When asked about her love for horses, Amazing Horse Woman’s Dr. Nancy O’Reilly says, frankly, “Horses saved my life.” While going through some major changes in her life, she started riding as a way to add something new and enjoyable, and as a practicing licensed psychologist, she understood it would take a body-mind-spirit revamp to make a difference.

Dr. Nancy loved everything about the horse world, and quickly realized when watching performance classes, she could not just sit on the sidelines. In 2012, with her first horse, she learned to ride and drive. Through time and a lot of commitment and persistence, she began to compete. Her first show was in Norco, California, and she admits her debut was not great, but she managed to stay in the class and on her horse. Her show career began with the purebred Arabian Triishoc in the Liberty classes. Together they eventually won numerous awards.

Today, Dr. Nancy is all in, and since that first ride, has added a great many horses to her stable, such as Halsteads Deven, Affliction, Life Inthe Fazt Lane and Phi Beta Kappah, to name a few. Her stable continues to grow and several of the AHW junior horses are beginning their show careers. She purchased what is now known as the Southern California Equestrian Center (SCEC) four years ago, situated on 22 acres in the beautiful Somis Valley, just 50 miles north of Los Angeles. There she continues to ride, drive, and breed the next generation of Arabian and Half-Arabian show horses. She most recently added Shesa Diva, a purebred Arabian reining filly, with plans to show and breed her. As she works to see her dreams come to life at SCEC, Dr. Nancy is quick to tell everyone she is a lucky girl, and adds, “I plan on getting much luckier!”