About Joy
I was born in a family of 5 and one income so I only dreamt about horses until I was nine. Before that I would tie an old family pony bridle to the wall and saddle on a dehumidifier and I would ride for hours. Or run with the dog and pretend she was my pony. Then I got 10 lessons for my 9th birthday. I fell in love with all of the horses I rode, “Duke, Queenie, Nice and Easy,” etc. Then at age 12 I was able to start riding some ponies for a place that did Pony rides and I had the time of my life. At 14 - I became their Pony Manager and was responsible for about 20 ponies and their care.
At 15 I was able to get my own horse now that I could pay for the boarding on him. Sweet “Levi” a 3yo QH. I had the time of my life which was short lived. He died a year later from Potomac Horse Fever. I was heartbroken. My neighbor offered me a calf to show at the fairs with them. So then I went to volunteer -work on a Dairy Farm and learned to bale hay, feed and milk cows and bed them, etc. I started showing cows.
The next winter I went and bought an 11 mo untouched QH Filly - “Funny Face”. She was a dream come true. We grew up together. I gentled her which was extremely easy and didn’t phase her. She trusted me. I had her until she was 32. We had a great life together. She had 5 beautiful foals. We retained one. This is my husband’s horse still today. Funny and I had many great adventures together. Mostly a trail horse. Later in life we introduced her to cows and Penning and Fun Days - Games. She had become my daughter’s horse. What a legacy to us!
I have worked keeping Accounting books, I worked in banking, I worked in sales - real estate, I worked for Waste Management and ran a $32 Million Dollar Operations and also Customer Service Dept., etc. I later became a teacher of Elementary Education. I spent 13 years working with 5th graders. Then several years in Intervention.
As my parents got older and I wanted to be there for them in their final stage, I took a leave of absence during Covid. After they passed I started my business. “A New Journey, LLC,” which my nickname is “The Joy of Horses."
How I got started...
About 15 years ago when I realized that if I was going to have a better partnership with my horse, I had to start learning how. Hershey had so much go and no woah and was scared of so many things. When I first got her she was scared of barrels and poles and everything. I was able to take a lesson from someone that had been to Parelli Natural Horsemanship. He taught me the basic maneuvers that I teach in my first 5 package. He also threw me in a round pen and removed the bridle and let us go.
It was all I needed to fuel the fire that had started inside of me. I was determined to learn how to work with my horse to figure out how to be a better rider and communicator so we could accomplish many of the dreams I had. It was exhilarating for me. I bought stacks of tapes and did my own at home study program. I would watch and go out and apply. I would re-watch and re-apply until I figured things out. I did it so much that you just start learning how to figure things out to work with a horse to accomplish so many tasks.
When I brought Annabelle home - I started documenting my work with her. I have a lot on Facebook (Joy Mackay Gallupe) and some on You Tube (Joy Gallupe). More than I realized, people were following and watching us progress. So, when I started my business, people started coming. I have not had to do much for promotion. People continue to watch me on Facebook and on Tik Tok and see how my training is working and the horses are progressing.
