Board and Staff

Dani is a certified equine massage therapist and riding instructor. She is also certified in large animal rescue. Dani has more than 30 years of equine experience. She has won numerous titles and awards in barrel racing, breakaway roping, pole bending, halter, Western pleasure and obstacle challenges. She is a member of the Polk County Mounted Search and Rescue Team, as a volunteer.

Prior to retiring to focus on the rescue, she spent 12 years working for a private company, working her way up from receptionist to office manager.

With more than 18 years of experience, Wayne is a certified farrier with an established client-base in the Polk County region. He specializes in horses that are difficult to handle. He recently earned his certification in large animal rescue.

Mary is our Reading With Rescues director. She is a professional saddle fitter for Black Bird Equestrian as her full-time job and enjoys spending some of her spare time at the barn helping with events and other things that are going on.

Cat has been with the organization since 2013. She is our adoption director and also is on the training team. She spends a lot of her spare time at the barn helping with many of the daily chores and horse training.

Leigh Ann Webb is a Licensed Massage Therapist at Lake Wales Massage Therapy Center. 10+ years experience. She is also our Volunteer Director at Hope Equine. Feb 2019 to Present. She runs our volunteer orientation, trains new volunteers during their training period. She helps the barn run smoothly, coordinates sign up app and Volunteer FB page Leigh Ann recently joined the training team as a Rehab Horse Trainer (30+ years experience with 15+ year professional experience) at Hope Equine July 2019 to Present. Directly helps evaluate new horses and if rideable, rides them w/t/c over jumps and obstacles. Leigh Ann’s hobbies include trick training her riding horse, Mack Daddy and her adopted HER Rescue mini, Batman! They are Webb Therapy Ponies and they go to local assisted livings and offer Pet Therapy. Leigh Ann currently is working out her insurance needs to be able to generate a donation to HER via these trips. She and her husband have been married for 4 years and they currently have two dogs, a cat, and two ponies. She is a life-long resident of the Lake Wales area with a life-long horse obsession. Leigh Ann’s professional horse experience includes Arabian Nights Dinner Show and Al-Marah Arabians.

Megan serves as our Volunteer Director overseeing all new volunteer orientations. She also helps with our Special Events Team and handles our social media messages. Megan became involved after adopting two Hope horses Dapple (2017) and Vidalia (2020). Her love for horses started at an early age when she received her first horse at nine years old. She started showing in local shows in halter and western pleasure classes and later pursued speed events. Megan is a licensed Realtor and a 5th generation Floridian with a love of all things agriculture.

Christy has been involved with Hope for over eight years. Christy is a Science and Agriculture teacher at Polk State Chain of Lakes Collegiate High School. She has one daughter attending Florida Poly Technic University and has been married to Dan for 34 years. Her favorite activity at the barn is teaching new volunteers to understand the specifics and subtleties of horse body language. Christy proudly owns two horses, a 30 year old Appaloosa and a 20 year old Thoroughbred.

Pam has been involved with Hope for about three years. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with specialization in Equine Business, a minor in Therapeutic Horsemanship and recently her Master of Business Administration degree. She has been a ranch manager and facilitated therapeutic riding lessons. She now works at Webber University. Pam owns two horses and is married to Luke. Pam’s signature style is Cool, Calm and Collected.

Crystal completed her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Management at Brenau University in Georgia and earned her Master of Arts degree in Arts Administration from the University of Kentucky. She has over 575 hours of volunteer experience at Hope and loves assisting with veterinary procedures and learning about new grooming products. Crystal looks forward to training new volunteers and teaching them to tie knots! Crystal has a Beagle named Henry, a ginger cat named Leif and a husband named Tom.