Kim Barnes
Hi!  I’m Kim Barnes, a member of GLASS-ED officially I think for 3 or 4 years now.  I am a mom to two wonderful children:  Dane (7 years old) and Brianna (5 years old).  I am married to the most supportive, understanding and fantastic husband out there, Spencer Barnes.  Without him I would not be able to enjoy this other great love of my life horses and riding.  Rounding out our family is Grace our cat, Toby our dog and Lexi (Vintage Vogue) the horse of the family. 

To support my horse habit I work part time as a small animal veterinarian at Seidl Veterinary Hospital in Hastings. Yes, there was a time I was going to be an equine veterinarian but after many twists and turns this is where I belong.  Balancing work, family and my passion is challenging sometimes but always worth it at the end of the ride.  
 
I would have to say I always loved horses and can not remember a time when I didn’t want to ride.  My uncle gave me my first opportunity to ride at the tender age of 3.  From then on my parents heard nothing but horse talk from me.  Finally I wore them down when I was 13 years old.  We were given an older retired jumper named Blitz.  I loved her so much and rode her everywhere (and over everything).  She was the perfect horse – solid when I needed her to be and forgiving when I didn’t know all I thought I did.  As Blitz grew older my mounts changed from year to year as friends loaned me a horse to show and ride so that Blitz could live out her retirement years at pasture.  The summer of 1999 brought a dark cloud to my new phase of life.  I had just graduated from MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine.  I was entering the real world as an educated adult but that didn’t give me the ability to stop the inevitable.  I became a horseless horse person June of 1999, one month after graduation. 

My entry back into the horse world came spring of 2005 in the form of a bay thoroughbred gelding named Joe (Java Joe).  With much help and support from Christie Bigelow and the Maybees from Mystic Marsh we went from ground work to dressage and to jumping.  This is also where I was introduced to GLASS-ED and I knew I was hooked again!
 

Two years ago I began the difficult journey looking for a horse more suited to what I wanted to do (more dressage with some jumping for fun).  After many months of driving, riding & looking I settled (somewhat begrudgingly I will admit) on an underweight bay Trakehner cross on the advice of my trainer Christie.  Lexi at first was not an easy horse to work with.  In fact I considered selling her after only after a few months because she was very difficult to work with and ride.

Thank goodness I didn’t sell her though.  Mary Johnson of Equine Line doesn’t know this but she helped me several ways last spring.  She let me bring Lexi over to school before one of our GLASS-ED clinics.  This trip showed me the generosity and kindness so many GLASS-ED members posses.  She truly wanted the clinic to be a positive experience for us so she allowed us to school at Equine Line before the clinic.  It was also important in another way.  It helped Lexi and I develop trust in each other as this was our first trip to a new place together.  After that day we were different and it meant so much to me that someone who really didn’t know us was willing to help us grow and help us succeed.