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Sinasohn Training
About Rita I started riding at Golden Gate Park stables when I was 12 years old. I majored in Equine Business-Management and Riding at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, RI, where I was on the Dean's list every semester. I finished a semester early after having spent my last semester at Waterstock House Training Center in Waterstock, England. After college, I moved back to the Bay Area teaching at several stables in the East Bay. After my mother passed away, I moved back to San Francisco to take care of my father and taught at Golden Gate Park Stables for many years. June 17, 1999, I purchased my first horse, Whispa from GGPS. He is a little bay gelding that I started training after he bucked off his leassor, fracturing the girl's hip. I moved Whispa to Mar Vista Stables and started training and teaching there as well. In the fall of 2000, I quit teaching at GGPS and started driving carriages on the S.F. Waterfront. Still teaching at Mar Vista Stables, I then joined the San Francisco Police Department as a civilian employee at the Mounted Unit Stables taking care of the police horses. I then was given my second horse, Lodi. In the fall of 2003 I married Rick Pharr in a small ceremony where I rode Whispa down the aisle and my dog, Kelly, proudly carried the rings. After the ceremony, Rick and I galloped off on Whispa and Lodi for a quick trail ride before the reception. Two months after the wedding, I took Whispa in my trailer and went to pick up Rick's and my wedding present from Rick's sister; a four and a half year old Arabian cross mare named Fancy. In the spring of 2005, I lost Kelly to cancer. That fall I transferred out of the Mounted Unit and am now happily working downtown in the San Francisco Police Robbery Detail. I purchased a 2 month old Australian Shepard / Cattle Dog cross at a tack swap. Calliope, or Kyla for short, has quickly endeared herself as the Sinasohn Training mascot. While working downtown, I have still been teaching and training as a part time endeavor. In 2006, when I renewed my teaching certification, I earned the highest scores possible on my video lessons and essays. In January 2007, I moved all of my horses to Millwood Ranch in Pacifica, and in May 2008, to Ember Ridge Stables in Moss Beach. I am now able to use my lesson horses to their fullest capabilities to teach students in Dressage, Jumping and work in hand. I also teach driving but do not currently have a lesson horse fluent in that art. August 1, 2011 I moved all the horses to my brand new facility, Fifth Wheel Farm, located in Half Moon Bay. While I primarily teach on the coastside, I am available to travel to most barns in the San Francisco Bay Area. |
A note about my logo: I started drawing horses in black and white relief in college and have many different ink drawings. I chose this particular image from my gallery because, to me, it represents dressage and riding. . The circle represents the energy flow from rider to horse and back to rider again. The imperfections in the roundness of the circle were left deliberately there because like all of us and our riding, we strive for perfection but don't always achieve it. Just because we didn't ride our circle perfectly round, doesn't mean it is not a brilliant circle after all. There is beauty in everything, despite its imperfections; or perhaps it is because of them. |
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