My name is Alex. You may not know me, but I'm ACTHA's social media manager. I started with ACTHA back in June and I've been loving every minute of working with everyone on the staff, and especially you members and subscribers.
My day-to-day tasks involve producing some of the email promotions you see in your inbox and managing ACTHA's social media accounts, including our blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts. I love being able to share stories and pictures that you submit. You all have amazing unique tales involving ACTHA and your very special trail companions. Anytime you feel like sharing, you can send your pictures/stories to me at alex@actha.us and I'll get them out there so everyone can see.
I started riding when I was just a little mite. I took lessons at a fabulous facility called Norwood Stables in Savannah, Georgia when I was about 7, and really picked up on riding there. When we moved to Texas, it took a little while for me to return to the horse world, but by the time I was in middle school, I was competing as a hunter/jumper and had my first horse, an off the track Thoroughbred named Special Few, aka Grace.
Grace was a beautiful bay mare with what I affectionately called split personality disorder. One moment you'd have a sweet little girl in your pocket, and the next you had a speed demon snorting fire. I loved her, even though she was difficult at times. When I moved to eventing, we thought she would be a great match, but she had issues with the open spaces and coming back after a jump. So, we retired her to munch hay bales in our front pasture until we sold her several years later, while I got started with a new horse, my wonderful gelding, Veridicus aka Klaus (pictured here).
As full of fire and pep as Grace was, Klaus was the opposite. He was a pokey little guy who was a saint 90% of the time. That other 10% he was a bolter, only when he was scared. He always tried to take care of me, was a patient old soul. He was a plucky little bay who loved peppermints most of all.
We competed at a couple of eventing shows, never placing high because we were too slow. But our dressage scores were always decent, so after those few shows, I decided to move on to strictly dressage. We went to many shows, scoring well up to first level. As I neared the end of my college days, I stopped having time to ride, and had grown frustrated with trainers and a lack of improvement in our movements. I realized I did not have the time to invest in continuing to ride, so I stopped riding.
We competed at a couple of eventing shows, never placing high because we were too slow. But our dressage scores were always decent, so after those few shows, I decided to move on to strictly dressage. We went to many shows, scoring well up to first level. As I neared the end of my college days, I stopped having time to ride, and had grown frustrated with trainers and a lack of improvement in our movements. I realized I did not have the time to invest in continuing to ride, so I stopped riding.
I graduated, got married, and moved away from home. Far away in fact, from Texas to South Carolina. My mom sold Klaus to a nice lady who was looking for a little guy to love on, and I tried to focus on looking for work in archaeology, to apply my degree, but the pool of jobs that had been there were gone due to budget cuts and other issues. So, I stayed at home, and one day, my mom told me about ACTHA. She said they were a great company, and had some open positions that I ought to apply for.
I was over joyed! I hadn't noticed how much I had missed horses until I saw this opportunity to become re-involved with them. Even though I only see the horses on the screen for now, and read about your stories, I'm re-connected to the community. I cannot wait to get back into riding and own horses again someday. I LOVE renaissance fairs (hence the photo of me in my costume) and want to do haute ecole demonstrations at them someday. A lofty goal, I know, but when you put your mind to something, you have only yourself to stop you!
Anyways, that's enough about me. Looking forward to continuing to work with y'all! -Alex
I was over joyed! I hadn't noticed how much I had missed horses until I saw this opportunity to become re-involved with them. Even though I only see the horses on the screen for now, and read about your stories, I'm re-connected to the community. I cannot wait to get back into riding and own horses again someday. I LOVE renaissance fairs (hence the photo of me in my costume) and want to do haute ecole demonstrations at them someday. A lofty goal, I know, but when you put your mind to something, you have only yourself to stop you!
Anyways, that's enough about me. Looking forward to continuing to work with y'all! -Alex
