She was 15, competing in a Showmanship class with 70 participants. After hours of standing in the burning sun, the results were called.

A few minutes later, young Nettie Olsen’s family saw her walking back to the stalls, a seventh place ribbon in hand, and a smile plastered on her face.

Olsen was born in Syosset, New York, into a family with three boys. The youngest was 15 years old when Nettie came along. Because of the massive age gap, she says she grew up virtually an only child.

“I came from a very simple life, we had very little income,” explains Olsen.

Her parents wanted to spend a lot of time with their youngest daughter and decided to put their energy into horses. She was 13 when she sat on her first Appaloosa horse, with the help of her cousins and their trainer at the time, Terry Thompson of Elmira, New York. “My mom became my groomer, my horse show clothes designer, and my dad was my cook and supporter.”

The family had a lot of fun and showed pretty hard in the all-around events, but she says she didn’t have a whole lot of

success because they could only afford a certain level of horse.

“We had really low grade horses and I didn’t have a steady trainer,” she says.

Olsen loved it anyway.

“I love the act of going to a horse show,” Olsen admits. “It’s my passion. It’s in my blood. It’s what I do.”

As she got older, went off to college, fell in love, got married and was holding a full time job, Olsen started to see the horse show pen less and less. Once her and her husband, Dave, moved to Waxhaw, North Carolina, Olsen decided she wanted to get involved again. She bought a horse named Dakota Haze and started showing in the Western Pleasure with Herm Sherwin.

“He was a really cool horse and we did a lot of cool things, and then…my daughter came around,” Olsen says.

Jessica became the Olsen’s total focus.

They started taking Jessica to horse shows and she was showing Lead Line at a national level by the time she was 3. Olsen realized she wanted to put her energy into her daughter’s show career. “From the time Jess was in walk trot till last year, I did not show. All I would do is go to the horse shows and be her support system.”

Her daughter has done everything from Reining, Barrel Racing, Pole Bending, to Western Pleasure and Hunt Seat Equitation. “She has almost 60 National World titles,” says Olsen.

“It became a family thing.”

Then, a year ago, Jess came to her mother with exciting news. She and husband, Alan Groome, were having a baby. This news resulted in Olsen, after over 20 years, getting back on a horse in order to keep showing all the horses the family had in training.

“She’s an amazing horse,” says Olsen of her main show mare the family bought a year ago, an 8-year-old by Colored By Charlie and out of Smooth As Chocolate, Sheza Charlie Chip, “Lilly.”

“The first time I rode her, I was scared to death. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even lope,” she laughs. She did trot circles with Katy Jo at her side, motivating her to stay strong and stay on.

The Olsens have been training with Tim and Katy Jo Zuidema, of Micanopy, Florida since 2009. “I think once she quit riding and just focused on her daughter, I think she really lost a lot of confidence in her ability to come back and show,” says Tim. “There was a lot of ‘I don’t know if I can do this or not,’ Dave and Jess helped her a lot.”

After a lot of practice, successful small shows, and confidence boosts, Olsen was set to show at the National Appaloosa Show in June of 2013. “I was scared to death,” says Olsen. “I don’t even remember the class; I was just being carried through.”

The pair ended up winning the Non-Pro 35 and Over Western Pleasure.

“Except for getting married to my best friend and giving birth to my daughter, that was by far the happiest day of my life.” She reflected back to that 15-year-old girl with the smile and the seventh place ribbon. Now, a 47-year-old grandmother-to-be, she was walking out of the arena a National Champion, a trophy in hand, tears in her eyes.

Next stop was the World Championship Appaloosa Show in October. Nettie was ready this time.

“I knew Nettie was on her way when we were at the World Show,” explains Zuidema. “I put her on the horse and the first thing I always say is, ‘Are you OK Nettie?’ She’ll look at me and I can always kind of tell by the look in her eyes whether she’s OK or not.”

Nettie walked off and started warming up all on her own. She was in control this time.

Last year, between the Nationals and World Show, the family showed Lilly in eight classes and came home with eight trophies. “I’ve never had a horse do that,” says Olsen. “Every time I ride now, I’m the happiest person in the world. It is my true love, my true passion.”

In the midst of hauling her daughter to shows and dedicating time, money, and energy to horses, the Olsen’s started a steel company two weeks after 9/11, American Metals, Inc. The company serves as a metal distributor for the Department of Defense, aerospace, gun manufacturing and ship building. Together, Olsen and her husband have grown their company from three employees to 23 in 13 years. With the addition of their daughter to the payroll as an intricate part of their management team, it has quickly become a family business.

When they have a little spare time, which is rare for the family between running a multi-million dollar company and the horses, the family likes to spend time at their lake house on Lake Norman. They enjoy boating, jet skiing and riding their ATVs in the woods.

When their at home, they love to spend time with their 6-month-old grandson, Brock, and their 200 pound Great Dane named Zeus. They enjoy going on walks around their local golf course and watching their favorite television show, Nashville.