Westly Oberman
Westly Oberman grew up in California spending all his free time working with and riding horses at a cross-country ranch. His passion for horses led him to pursue a a degree in Equine Science at Colorado State University. While at Colorado State University, he had the opportunity to take an internship as a veterinary technician at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, Kentucky, where he learned how amazing the medical side of the equine industry is. Westly enjoys building his horse knowledge every day, whether it be while working as vet tech at SLREH, or while training on weekends.
Courtney Kindig
Courtney is a North San Diego County native. She began riding and competing on the Hunter/Jumper circuit when she was nine. Throughout her junior years her family owned a hunter/jumper/dressage equestrian center where Courtney worked as a working student under numerous trainers to expand her education on the sport.
Growing up Courtney had animals of all shape and sizes. She decided to turn her passion and love for animals into a career and worked as a small animal technician for 5 years before making her transition into large animal medicine.
When she is not working you will find her training with her jumpers, Calypso and Zack and spending time with her other fur children consisting of 8 dogs, 3 cats, and 5 horses.
Kayla James
Kayla is a life long animal lover starting with livestock in 4-H and FFA. She graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2015 after pursuing dairy and equine classes. Her favorite part was the time she spent with the Quarter Horse and Foaling Enterprise. In her free time she enjoys riding her horses and doing sports with her dogs.
Kara Hicks
Kara grew up riding and competing in 4-H and continued onto barrel racing circuits and also in high school rodeo competitions. During high school she worked at a privately owned dressage facility as barn staff.
Kara attended Michigan State University where she graduated from their horse management program and also with an associates degree in Agriculture Technologies.
Kara expanded her knowledge by working under several trainers at multiple dressage barns in Florida. She then got a job working as an equine veterinary technician where she traveled the country following the Arabian horse circuit.
In her free time she spends time with her animals consisting of a dog, a cat, 2 rats and a bearded dragon.
Rachel Turman
Rachel grew up in Southern California competing in high school rodeo, competing on a mounted drill team, and going on pack trips in the back country with her horses, mules and dogs. Her passion for animals has always obvious, from setting her alarm clock at 5 years old to feed the horses, to choosing to pursue a degree and career with animals.
Rachel started her animal career at 12 years old where she worked in a petting zoo during the summer. From there she went on to be the well known small town pet sitter and exercise rider, and then eventually became a manager of a cutting horse ranch in her junior year of high school. In recent years, she has been working on her veterinary technician degree while working in a small animal hospital, with an ultimate goal of becoming an equine technician which led her to SLREH. In her free time, she enjoys barrel racing, trail riding, and spending time with her dogs and family.
