Sarah is a self-professed “girlie, girl”. She loves tanning, shopping, getting her nails done, going out with her girlfriends and going to the gym. One would wonder when she has time for her horse hobby, school and work?!

Sarah attends the University of Western Ontario and will be entering her fourth year in the honours Political Science program. She plans to go to law school after she completes her degree. From September to April, she lives in London with four wonderful housemates. During the school year, she bartends at a popular student bar called "Jack's" and this summer she is working at a law office in Hamilton doing legal research. When not at school, she lives with her parents, Mark and Joanne in the village of Carlisle which is now part of Hamilton. The Nimigans have two dogs – a pug named Percy and a golden retriever named Lola and two horses Nuthinbut Blue Skies (Bucky) and Potentialist (Henry).

Sarah started showing Hunter/Jumper ponies at the age of 6. Her first pony was a very kind Arabian named Shalimar. She loved her ponies, but when her mom received a Quarter Horse named Mouse as a birthday gift, Sarah seemed to gravitate towards the bigger horse. Eventually, Joanne realized her daughter was hooked on Quarter Horses. She made the decision to sell Mouse and purchase a well-known Ontario show horse named Risty Two (Stretch) – a horse mother and daughter could both show. Stretch was a certified “Showmanship Machine”. Sarah and Joanne showed him in Showmanship and eventually Sarah started participating in Walk/Trot classes.

Bucky is Sarah’s current show mount. Oddly enough, Bucky was born a buckskin, but we all will attest to the fact, he now looks pretty darn grey, except for an orange dot on his forehead that looks like a rust stain. The pair show in Hunter Under Saddle and have recently starting showing in Hunt Seat Equitation. Sarah absolutely loves Hunter Under Saddle, but she also admires the really great Trail and Western Riding horses. Sarah and her parents travel to most of the Ontario shows, and also venture into New York, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, and Virginia.

Sarah’s most memorable horse show moment was in 1998 when she placed in the top ten at the Congress with Cruzing with Cash in Hunt Seat Equitation 11 & Under. She had a really great show career with Little Mr. Lincoln including: AQHA Honor Roll: 4th in the Nation All Around Junior Horse, AQHA Youth Champion, Youth World and Open World Qualifier, Superiors and Futurity money earner and 2000 NYATT team member for Ontario in Horsemanship. She has also had success with numerous mounts achieving Ontario and Area 3 year-end championships and competing in the NYATT again in 2001 for team Ontario with Time Well Invested in Hunter Under Saddle. Sarah was also honoured to represent Canada at the 2000 Youth World Cup in Portogruaro, Italy. She encourages everyone to get involved in the 2008 Youth World Cup set to take place in London, Ontario!

She also says this entire show season has been exceptionally memorable because her mom bred Bucky and Sarah broke him as a two year old and sent him to Patti Carter as a three year old. Before Bucky, she had been going through exceptional struggles with her show horse and she knew they could not afford to replace her by buying another expensive show horse. Just when Sarah started to give up, Bucky was born and from that moment on she realized how special he was. She has always felt he was a gift and thanks God every day for sending him to her.

Sarah’s horse show moment she would like to forget happened at Paris Fair. She says, “I think I decided it might look neater if I showed in Western Pleasure with my showmanship pants under my chaps. I thought WOW everybody shows in showmanship pants; I think I'll try it. Well, I was loping my two year old, Zippo Dandy in 13 & under Western Pleasure, when all of a sudden the front of my pants just ripped wide open. I had to ride the rest of my class with a split right up the middle of my hobby horse showmanship pants. Lesson learned: showmanship pants under chaps don't work for everyone.”

Sarah’s career long coach, Patti Carter is her horse show rock. She is always there with the perfect solution and always knows just what to say to calm her down and get her focused. She's more like Sarah’s second Mom. Her real mom does a pretty good job of keeping her in line too - and her Dad is always pushing her to be the best that she can be. Her parents attend all of the horse shows, grooming bucket in hand.

Her mom’s two year old Western Pleasure gelding, Henry is Sarah’s little side project for the moment and she looks forward to showing him next year.

Congratulations Sarah on your BIG win in Amateur Hunter Under Saddle at the Regionals this summer. Continued success with Bucky and have fun working with Henry!!!