Shawna Jones was a city girl with no interest in horses, even admitting they scared her a little.
But all that has changed over the last couple of years as Jones has become a licensed groom.
You can now find her at Cornerstone Raceway in the city helping driver/trainer Brian Gray prepare his horses for their races.
Jones, 41, said she came to be involved at the track because a friend asked her to help out.
"I volunteered for the exhibition," she said, adding paddock judge Sam Chupa suggested she help at the races too.
"She invited me out to the paddock to see if I'd like it," said Jones. "I didn't know the front end of a horse from the back."
It was as a volunteer Jones met Gray, and the pair hit it off as friends.
It wasn't long before Gray had Jones in the barn around the horses.
"I was petting horses and feeling a little bit more comfortable with them," she said.
It wasn't long before Jones had a fork in her hands and was cleaning stalls, a far cry from her office work at LDM Foods.
Jones said the first horse she really did anything with was Lucky's Little Dude.
"I was a little bit intimidated I tell you, but I stuck it out," she said, adding that experience, helping with Lucky's Little Dude, told her she could work with horses. "Right there I knew I could do it."
Jones said Gray didn't initially think she could do it, recalling her telling him "I can at least clean a stall," and he replied "no you can't." She added Gray is very particular in how things are done around his horses, but she got the stalls cleaned.
Jones now goes down on weekends and helps Gray by cleaning stalls as he jogs his horses on the track.
Soon Jones was not just petting the horses and cleaning stalls, but helping harness, then doing it herself, something she said is made more difficult by the fact almost every standardbred race horse has different harness requirements.
Jones said there is some pressure to make sure a horse is equipped right when taking it to the paddock area for Gray before a race, adding there have been a few mistakes along the way, mistakes she admitted Gray was not pleased with.
"Do I get shit? I sure do. You've got to make sure the proper equipment is on," she said, adding she understands why Gray gets upset since equipment can be the difference between earning a race cheque and not.
"I find race nights are stressful," she said, adding being the only help Gray has many nights means she has much to do.
But she is learning, adding it was a natural to get involved because "he (Gray) needed help."
And Jones said she is learning. She pointed to a race night Brian was on the track and horse Stagger Lee got loose. Noted as a horse with something of a bad temperament, Jones managed to catch the horse and get it back in the stalls herself.
"That made me feel pretty good. I got a gold star that night," she said.
Jones said she has come to completely love working with horses. She said she sees the drivers and trainers who travel from track-to-track, year-to-year as fortunate in that they are getting to work with horses every day, doing something they love.
The down side is that standardbred racing has never been a big money sport in Western Canada, and following a provincial government announcement earlier this year regarding an end to funding the sector, its future in Saskatchewan is uncertain.
"You've got to be a pretty dedicated person to stick with it," said Jones.
But Jones would like to make the jump from office work to horses, although she added that truly surprises her too.
"I didn't think I'd be rushing after work to get down here and work with horses. I couldn't even read a race program before," she said with a smile.
Jones said she has come to find working with horses to be generally relaxing (outside of race night).
"The horses appreciate it. They know when you're cleaning their stalls and getting them carrots," she said. "It's pretty rewarding."
Jones would like to go farther too, getting to the point of at least jogging horses and not ruling out one day getting her trainer's license.
"I would love to but I'm not sure I'm there yet," she said. " I need to get the courage to do that."
Jones said in learning from Gray she realizes she still has lots to learn.
"I see the patience and the skill and what it takes that Brian has and I'm not sure I have it in me," she said. I admire his professionalism and knowledge."
Jones said she and Gray seem to work well together.
"We compliment each other," she said, adding she is always on the Internet looking for ways they might improve the performance of the horses. "At night we just talk about horses."
But regardless of how far she takes working with horses, it is what she wishes she could do.
"What I would like to do is leave this life (office job in Yorkton) and go race horses," she said. " I would give up the corporate life in a heartbeat."
