12/11/2024
Meet the Owner
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Sam Gleason was born in Wichita, Kansas to a nonequestrian family. Despite this, her persistence landed her in regular lessons by age 5 and she secured her first pony at 10. Dreaming of a career path related to horses was a prominent fixture of her adolescence. Like many unsure of how to enter the industry, Sam originally wanted to be a Veterinarian but then Sunshine aka Sunner came into her life. Sam was only 9 and Sunner was a 2-year-old unstarted and unruly miniature horse. Never one to turn down the opportunity to be around a horse, Sam took on the challenge of training her and successfully turned Sunner into a wonderful riding, cart, trick, and show horse. Her love of training blossomed further when Pepper entered her life as a teenager. He needed a total restart, and she spent a year solely on groundwork with him. This solidified her career path and desire to be a trainer. In high school she bought a young filly, Flicka, to start. This mare became the first horse she started from square one. William Woods University became an obvious choice to continue her equestrian education. Sam graduated with a double major in Equestrian Science and Equine Administration. Since graduation, she has returned to Wichita and started Left Barrel First LLC. Sam lives and breathes horses; every aspect of her life reflects this. Horse shows are her vacations, and on the weekends you can find her at a wide variety of competitions. She adores barrel racing and speed events, but you can also find her competing in the western all-around and miniature horse events.
