Karena Smith
Owner/Manager
Phone: 407.620.6270
Click here to Email Karena

4Karena Smith was born in Manila, Philippines and grew up as a military brat.  She's been in love with horses since she could remember, riding as a child for the Clark AFB Quirt and Crop Club and visiting the Manila Polo Club where her cousins were members.  Her family moved to Hawaii her last year in high school where she went on to graduate from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a Liberal Arts degree focus on Economics and Speech.  She married right after College to an Army officer and moved to Fort Sill, OK, Fort Benning, GA, then Ft Bragg, NC before living in Wiesbaden, Germany for a couple of years.  Then it was back stateside to Fort Rucker, AL where her daughter, Chelsea, was born before moving on to Fort Lewis, WA and eventually settling in Woodinville, WA.  There, after a 15-year absence from riding, she got back "into it".  She first trained with Craig Stevens, originally from NY who had trained with Michel Henriquet and the famed Cadre Noir in France.  She then went on to train with Sarah Lorenz at Gold Creek, an Advanced eventer and "A" Pony club graduate who had trained with Todd Trewin, an event rider for the US at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

4The first horse she ever bought was,  "Equity Rex", a 15'2 hand, 16 yo, bay Saddlebred/Arab that had gone up to 4th level dressage to be her schoolmaster.  Together they went to dressage shows, trail riding and then learned to jump and the sport of eventing.  When her job transferred her to Orlando, FL in 2000, she brought Equity with them and began riding with various trainers, most recently with Laura Marino, an Advanced eventer and Medal/Maclay champion. Equity has since semi-retired and can be seen at Freedom Ride while Karena formed other equine partnerships. She has ridden in clinics with Ralph Hill and Lucinda Green, and currently trains with Heidi Ericksen for dressage and Riad Landoulsi for show jumping. 

4Karena has over 17 years in the financial and mortgage industries, recently having created a virtual off shoring processing platform in India with a customer and sales centric influence. Formerly the VP, Regional Sales Manager for the Southeast Region for a leading Mortgage Banking institution, she recently made the switch to a career more involved with horses.  Not only has she formed Wayfarer, she successfully launched the e-commerce website www.Chichorse.com where unique, chic and elegant horse gifts, horse jewelry, horse themed home décor, spa and organic products can be purchased for the equestrian and their equines.  She also volunteers for Freedom Ride, a therapeutic riding facility, in conjunction with Give Kids the World, a non-profit organization that exists only to fulfill the wishes of all children with life threatening diseases.  Karen is currently on the Board of Directors for Freedom Ride.

4She has over 9 years of dressage, jumpers and eventing experience, having successfully competed at 2nd level dressage, Level IV jumpers, and Training Level eventing all with different equine partners while juggling family, career, and extensive business travel.

4She has resided and travelled throughout Asia, the Pacific Rim, Europe, North America, the Caribbean, Central America and most recently Africa.  Karena is looking forward to growing her businesses, making a difference, and moving up in her levels of riding.  You can contact her via e-mail at Karena@wayfarer-equestrian.com or visit her Blog at http://leadchanges.blogspot.com.