MEET
TARA
The heart behind
Blue Clover Collective.
Hi, I'm Tara...
To start off, I think everyone should know that I am terrible at talking about myself...
But hey - sometimes you gotta do a little bit of explaining. I’ll leave most of the details to the blog. Gotta bring ya back, you know?
So, consider this the Coles Notes version of me - and a little bit about what has shaped this world of mine so far. It alllll started when I was about five years old - at least from what I remember - when I started learning how to ride on a Shetland pony named Dolly.
Yes... a Shetland.
And somehow, I kept going. So, you know it was love. I’ll leave the story of that particular day for another time. It deserves a much higher word count than it’s going to get here. Trust me. But that was the beginning. I’ve loved horses for as long as I can remember. I’ve wanted to be around them, work with them, or somehow build my life around them for pretty much my entire life. Did “life” get in the way? Oh hell ya. Did I talk myself out of it? Yep. Did I let other people influence me away from it? Also yes. And for a long time, I did what I thought I was supposed to do. I worked. I built a career. I focused on other things. I worked more, made a few bad decisions which made me need to work even more. Throughout it all though... Horses were still there, but they weren’t always at the centre of my life the way I think I wanted them to be.
The funny thing is, when I look back at the different stages of my life and think about when I was genuinely happiest, there’s a pretty obvious common denominator. I was spending more time at the barn. Apparently, I could have saved myself some time and figured that one out a little sooner. And I’m not going to rewrite history and pretend I’ve done everything perfectly along the way either. Have I always been the best horse owner? At times, sure. But also? No. There are things I would do differently now. Things I didn’t understand then that I understand better today - and probably things I believe today that I’ll look back on ten years from now and realize I still had more to learn.
That’s kind of the point.
Horses have probably taught me more about listening, patience, trust, second chances and myself than I realized while any of it was actually happening. And somewhere along the way, I started realizing that maybe the dream I kept talking myself out of wasn’t something I had to give up on after all. So, here we are. I have an opportunity now to actually try. To build something around the things I care about. To get back to the horses. To learn more. Do better. Build Blue Clover Collective. And see just how far this slightly ridiculous dream can go. Am I completely sure how all of that is going to turn out?
Absolutely not!
But that’s probably going to make for a better story anyway.
There’s obviously a lot more between five-year-old me on a Shetland pony and the person sitting here trying to build all of this today. Some of it was good. Some of it was hard. Some of it took me a very long time to understand.
But there are a few moments - and a few horses - that changed things more than others.
So, let’s start there.
A LITTLE MORE ABOUT MY JOURNEY
The Moments That Shaped Me
☘
First Riding Lesson - Where it all started.
One of my earliest memories is my first riding lesson at about five years old. What I didn't know at the time was that another little horse was also having her first day at that barn - Misty. Neither of us knew it yet, but we'd meet again.
Getting Misty - The best $1,500 my grandfather ever spent.
When I was ten, my grandfather bought Misty for me. I had no idea then what kind of bond I would form with her, or how many of the hardest days of growing up she would eventually help me through. She became much more than my childhood horse.
Listening to Others - When I convinced myself horses couldn't be the plan.
I was told more than once that I couldn't make a real career out of horses. And with something to prove - to myself and probably everyone else - I listened. I stepped away and focused on building a career elsewhere. And I did. Turns out being successful at something doesn't necessarily mean it's where you're supposed to stay.
Losing Misty - The hardest goodbye.
To this day, I still tear up thinking about losing Misty. Making the decision to let her go was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. There really isn't a witty line for this one. She had carried me through so much of my life, and saying goodbye to her broke my heart. I didn't know it then, but a few years later, losing her would eventually lead me toward another horse.
The Journey to Zoey - And boy, was it a journey.
This one needs a lot more explaining than I'm going to attempt here. What I can tell you is that the road to Zoey was anything but straightforward - and once she arrived, she challenged a lot of what I thought I knew about horses, trust and what it actually means to listen. She changed my life in more ways than one. And eventually, she changed the dream too.
Let's build this together. 🍀
☘If you've made it this far, you probably know a little more about me than you did five minutes ago — which, considering how this page started, is pretty impressive. There are a lot more stories behind all of this. Some good. Some hard. Some funny now that enough time has passed. I'll tell those over on Herd on the Street.
But Blue Clover Collective isn't really about looking backward.
Everything that's happened so far has shaped what I'm trying to build next - and for the first time in a long time, I'm giving myself permission to actually go for it.
I don't know exactly what this will become. That's part of the fun. But I'll share the wins, the mistakes, the things I learn and probably a few “well... that didn't go as planned” moments along the way.
So, stick around!
♡ Tara
This is more than a business.
It's a way of life.
It's about creating a life and a legacy I'm proud of -
for the horses, for the future, and for the people who believe in this journey.