ShowBiz Feature
The Zealous World of Denize Borges
by Erin Gilmore “I’ve always been someone who doesn’t require a lot of sleep,” says Denize Borges. T 62
commuting over an hour from her home in the heart of San Francisco, she’s got a steady grip on her coffee cup, but don’t mistake it for weariness. Denize manipulates multi-tasking al-
most into an art form. As President of the NorCal Hunter Jumper Association, she oversees decision making and keeps Board members and staff up to date on riding programs, bonus classes and budgets. As head trainer and proprietor at Crystal Image Farm in Sunol, Denize manages a 38 stall show barn, coaching, training, and spending 12 to 15 weeks per year on the road at shows. She’s kept up her twice yearly buying trips to Europe, even throughout the recession, but still has time to judge at local competitions. She manages a music band that books shows around the country. And in her “spare time,” Denize adopts elephants. That’s right, elephants. A trip to Africa last year initiated the elephant-adopting, but we’ll get to that later. Denize is first and foremost a horse-
woman. As a junior, there was never any doubt in her mind that she’d train horses. The day after she graduated from
Left: Denize and student Natalie Nishi.
Opposite Page(Top to Bottom, Clockwise): Lesson and training day at Crystal Image Farms; Rachel Hutches, Denize's assistant; Denize, her assistant Rachel Hutches and student Courtney Ketzler.
Page 64: Denize at The Daphne sheldrick Elephant sanctuary in Nairobi, Kenya
Photos Courtesy Denize Borges
hat’s a lucky thing, because there isn’t a whole lot of room for downtime in the life that this North- ern California trainer has built for herself. As she arrives at her barn on a weekday morning, after
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