Suzanne O'Brien
Hi, I’m Suzanne O’Brien, the 2009 President of GLASS-ED.  I am a retired first grade school teacher from the Kalamazoo Public Schools.  I have been married to Tom O’Brien for 37 years.  Tom is a recently retired pilot from Fed-Ex.  I have 2 sons: Cullen and Kevin.  Cullen is a environmental engineer and lives in Ann Arbor.  Kevin lives in L.A. and is a mortgage consultant.  My pets include 2 adult Siamese cats and a calico kitten. I own 2 horses: a thoroughbred gelding named Jet and a 3-year-old P.R.E. colt named Innato. 

I think I was born loving horses!  Who knows why?  My history with horses goes back to my first horse, which I got at 13 years of age.  I had saved $200 and bought my horse, Fanny, for $150 and an English saddle for $50. Fanny lived at a local farm where board was $15 a month. I never rode western.  For some reason English appealed to me, and I never considered anything else.

When I was 19, I spent a year at Porlock Vale Riding School in Porlock, England.  My desire to attend this school came from the Walt Disney movie The Horsemasters, which was filmed at this school.  I was there for nine months as a working student, and the last 3 months were spent on the Horsemasters course which culminated with testing for the A.I. (assistant instructor’s) certificate from the British Horse Society. I passed.

My first love has always been dressage ever since I first heard of it when I was in England.  So when I bought Jet as a 3-year-old from Mary Johnson, Equine Line, I was delighted to have an organization like GLASS-ED that provided a unique place to learn more about dressage and competing.

Many friends have asked me to tell more about my new horse, Innato, and the P.R.E. breed.  Innato means innate. P.R.E. means pure Spanish breed.  I first fell in love with this breed when I saw them being ridden at a George William’s clinic.  I later saw Pati Pierucci and her daughter, Hannah, competing on P.R.E. stallions from Hampton Green Farm at the Waterloo USDF show. I was so impressed with these noble, calm, beautiful horses and wanted to learn more about this breed.   Kim Boyer the owner of Hampton Green farm describes the P.R.E.s as “naturally round, expressive, easily collected and more than athletic enough to go Grand Prix.”  This breed of horse is exceptionally intelligent.  P.R.E.s love to have their very own person and want to bond with their owner.

I bought Innato in the fall of 2007.  He seems to have the natural aptitude for Grand Prix movements that P.R.E.s are famous for!  His present color is black, but he will eventually be white.  Innato lives at Hampton Green Farm in Fruitport where he was born.  He lives in his herd at present.  He has been introduced to lunging, the saddle and bridle, and has had someone on his back briefly. 

Hampton Green Farms is a special place.  Innato started his training there with Ana Gilmour.  You may have seen Ana in the USDF Connection, in Dressage Today, or on the Hampton Green website.  Some of you may also know Lauren Staley (GLASS-ED member). Lauren was a working student at Hampton Green Farm last summer and was the first to ride Innato.   I am also excited to report that two P.R.E. stallions from Hampton Green Farm are in training with Olympic rider Courtney King-Dye.  One is Grandioso and the other is Cuatrero. Courtney and Grandioso are beginning to make a name for themselves in the show ring. 

Although we won’t be qualifying for the Olympics anytime soon, I hope to show Innato in-hand at some of the GLASS-ED shows in 2009.  First, I will have him revised.  This means he will be an approved stallion if he passes all the tests, and then will get a Roman numeral after his name!  However, I will have him gelded before I begin showing him.   Jet, Innato, and I hope to see you all this coming show season.  Let the fun begin!