Monica Houweling and Stentano

At sixteen, I have been riding for pretty much all of my life, but I became serious about dressage in 2003.  I started riding at Dr. Susan Thompson's barn in Delta as a little girl, where I learned the basics about horses and truly fell in love with them.  When I was about ten, I moved under the instruction of Karen Pavicic and my parents bought me my first pony, Hannah.  I learned so much on her but I slowly started to outgrow her.  In 2004, we sold Hannah and my parents bought Story, an Oldenburg by Weltmeyer.  I competed on Story for two years, but we reached the reality when I was fourteen that Story couldn't take me to the places where I wanted to go.  In 2006, my parents bought my current KWPN mount Stentano.  Over the past three years, Stentano and I have worked hard together and have developed a strong bond.  In 2007, Stentano and I had a very successful year at the FEI Children's Level.  We finished 2007 off at the National Youth Championships where we were named the FEI Children's Champion.  In 2008, we competed together at the FEI Junior's Level and learned so much more about each other.  We ended the year off placing third at the National Youth Championships.  This year, I am competing in Junior's again.  Stentano and I are looking forward to competing in California this March in hopes to receive qualifying scores for the NAJYRC.

Page updated 25-Feb-2009