Carson grew up in the foothills of the Ozarks in central Arkansas riding horses with her grandpa. On weekends, they’d load their horses in the trailer and head to trails to explore and camp overnight. Along with trail riding, Carson competed in local shows, running barrels and poles.

When she was in middle school, she bought a Quarter Horse mare named Dreamer from a sale barn. Not long after bringing the mare home, Carson ran into issues with her. “She was really stiff and developed an alley problem and would often blow the first pole or barrel,” Carson says. “I couldn’t figure out where I went wrong or what to do to fix the problems.”

Struggling with the mare, Carson reached out to Anna, a local trainer, she’d met for help. “Anna trains textbook by the Method and she immediately told me I needed to start it with Dreamer. I remember watching Clinton’s TV show with my papaw when I was little, but I’d never tried it. I figured I had nothing to lose and decided to give it a go,” Carson says. “With Anna’s guidance, I started at step one with Dreamer and worked with her consistently, and sure enough, her problems resolved themselves.”

Encouraged by the success she had with Dreamer and the enjoyment she got from learning the Method, Carson switched her focus from competing to training. She began helping at Anna’s ranch and later took a position at a local sale barn. “I worked on the ranch on and off for three years and pretty much lived out there my junior and senior years of high school,” Carson says. “I just love seeing the changes in a horse and watching as they catch on to what you’re asking them to do.”

During the spring of her senior year of high school, Carson knew she needed to plan her next steps for after graduation. “One day while Anna and I were working a colt, she asked me what I wanted to do. I told her that I wished I could do what she did, but there are already so many trainers in the area that I didn’t know why anyone would send their horse to me,” Carson remembers. “Anna told me that I should go to Clinton’s Academy. Once she brought it up, it was all I could think about. I did my research and decided that it was what I was going to do.”

Now, as an ambassador, Carson enjoys training horses and helping people. “It’s amazing what you can accomplish with your horse when you have the right knowledge,” she says. “I know what it’s like to struggle all because you lack knowledge. As an ambassador, I get to share the Method and be a mentor to others to help them reach their horsemanship goals.”