Tina Hansen and What a Girl (WA)
Team #1036: Tina Hansen and What a Girl
From: Gig Harbor, Washington
Ages: 74 & 27
Combined Age: 101
Test: First Level Test 1
I grew up in Anchorage, Alaska and always loved horses, however, did not get my first horse until I was 28. I discovered dressage when I bought myself a 30th birthday present, Shawnee, a National Show Horse who had some dressage training. I fell in love with dressage. In 1989, my husband and I headed down the ALCAN with 3 horses and two dogs for warmer climates and settled in Gig Harbor, WA.
I found my village in Washington when I joined Lower Puget Sound Club and met my current trainer, Jill Seely, who I have been training with since 1991. Refire, a 6-year OTTB, was my first partner in Washington and together we went up the levels and earned our bronze medal and 3 scores towards our silver. He retired at 22 from the upper levels and became a schoolmaster to several of my friends.
I rode my Century Club ride on my 27-year-old Hanoverian mare, What a Girl aka “Missy.” I found her in Dec of 2008, as a 10-year-old who retired from her job as the foundation mare for Nancy Connolly’s Horsepower Farm. She had two fillies and had begun training in dressage. Together, with my coach Jill, we made it to PSG and earned the last score for our silver. Missy retired in 2020 from the upper levels and has been a schoolmaster. I continue to ride her because my latest equine partner retired. She continues to be a sound, spicy, red-headed mare.
