TRAINER SPOTLIGHT TOMMI CLARK
GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE “ANYWAY”
by Kathy Hobstetter T
he high altitude in Denver, Colorado makes every- thing grow distinctly every season. There becomes a rolling lifestyle that flows from one year to an-
other with each new time bringing its wonderful colors. Just as the seasons turn, and new things come into be-
ing, the life of young people respond to those very changes and they grow up with a wonderment mentality for all things new. One such young lady is Tommi Clark, 21, trainer and owner of Griffith Park Farms in Los Angeles. Originally from Colorado, born and raised there, Tommi possesses an amazing optimistic outlook on life that is almost palatable when you spend any time at all with her. She seems to go through this horse business always believing people are good, business is fun and horses are amazing. Even when things go completely array she manages to laugh and giggle just before a tear or two comes…then it’s back to the giggles and the belief again that all things are possible. She began her show career at the age of nine on ponies
of all sizes and colors. Piloting anything her mother, Gerri, could find for her to ride she always made the best of each one. It never crossed either of their minds that maybe a pony was not a “super pony”. To them, they all were, and Tommi rode them and loved them as such. The Colorado Hunter Jumper Association award for Best Child Rider of the Year was hers year after year on a variety of mounts, and the po-
nies were just about all Year End Champions in their indi- vidual divisions. Ask her today and she can tell you each one of them and all about them, and she will end just about every description with a “what a wonderful one that one was!” Even though small of stature, she was growing up and the
time came to begin to navigate to horses. The Denver win- ters made it difficult to stay motivated in the cold, even with indoor arenas, so they moved to California where the sun shines just about all the time. “Coming to California I brought a few of my ponies,” says
Tommi, “I trained and sold Claim to Fame, the pony that was Grand Green Champion Pony Hunter at Pony Finals 2006. I also had her brother, Shenanigans, so I had the same catch rider, Reed Kessler, ride and show him in the Finals in 2007. He won the Green Small Pony Hack, was second in the Model and ended up 4th overall.” After pushing her mother for months, Tommi’s decision
was made to go into the horse business to pursue her life’s passion. Still in the Junior age category, and with an intense love of children, her first instructor job was at Fox Pointe Farm for Kathy Hobstetter in Costa Mesa. “I know she was young at the time but the qualities I
saw in her made the decision to give her a leg up easy,” says Kathy smiling. “Her work ethic even then, was way beyond just about anyone I knew and her childlike wonderment of
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