An independent business woman who has traveled the world, Susan Juroe of Longmont, Colorado has had nothing short of an extraordinary life. But even with a successful career, she has found time to follow her dream of showing and breeding world caliber horses.

It all started back with “Whipanie” a minimal liver chestnut registered Appaloosa mare by Lucky Whip (ApHC) out of Orphan Annie.

“My parents bought us a grade horse that bit and kicked us constantly and an unbroken 2-year-old Appaloosa when I was 11,” she recalls.

She took her unbroken Appaloosa to a week sleepover horse camp at the Hillsdale County Fairgrounds to start her. By the very next year, she was the Hillsdale County Horse Queen and the Reserve Tri-State 4-H Horse Queen.

“I got to wear a tiara while leading parades and making fair appearances,” she says. “We also won the Western Pleasure class out of 65 entries at the Hillsdale County Fair that year.”

Since then, Juroe was hooked on the thrill of horse showing.

“I had some friends who let me come along with them to horse shows but that ended when I started beating them,” she explains. “I then had to buy my own trailer and postpone my breakup with a bad boyfriend so he could help me refurbish it and haul me to shows!”

Even with such a strong interest, Juroe put her horse life on the back burner for many years to pursue her career.

“During college at American University in Washington, DC, I had a full-time job as the Editor of New Guard magazine, a publication for young political leaders which had been founded by William F. Buckley Jr,” she explains. “I got invited to visit foreign governments on fact finding missions and covered President Reagan’s second inauguration and interviewed Presidential Cabinet members.”

Instead of pursing a career in Journalism, Juroe decided to attend law school at Catholic University. She then quickly began working in the private sector and represented many cities, investment bankers and affordable housing developers. Later, she became a partner at the nation’s second largest law firm-Holland & Knight.

Working and traveling non-stop, Juroe had no time for horses and it wasn’t until 1995 when her sister, Cynthia McKee talked her into going partners on a fox-hunter.

“I remember it was cold and raining on New Year’s Day when I went on my first and last fox hunt,” she laughs. “I was supposed to go around the jumps and instead the horse takes off with the group and we jump like 30 jumps. That was it for me!”

Juroe gave her sister her half of their fox-hunter and decided to buy a Paint prospect. Soon, horses would be prominent in her life once again as she bought a farm in Middleburg, Virginia the following year. She began showing some Paint Halter horses, which fit well at the time with her still hectic work schedule and raising a few foals.

In the meantime she met the love of her life, Michael Schonbrun and shortly thereafter moved to Colorado. The couple now have twin 10-year-old boys, Teddy and Adam. Juroe also has a stepson, Ethan, 36, who currently runs a physics lab at Harvard University and is married with two sons.

“We married in 2001 when I was 39-years-old,” she says. “Aside from being a non-horse person and voting for Democrats, Michael is nearly perfect in every way.”

Michael who had been the president of the National Jewish Hospital for 13 years was pursing a new career as an entrepreneur when the couple met. He was following his “vision of reinventing senior housing.”

“We immediately found great synergy working together as we are both passionate about designing and building senior housing that is architecturally tasteful, beautifully decorated and offers great food, loads of fun, educational activities and excellent care,” she says.

In the beginning, Juroe admits she was a little nervous about the instability of starting their own business, Balfour Senior Living. She continued to work at a firm in Denver for a few years until their project took off but now she would not change her decision for the world.

“Our fifth project is located in downtown Denver and is scheduled to open Fall 2014,” she says. “I was involved in the financing, building, design and interiors. We are working on expanding into other states next year. I appreciate that Michael trusts me to push the envelope on decor to differentiate us from other companies.”

Juroe who has always been obsessed with design and architecture has been studying it for years in all of her worldly travels both in Europe and the United States. Particularly, she has always been fascinated by traditional design as can commonly be seen in Washington DC.

“I am passionate about lively and colorful decor. I feel it produces happiness and a sense of well being for our resident seniors,” she says.

But when she’s not designing, Juroe can be found traveling with her family, watching her sons play sports, binge reading detective novels or with her horses of course.

Showing with Tim and Shannon Gillespie of Gainesville, Texas, Susan has had great success in the American Paint Horse Association (APHA) arena by showing and breeding several World and Reserve World Champions through the years.

“I won the Junior Hunter Under Saddle Masters Amateur class at my first APHA World Show riding and the first show with Must Be A Dream in 2009,” she says. “I would say I felt both proud and stunned as my trainers looked on in disbelief.”

Besides World Champion Must Be A Dream, Susan has been fortunate to have shown or raised other notable horses like World Champion Too Sleepy For Candy, Reserve World Champion, Ive Heard It All and Reserve World Champion All I Wanna Do to name a few.

“Too Sleepy For Candy (Mandy), is my forever horse. We had an unplanned beginning as a team two years ago,” she explains. “After leaving a hot yoga class, I noticed Tim Gillespie had left eight messages and texts during this 90 minute class. Upon returning his call, I learned that he and Shannon were idling in the driveway of APHA judge and breeder Erica Lang Greathouse.”

As it turns out, Lang was having second thoughts about selling Mandy and Tim needed a firm commitment from a serious horse person to purchase her before Lang changed her mind. Although Susan says she fully trusted Tim’s decision, she preferred geldings, riding Hunter Under Saddle not western and this was a 2-year-old.

“I had to decide in the next minute and the price was steep-reflecting in part, Erica’s resistance to selling her,” she recalls. “Based solely on trusting Tim and Shannon’s judgment and their known ability to pair horse and rider, I agreed. And, it has turned out better than I could have ever dreamed.”

Juroe is most looking forward to showing at her favorite show of the year, the APHA World Show this November.

“It is the ultimate culmination of a full year of practice, strategy and luck,” she says.

This year she will be showing Too Sleepy For Candy in Masters Amateur Western Pleasure and Showmanship as well as Halter. Mandy will also be exhibited in open events like Junior Western Pleasure, Trail, Western Riding and Halter.

In addition, Juroe is very much looking forward to watching two of her youngsters, home-bred, Goodilicious in the 2-Year-Old Farnam Stakes and APHA Breeders Futurity and Colorado Chrome, purchased in the Joan Schroeder Dispersal Sale, in 2-Year-Old AQHA and APHA Western Pleasure classes.

But even with all her success in the show arena, Juroe is very passionate about breeding. Raising many great prospects as a boutique breeder of four to seven babies a year, Susan is most excited about what the future will bring.

“Before I move into an assisted living facility as a resident, I would like to achieve success as a breeder of world caliber show horses,” she says.

In particular, she is most excited about two roan double-registered embryo babies by VS Flatline out of Too Sleepy For Candy.

“They are unreal,” she says. “They are like nothing we have seen before in the Paint horse world. I think they have the potential to change our industry.”