About Susie Straus
“Born to ride,” that’s what Susie’s family and friends have said. Susie started her life with horses around at the age of four with her pony “Finally Mine.” From there she continued her riding, spending her junior years showing in the hunters and equitation. She excelled in the junior hunters and won numerous hunter and show jumping medals in the Southwest as well as the West coast.
Becoming an amateur in 2000 and after spending many years in the equitation ring, Susie decided it was time to move to the jumpers. Since then she has shown successfully and obtained great mileage on such upper level jumpers as Levity, Tristan, and Araucano. Susie attended the University of Arizona to study the education of children. After graduating from the University of Arizona with her degree in elementary education, and spending a year teaching first grade, Susie knew that her life was meant to be spent with horses.
Entering the professional ranks in 2005, Susie continues her success in and out of the show ring producing horse and rider combinations with an emphasis on safety and quality. In her own words “Horses and riders are brought along slowly and methodically with a lot of commitment and hard work. It is not a process that can be rushed.”
About Emma Tick-Gilbert
Emma Gilbert was born in Toronto, Canada and it took only eighteen months for her to first sit on a horse. Her love for horses has grown ever since. At the age of six she began training with Canadian Olympic gold medalist, Tom Gayford. At fifteen, Emma started riding her own horse, ‘Fancy That’. After graduating high-school, Emma attended Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and continued to train at the Gayfords’ Farm.
At the age of twenty, Emma relocated to
Tucson to study Veterinary Science and Chemistry at the University of Arizona. Shortly after moving to Arizona, Emma had the opportunity to meet and train with Susie Straus. Susie has helped Emma to developing her horsemanship and riding skills. Emma has shown ‘Fancy That’ out of Wellspring Farm and earned blue ribbons in the Hunters, Jumpers, and Equitation; she continues to train and show with Wellspring Farm.
Horses have been an important part of Emma’s life, she says “as a kid at the barn I worked with the horses, teaching them discipline and building their confidence. Now, years later, disciplined, and more confident, I realize what the horses taught me.” Emma believes that horseback riding can help kids build character and hopes to share her love of horses with a new generation of riders as Susie’s assistant trainer.
