In reference to things that happened in the past, my dad would often say, “A lot of water has passed under the bridge since…” Well, in this case, since graduation day for the class of 1965…

Yes, that was a while ago. And as with most all of us, we have taken many different paths on our journey through life.

The first year after graduation, I continued to work at our family business that sold lawn and garden and agricultural equipment. With a developing interest in the agricultural area, in the summer of 1966, I enrolled at Alfred Tech in agricultural engineering for further study.

With the Vietnam War going hot and heavy, Uncle Sam had different plans for me. Yes, I was pulled out of school and drafted into the Army. I was lucky, if you can think of it that way, for I spent the next two years of my military duty at Fort Rucker, Alabama. After basic training, I spent the next several months in the motor pool driving trucks and buses for permanent party. The jobs varied from driving military taxi, funeral details, Sunday school runs, and even doing motor vehicle inspections.

With about a year remaining, I auditioned for the military band, and with their need for a bass trombone player; I was now a part of the 98th Army Band. With my experience of driving buses, I soon became the band driver and as a result made rank quite fast. I loved the duty, for not only were we exempt from guard duty and KP, but we also had so many opportunities to travel, as well as perform for special functions on the base. The quarters that we lived in were bachelor officer quarters, which happened to be situated next to the equestrian riding club.

With my love of horses and the stable so close by, I couldn’t help but venture over there from time to time. Little did I know that I was going to buy my first horse from an Army Major while serving active duty. So between playing in the band, driving buses, riding motorcycles, and riding horses, I had a great time in the Army.

My two years was up, and I decided to come back home and resume from where I left off with the family business. After scaling out of the farm equipment business, we got more into the fun stuff like motorcycles, snowmobiles, and ATVs. We were still selling lawn and garden equipment, as well as chainsaws, and in 1972 we took on a BMW Motorcycle franchise.

For the next 22 years, BMW motorcycles became a major part of my life. Along with operating the business, I was able to enjoy the capabilities of the BMW. I was sprouting wings and started to travel through all 48 contiguous states, as well as Mexico and most all the provinces of Canada, to the tune of over 500,000 miles.

Horses were still a part of my life, as well as downhill skiing. Although I was close to getting married, till this day, I haven’t crossed that threshold.

With acquisition of my second and current horse Schönbrunn, I soon learned how little that I knew about communicating with horses. After much frustration, I finally got steered in the right direction, which resulted in the development of a new and exciting career from me.

In 1994, my brother approached me on taking over the family business while I pursued working with horses full-time. My “new job” started with just problem horses and even mules on occasion. After learning so much from the finest instructors in the world, (the horses), I soon created my own technique and method which has developed into an easy to understand system of teaching horses and their owners how to communicate in harmony with each other. Schönbrunn and I have been invited to perform clinics and exhibitions for many organizations around the New York. One of my highlights, in addition to performing an exhibition in Columbus, Ohio, was when I lectured at the Northeast Horseman's Conference in Rochester, NY. What made it special was a panel discussion in which I participated with three US Olympic Gold Medalists. One of my students was so intrigued with my ideas that she approached me with the idea of producing videos that would offer instruction of how to work with horses. As a result of this endeavor, today we are producing videos in VHS and DVD format and selling them all over the world through our web sites. Here is an example of one door closing which can often lead to another one opening to a new beginning. I believe everyone is born with a natural gift, and in this case, mine was awakened from dormancy by Schönbrunn.

Today, it is difficult to find the time to take on new students while continuing to work with my long-time students, who often refer to me as: "The best kept secret in Western New York"

In between travels on the road doing lessons, I also do online equities trading, as well as buy and sell on eBay. In closing, I am looking forward to seeing everyone again and catching up on what has happened in their lives. It is just hard to believe that 40 years have passed since our graduation day… Seems like it was just yesterday!