As soon as she graduated from high school in 2005, Canadian born Alyse Roberts packed her bags and moved to the United States.

She couldn’t wait to start her career as a horse trainer and went right to work riding and learning at every stop along her path from industry greats like Ty and Karen Hornick,  Dwayne Pickard, Jason and Suzanne Duquette, Ashley and Kenny Lakins and Nancy Sue Ryan.

Growing up in Canada, Roberts developed a love for horses at a young age.

“My mom first put me on a horse’s back when I was 18 months old and after that she couldn’t get me off,” she says.

Her early years were spent figure skating and showing her pony, Roise, mostly around Ontario. But they also ventured over to Detroit, Michigan for the All-Breed Youth Show.

She eventually hung up her skates to focus on horses and her parents bought Roberts her first show horse, Mitos Eclipse, a 1994 gray gelding by Mito Commander, whom she credits for turning her into the rider she is today.

Her junior year of high school, Roberts moved to a large Thoroughbred layup and breeding facility just outside of Toronto, Ontario.

It was there that she developed a passion for Thoroughbreds and racing. She bought her first broodmare and spent every Wednesday night at Woodbine Racetrack to watch the night racing.  She still dreams of someday getting back into Thoroughbreds, either through breeding or training. But for now she is focused on show horses and a career as a Hunter Under Saddle rider and coach.

Since moving to the United States, Roberts has worked a number of places, including both the Meri-J Ranch and Pine Meadow Quarter Horses in Ohio. It was there that she had the opportunity to work alongside AQHA Professional Horsewoman, Beckey Schooler.

“She has taught me so much about horses and business, and on top of being a mentor she is also one of my closest friends,” Roberts explains. “We talk almost every day, whether it’s about horses, people or complaining about a bad day, she’s always there with some good advice and always asking a million questions.”

After her tenure at the Meri-J Ranch Roberts moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where she established her own business,  Alyse Roberts Performance Horses. She says the plan was not for her to start her own business quite so soon but sometimes things happen the way they are meant to happen, even if they aren’t planned. It was while she was in Arizona that she met and married Caleb Pena.

“He has been a blessing in disguise for me,” Roberts says. “He’s not a horse person so I love being able to go home and talk about something other than just horses, it keeps me refreshed!”

Recently Roberts relocated her training operation to Yukon, Oklahoma to the facility of Ron Horn. Here Roberts says she has learned a lot from Horn and his right hand man, Aurilio.

“They do such a fantastic job with the young ones and I am very fortunate to be able to ride every day around the talent and knowledge that they both have,” Roberts says.

Roberts specializes in Hunter Under Saddle AQHA and APHA futurity horses. Her passion is starting youngsters from the beginning and working her way to the show pen.  She also enjoys helping her customers obtain their goals with youngsters in the pen as well as the older, more seasoned ones.

She says her goal as a trainer is to prepare and present each horse to its individual best. She feels that each horse will tell you when it’s ready to take the next step in its training program and that taking time with each horse individually will, in the end, keep them sane, happy and sound.

“I love seeing a horse that I worked with or trained go on and win big things and I enjoy seeing my customers obtain goals they had set for themselves,” Roberts says. “My favorite part of this job is just being able to spend all day every day with horses. There are ups and downs and bad days in every job, but I just feel very fortunate every day to be able to do what I love.”

Over the years Roberts has had the opportunity to ride some great horses. She and All I Ever Wanted were named 2013 APHA World Champions in 3-Year-Old and 3-Year-Old Challenge Hunter Under Saddle.  She says she is especially proud of that title because she started and did all the work on All I Ever Wanted. Roberts was also the 2011 APHA World Champion in Junior Hunter Under Saddle and the 2011 Congress Reserve Champion in 2-Year-Old Hunter Under Saddle. In 2009 in the Congress Masters Hunter Under Saddle she found herself in a three-way tie to win, but unfortunately lost the tiebreaker.  Even though she ended up third, to this day she still feels like she won. Roberts has also had may futurity wins and top ten placings at the Tom Powers, A Little Futurity, NSBA World, Congress, the AQHA World Show, the APHA World Show and the Pinto World Show.  In the past few years she has helped her customers show to wins and top ten placings at all the major futurities, AQHA Select World, Congress and AQHA and APHA World Shows. She hopes to become a carded judge for both AQHA and NSBA.

When she’s not in the saddle, Roberts and her husband enjoy concerts, movies and, more recently the gym. They hope to do some traveling and visit Caleb’s native Brazil.

Ron Horn’s facility includes a 10-stall heated show barn, indoor arena, 18 extra large stalls in the 2-year-old barn, 12 mare motel stalls, a four-stall foaling/mare barn, huge outdoor riding pad and many turnouts and pastures.

You can call Alyse Roberts at (602) 819-8612 or email her at aroberts9769@aol.com.  You can also visit her on the web at www.alyserobertsperfhorses.com