorseNet featuring books, videos, art and other "horsey" stuff was in full operation long before Amazon was even a glint in Jeff Bozos' eye! 

Outside the equestrian industry, I was founder and CEO of Sallyforth, Inc., dba The Video Schoolhouse, the largest distributor of informational and how-to videotapes in North America (1985). Heading a company which distributed more than 10,000 video titles in 36 subject categories to consumers, schools, libraries and retail stores, I was honored as an acknowledged expert in the distribution of information and education via video media, accepting key-note speaker and panel invitations from organizations such as the American Library Association and the American Booksellers Association. Profiled in both Venture and TV Guide Magazines, I also authored a book about educational videos with McGraw-Hill in 1986. In this capacity as an educator utilizing video as a conduit of knowledge, I was a consultant to companies such as The New York Times, ConAgra Corporation, PBS and others. All of the above resulted from the ownership, operation and expansion of a tiny little bookstore in downtown Carmel, CA -- the How to Do Anything Bookstore

At the age of 18, I was featured in the American Quarter Horse Magazine as the youngest manager and organizer of an AQHA-approved show (Horses of Houston, 1962), and I have organized and managed numerous other sanctioned and approved breed shows and discipline-specific competitions throughout the years. These included shows for Appaloosas, Arabians, Hunter/Jumpers and Saddlebred horses as well as Combined Training (Eventing), Dressage, Cutting and Rodeo competitions. The all-youth horse show founded at the age of 14 in Houston, Texas, was the country’s largest all-breed junior horse show, with over 1000 horses and even more children competing over four days in a show completely managed and run by teenagers. 

As a California state board member and dual-congressional district coordinator for the Ross Perot presidential campaign in central California during 1992, I worked with Mr. Perot and his team in developing and leading a grass-roots campaign that delivered almost 25% of the Central Valley vote on behalf of third party candidate Perot against Bill Clinton and George Bush, Sr. 

As a young adult working as an out-source “temp” for my family’s business (one of the oldest temporary staffing companies in Texas, established 1951), I was lucky enough to be able to provide short-term organizational, administrative and management support to senior level executives in Houston. By working closely with the successful CEOs and presidents of numerous, diverse companies, I was able to receive a general working knowledge of a wide variety of industries from a top management perspective, an incalculably valuable education in hands-on business management and strategies

Over the years I have ridden and participated in many different English and western disciplines. I was computer and Internet savvy before most people had even heard of Microsoft or the World Wide Web. On a miscellaneous level, I soloed in a Cessna 150 at the was 16, was accepted into Mensa at the age of 18, and owned and managed over 100 horses while running a 2500 acre equestrian facility north of Houston in what is now The Woodlands. I attended the University of Texas at Austin from 1962 - 1965 studying Psychology and Latin. I have three wonderful children (now all in their 50’s), four lovely grandchildren and am a small preservation breeder of Polish Arabian horses. 

I live in Utah . . . but my heart remains in Texas.