As a child, Gina loved horses and spent many exhilarating hours galloping fast and far on some very special thoroughbreds owned by her family and friends. Unfortunately, as life evolved, her involvement with horses drifted away until after her daughter Abby was born in 2006. Abby was born with significant special needs and her family was told she would never walk or talk. Believing in her daughter’s highest potential, Gina and her husband, Tom, enrolled Abby in hippotherapy at age two. Although she had never babbled, rolled over or even picked up a toy, Gina knew that Abby had all those abilities within her! After three months of hippotherapy, Abby began to babble. Six months later, she crawled, and a year later, she walked! Now, at age 12, Abby is able to groom, tack, lead, and ride completely independently. Horses were the miracle her family knew existed. As time with horses was a weekly need for Abby, Gina felt the call to ride again. In 2009 she began taking lessons, leasing a horse, and learning so much more about horses than she ever knew possible.

After getting her own horses in 2013, both of who ended up having significant health concerns requiring careful care and rehabilitation, Gina knew in her heart that helping horses is what she had prepared for her entire life. She began taking as many courses and clinics as possible to learn about horse handling, training, behavior, and wellness. She learned from veterinarians, shadowed practitioners of diverse complementary therapies, and intensely studied equine anatomy and biomechanics. It was only when she started volunteering at Drifter’s Hearts of Hope in 2017 that she really began to understand what it takes to keep a horse happy, healthy, and sound. Under veterinary direction, she has spent thousands of hours providing daily care, massage, and bodywork for the most sick, injured, and traumatized rescue horses.

Gina is incredibly passionate about helping horses and believes she can best do that in the rehab setting. With support from her husband, Tom, her older daughter, Emily, and a team of dedicated, collaborative, equine professionals, she is committed to providing the best care possible for horses in recovery from injury and illness one stride at a time.