I first started making breeches for my friends at the barn where I was a student rider in West Virginia. Later, after I moved to Southern Pines and worked for a Hunter Jumper rider, I continued to sew breeches for a few people. After the pony club started buying the breeches I made in a US fabric, I found a source for a superior German fabric and decided to go into business full time. I’ve been supplying my clients with breeches for 19 years.

My first horse shows were under the name of Equi-Breeches, mainly in the hunter jumper world and the A circuit riders who worked in chaps and only showed in breeches. It was slow going at first, since I was only making custom-sized breeches. However, I found that I was making the same adjustments time after time. I then incorporated these repeat adjustments into my own line of stock patterns, which cut down on custom sizing by about 95 percent and gave riders more choice in the fit of their breeches.

At a small dressage show and a three-day event I discovered that riders and people in the hunt field who worked in breeches loved the quality and fit of my breeches. For 16 years I did only dressage and three-day events.