ShowBiz Featured PROFESSIONAL Creating Results
Santa Barbara Lifestyle and
Living the by Kathy Hobstetter B
the grace and humility of a southern belle. Her route to success has some interesting and surprising details that explain a lot about who she is. She is remarkable. She was born in Orinda,
etsy Woods is one of the quiet, gentle warriors of our sport. She has weathered all kinds of horse industry ups and down from her home base in Santa Barbara, and has done it with
Ca but moved to Sacramento when she was 12. Although in love with horses, almost from the beginning, there were none in the family. “My parents were overwhelmed by my passion for horses, apparent from 2 years old! No one of my family rides,” she laughs, “or ever had any inclination to do so! My ancestors came across the plains with the Donner Par- ty, homesteaded here in Cali- fornia and they were ranch- ers, so maybe I got the horse bug from them!” As luck would have it, without a horse, she was able to
borrow them from neighbors until her own came along at age 6. Mohawk was a buckskin quarter horse that took her on long bareback trail rides through the hills with her friends and a golden retriever. “What an amazing time we had running crazy and playing cowboys and Indians,” she fondly remembers. “Finally I started lessons and rode at the Sacramento Riding Club on a new horse named Lady Gay. Curtis Nelson was the trainer and I showed at the
Photos courtesy Betsy Woods 53
Potomac Horse Center when Larry Langer was there, the Sacramento Horseman’s Association shows, Santa Rosa, and Cow Palace but had a lot of trouble. My mare (Lady Gay) stopped a lot, but through that I learned to keep a good attitude and persevere as best I could, she was all I had and there were no other options! We didn’t just go out and buy another one in those days, we made do!”
then Berkeley again where I stayed and graduated!” Her first real horse job was with Sujack Arabians in
working career early, at Shady Lawn Farm Camp, as the head wrangler, in charge of the horses and riding. She wanted to go on to college at UCSC but says, “I got accepted at all the UC's EXCEPT that one, so instead I went to Immaculate Heart in Hollywood, now the film institute. I transferred to Berke- ley, then Pierce College
Hidden Hills, learning to break babies, ground and cart drive, ride park seat, and show halter. Then an opportu- nity came along at Klee Arabians, in Santa Ynez, to run the breeding program of 100 mares and 3 stallions. Betsy was one of the first equine artificial insemination techni- cians in the country! “But,” she reminisces, “I wanted to get back into
Betsy started her
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84