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Saturday, April 21, 2001 World looks to her horse senseFACES OF NOTE Horses, according to Tiffany Williams Myers, are as affectionate as dogs and cats with the added bonus of providing a good ride. And Myers ought to know, considering how they've taken her to Canada, South Africa and Brazil. Crazy for horses since eighth-grade, the Ponce Inlet resident's extensive horse sense has put her in demand as a judge for national and international horse competitions. Last month, she was in South Africa, judging that country's national show of Arabian horses. Within the week, she'll be in Brazil doing the same thing. "I'm so lucky to be able to make a career out of something I've enjoyed all my life," says the flaxen-haired Connecticut native. It all started when her neighbor down the street from her childhood home got her own horse. "I wanted to ride so bad, I cleaned her stalls for a whole week and then I got to ride on Sunday," recalls Myers, 36. "It was so cool. Here was this animal I could pamper, baby, give affection to and get affection from." Her parents resisted her pleas for her own horse, but there was no stopping Myers. She convinced her grandmother to lend her $280 so she could buy "Ginger." To pay back the loan, the 14-year-old was cleaning out more stalls at a 100-horse barn. "I was all consumed -- eating, sleeping and dreaming horses," Myers says. "I was one of the girls who drew horses on my notebooks in school." By 10th grade, she was a national champion on the 4-H circuit. It was a result, she says, of a driven nature that makes her competitive in almost everything she undertakes. Her particular calling didn't come into focus, though, until she saw running through a field one of a breed that inspired, "The Black Stallion." It was an Arabian, also known as "drinkers of the wind" because they came from the desert. "They have long manes and tails and are known for carrying their tails high -- majestic," she says. "They have large eyes, nostrils. Their endurance is fabulous. Also they've gotten a reputation for having bad tempers." With a mission to further the breed's fortunes, at 19 she began working toward her judge's card, which certified her to apply the standards for the breed described in the inches-thick rule book of the International Arabian Horse Association. She became one of the association's youngest judges. Fresh out of college, she was an apprentice trainer at a Los Angeles farm. Soon she was an assistant trainer at Wayne Newton's Arabian horse farm. Then she was working on her own 45-horse farm in Lakeland, Fla., which consumed all of the time that would have been spent showing and judging. But then she decided to sell the farm and make her living solely as a judge -- something of a gamble. "You're not allowed to advertise your services," she explains. "You have to go on word of mouth and the laurels you earn." Meeting and marrying her husband four years ago meant moving to Ponce Inlet -- and giving up her own horses. Now, as she travels greater distances to look at other people's horses, she's taken up riding the waves. That same determination that made her a contender in horse competitions follows her through tubes and barrels. "The first 20 times I tried surfing I couldn't even stand up," she says, laughing. |
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