Recently, I obtained a sponsorship from Custom Saddlery. As part of the deal, I had to provide a photo of me riding in a Custom along with a short biography. The photo part was no problem, thanks to my friendship with up and coming equine photographer, Kathy Colman. The short biography, however, was proving to be more difficult.
I consulted my Custom Saddlery representative, Robyn Drake, and she gave me some advice. She said the bio should be anything I wanted people to know about me. It could be about the horse I’m riding, where I’m based, or my goals.
So my immediate reaction to that was more confusion. In following the criteria listed my biography looked something like this,
“Ali is based in the hills above silicon valley. She’s pictured on Lafitte. He had a fantastic career as a four year old, but everything got tenser and more explosive after that. Ali’s current goals are to learn how to get horses to come to her, figure out a two rein hold with a bosalita and bit, and get better at teaching horses flying changes”
Yeah, not exactly worthy of continued sponsorship from a major dressage saddle company. Luckily for me, and my excessive facebook habit, an algorithm put an ad for the Retired Racehorse Projecf on my feed. I thought to myself, I’ve got two thoroughbreds in training who are eligible for their Thoroughbred Makeover competition…. After a brief chat with their excited owners, I have a new goal for 2017, and inspiration for a suitable bio!
With some help from Sarah Senn, this is the bio I ended up submitting, “Ali Kermeen is a USDF silver and bronze medalist, multiple all-breeds awards winner, and L graduate with distinction. She has been certified as a US eventing association instructor, and CHA Master instructor
Based in Milpitas, CA, the tip of the silicon valley, Ali enjoys teaching clients of all ages and abilities in a cross section of disciplines. She coaches the Santa Clara University dressage team and is also very involved with pony club.
Ali’s ongoing goal is to continue to improve communication with all her horses through meaningful and mindful interactions. In 2017, she is hoping to take two horses to Kentucky for the Retired Race Horse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover competition.”
That looks better, right? So I’m serious about this competition (I sure hope my application is selected) , and I’ve seen enough makeover shows to know that documentation of the process is important. I’m going to get serious about posting to this blog. Janet Sturgill has set me up with a cool way of integrating it on my website, so here we go!