#SquadGoals | Meet Ambassador Sam Shinn

By Ambassador Sam Shinn
I started riding when I was five years old and I was hooked ever since. I got my first horse Bentley when I was 12 years old, he's the best thing ever; I rode with little barns up until middle school. Then I found Shannon Bejarano and Fairwin Farms in Sarasota. I rode with them for seven years and we traveled all over the country competing in A rated and double A rated shows.

During that time Shannon and I bought and sold many horses together and she very much got me on the map for my Junior years. My main focus over that period of time was always Hunter, I did medal and Maclay stuff for one year on my horse Quintos. After my senior year in high school I got an offer to go down and work in ride for Castlewood farms in Wellington Florida. During the time I was there as a working student I really got a good idea of what I wanted to do with my life. I really focused on showing in the AO hunters and competing in big hunter derbies on Quintos and Quipps. Still to this day I'm obsessed with Hunters however one summer Alan and Castlewood Farm give me an opportunity to ride a little jumper mare; that definitely lead the way to my jumper career. 

Shortly after I bought my horse Golden Gun from Kyle Dewar and have been obsessed with Golden Gun and the jumpers ever since. After only two short years riding with Castlewood Farms I had an amazing opportunity over the summer to ride with Kyle Dewar and Chestnut Hill Farms in Ocala, Florida. Now I am competing in HITS Ocala this winter series with them and continuing to buy and sell horses with Kyle's help. My future plans are to grow ride over in Germany for the summer 2018 with Golden Gun and then come back and do the HITS Coachella winter series.