By Faith Boyum
Managing Editor
Faith.Boyum5336@mb.rctc.edu
Horses are in her DNA and have impacted many aspects of her life.
Ever since Stephanie Bruggeman graduated from RCTC’s equine science program in 2007, she has been riding, training and teaching others about horses. As a result, she has assisted with the equine science classes before.
But for the first time, she is an adjunct instructor at RCTC, teaching the colt starting class this semester. This class teaches students to train horses that have never been ridden to accept their rider and the directions they receive from the rider. However, Bruggeman has used her experience at RCTC in other capacities.
Submitted photo – Stephanie Bruggeman, an RCTC equine science graduate, trains horses and riders, an activity she says has shaped her life.
“It was great to be able to come through the (equine science) program and get the knowledge and hands-on experience,” she said because, “I was set up to go into the business world and to start my own businesses.”
Bruggeman is the manager of SKM Riding, a business that trains horses and teaches riders to improve their communication with their horses. SKM Riding was founded in 2010.
Bruggeman’s main focus, however, is Refuge Ranch, a nonprofit organization established in 2014 that rescues horses and mentors children. As of now, Bruggeman is renting space for the organization, but her goal is to build her own facility because that will allow her to rescue more horses and help more children.
In addition to teaching and running her businesses, Bruggeman competes in dressage, a sport that demonstrates a rider’s communication with their horse and works for a “harmonious relationship with the horse.” Bruggeman hopes to win her bronze, silver and gold medals in dressage.
Not only does she spend much of her time working with horses for her jobs and her leisure time, but horses have shaped her into the person she is now.
“I’m the type of person that when I start a job, I give it my all, and I don’t go home until the job is done,” she said. “Horses have taught me to have a really great work ethic. They don’t conform to our normal business hours.”