About Joy
I was born in a family of 5 and one income so I only dreamt about horses until I was nine. Before that I would tie an old family pony bridle to the wall and saddle on a dehumidifier and I would ride for hours. Or run with the dog and pretend she was my pony. Then I got 10 lessons for my 9th birthday. I fell in love with all of the horses I rode, “Duke, Queenie, Nice and Easy,” etc. Then at age 12 I was able to start riding some ponies for a place that did Pony rides and I had the time of my life. At 14 - I became their Pony Manager and was responsible for about 20 ponies and their care.
At 15 I was able to get my own horse now that I could pay for the boarding on him. Sweet “Levi” a 3yo QH. I had the time of my life which was short lived. He died a year later from Potomac Horse Fever. I was heartbroken. My neighbor offered me a calf to show at the fairs with them. So then I went to volunteer -work on a Dairy Farm and learned to bale hay, feed and milk cows and bed them, etc. I started showing cows.
The next winter I went and bought an 11 mo untouched QH Filly - “Funny Face”. She was a dream come true. We grew up together. I gentled her which was extremely easy and didn’t phase her. She trusted me. I had her until she was 32. We had a great life together. She had 5 beautiful foals. We retained one. This is my husband’s horse still today. Funny and I had many great adventures together. Mostly a trail horse. Later in life we introduced her to cows and Penning and Fun Days - Games. She had become my daughter’s horse. What a legacy to us!
I have worked keeping Accounting books, I worked in banking, I worked in sales - real estate, I worked for Waste Management and ran a $32 Million Dollar Operations and also Customer Service Dept., etc. I later became a teacher of Elementary Education. I spent 13 years working with 5th graders. Then several years in Intervention.
As my parents got older and I wanted to be there for them in their final stage, I took a leave of absence during Covid. After they passed I started my business. “A New Journey, LLC,” which my nickname is “The Joy of Horses."
How I got started...
About 10 years ago when I realized that if I was going to have a better partnership with my horse, I had to start learning how. Hershey had so much go and no woah and was scared of so many things. When I first got her she was scared of barrels and poles and everything. I was able to take a lesson from someone that had been to Parelli Natural Horsemanship. He taught me the basic maneuvers that I teach in my first 5 package. He also threw me in a round pen and removed the bridle and let us go.
It was all I needed to fuel the fire that had started inside of me. I was determined to learn how to work with my horse to figure out how to be a better rider and communicator so we could accomplish many of the dreams I had. It was exhilarating for me. I bought stacks of tapes and did my own at home study program. I would watch and go out and apply. I would re-watch and re-apply until I figured things out. I did it so much that you just start learning how to figure things out to work with a horse to accomplish so many tasks.
When I brought Annabelle home - I started documenting my work with her. I have a lot on Facebook (Joy Mackay Gallupe) and some on You Tube (Joy Gallupe). More than I realized, people were following and watching us progress. So, when I started my business, people started coming. I have not had to do much for promotion.
