Nicola Horton - President

Born in the UK and having my first pony at 6 months, I grew up producing jumping ponies in the BSJA. My biggest achievement as a teenager was producing a jumping pony to one of the top 138cms in the UK, I took him from a 3 year old that couldn’t canter in the arena to winning the Foxhunter at Hickstead. I took a break from horses until I was in my early 20s and started riding for different people, always being drawn to the ‘problem’ horses. Spending time gaining their trust and working with them slowly so they felt comfortable with a rider on their back. I had one horse that I was jumping BS and another that was showing BD before I moved to Florida. The move to FL saw me gain 5 acres and 2 horses, but I didn’t get back into riding properly until a riding accident left me with a fractured skull and TBI. I then bought myself my first OTTB and got back into jumping and dressage. I eventually bought myself a 2 year old OTTB and with him being so young I decided to start him in the dressage arena, he went on to become All Breeds Materiale 4-5yr old champion until he found his love of jumping. I am a broker associate and have my license with my family business. In my spare time I cross stitch, crochet, spend time with my collection of cats and travel.

Carol Hibbard - Past President

I grew up in upstate New York and lived on a small farm with dairy and beef cows and a quarter horse that we rode along the road. I stopped riding during college and my early married life and started riding again when my son showed interest in horses. I have lived in New York, California, Ohio, and now Florida. I earned my USDF Bronze medal on my registered Morgan gelding, Intaglio Arizona Storm, that I owned for 19 years until his passing in 2023. I now own a 7-year-old German Riding Pony, named SF Smoke & Mirrors or Presto, and we have shown at Training and First Level. He is schooling 3rd level movements. I retired in June 2022 after 41 years with Hewlett-Packard and subsidiaries, where I was a Technical Presales Consultant and taught computer software classes. I still do some software consulting for a startup AI company called Brain-CA Technologies. I also like to play golf, tennis, pickleball, kayak, sing in my community choir, and travel.

Kathy Ziegler -Vice President

I don’t have near the well-rounded life as Carol! Mine is all about horses, horses, horses - had them all my life growing up in S.California, showing in Western (reining, trail, medal classes), jumping & teaching my favorite horse, Shorty, tricks so he could do little skit performance for schools, etc. I got hooked on Western Dressage in TN at a Frances Carbonnel clinic and show in 2015. My mare Carly was Champion L1 WDAA for TN, AL,GA in 2018. I do liberty and obstacles with her & am pursuing Working Equitation goals to show for the future. She is 19 this year & my pride & joy. We moved to Ocala in 2019 and I’m living my dream life with my very supportive husband, Dean, and 2 dogs & a kitty. I still dabble in my last career as a commissioned animal artist & professional photographer.

Christine Malapartida -Recording Secretary

Kallie Hilyard -Treasurer

I grew up in Pennsylvania and got my first pony, Bluebird, from an Amish family who had her delivered in a milk van. That is one memorable morning. I guess that started my passion with horses and riding. After moving to Florida, I continued to take lessons and ride when I could. I rode through high school and college. After moving to South Carolina with my husband, I caught the eventing fever and competed at Training and Preliminary. Upon returning to Florida, I have focused more on Dressage, but hope to do a little eventing again sometime soon. My husband and I have a small farm with our horses and cows. I graduated from Clemson University with my Bachelors in Agricultural Education/ Animal Science and my Masters in Agricultural Education Leadership/ Equine Science. I have been teaching for 27 years. I currently teach Science at an Alternative School for At-Risk Youth.

Jennifer Bravick -Membership Secretary

Jennifer is currently our STRIDE Show Secretary, has been serving in that position since 2015, and is very experienced at the Fox Village computer program and Horse Show Office that STRIDE utilizes to schedule and record scores for our schooling shows. She served as Membership Secretary 2016-2017, and 2019-2020, receiving membership applications, recording our GMO memberships, and submitting all membership records to USDF within deadlines. Jennifer is also the webmaster for our current STRIDE website.

Molly Parady - Member at Large

Hi! I am a college student who has always had a passion for everything horses. I grew up riding and training in the hunter world with Double K Stables. Throughout school, I continued to ride and eventually got my horse Daisy. I trained Daisy and we both learned a lot from each other. Daisy is now retired and lives her life out grazing in our pasture. Now, my mom and I work together to train OTTBs. I have a big heart for OTTBs and think they are such a misunderstood breed. The primary horse that I show is Addy, Happy Interest, who was trained by both my mom and I. Addy came off of the track with a soft tissue injury and was supposed to be euthanized as they called her “broken.” Addy is far from broken and can do anything we put our minds to. My biggest accomplishment with Addy was going to the TIPs championship last year. I have another OTTB, Diva, Lamzy Divey, who I adopted from New Vocations. Diva came off of training with a broken splint bone, so we take things one day at a time. I went to school at the University of Central Florida for a year where I was on their Western Equestrian Team. I am currently in school online at Arizona State University. I am finishing my Bachelors in Pre-Veterinary Science with aspirations of becoming a veterinarian. STRIDE has opened my eyes to the world of dressage. I only started riding dressage 2 years ago and I have fallen in love with it ever since. Every step I take is a learning experience and I am excited to represent the members of STRIDE Dressage!