From the beginning, it was obvious to Clinton that he had an extremely hard worker on his hands. “Shana would sit there from 7 in the morning to 7 in the evening and watch my clinics and listen to me. And literally, other than going to the bathroom or getting something to eat, that girl would not move,” Clinton says. “She was absolutely glued to that chair. I have yet to meet another young person that has the dedication and ability to stay focused like she did.”
As Shana’s horsemanship skills improved, she started giving riding lessons at her barn. “I loved being able to share my knowledge of horses with other people, especially when they were as passionate as I was about riding,” she says.
So when Clinton invited Shana to start his apprenticeship program, it sounded like a dream come true to Shana. She wanted to start working for Clinton as soon as she graduated high school, but her father persuaded her to first get a college degree. Though Shana reluctantly agreed, she put her time in college to good use, gaining a bachelor’s degree in both business management and equine business management. However, unlike many who go to college to find a career, Shana knew before the first day of class what her passion was: working with horses and people using the Method. Throughout her time in school, Shana never lost her desire to learn from Clinton and become the best horseman she could possibly be.
Unfortunately, there were only limited amounts of time to work with Clinton and horses during her college years. Though she couldn’t ride as much as she would have liked, she still learned from Clinton every chance she could, helping him during school breaks and summers. For Shana, the wait to work with Clinton fulltime was torture. “It was terrible!” she says. “The town I went to college in had an equestrian program but I wasn’t in it, and you could only keep your horse there if you were in the program. So I went to different barns and asked if I could please ride their horses.”