Rebecca (Becky) Burns was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and moved with her family to Gainesville, Florida, in 1974. She attended Terwilliger Elementary, Fort Clarke Middle, and Buchholz High School. She comes from a long line of creative people: musicians, artists, and even whale riders.
Early Years in the Saddle
Rebecca started riding at age six, a birthday gift she had begged her parents for. She began as an English rider in group lessons. After the move to Gainesville, she took Western lessons through the local 4-H program, and her mother drove her to the barn every day after school.
She went on to ride at Sleepy Hollow with owner Rusty Ethrington, on a bold, beautiful, high-spirited black horse named Master Flash. Rebecca considers Rusty the first of a handful of important mentors in her horse life.
In middle school, Rebecca was “sponsored” by Sondra Smith, a wonderful woman from Newberry who embraced her like her own child. Sondra gave her horses and ponies to ride every day and sponsored her through Pony Club events and competitions. She taught Becky many horse things she still applies today about horse ownership and responsibility. Sondra wrote for the Horse and Pony newspaper under the pen name of “Sandy Lane”.
Pony Club and Dressage
Rebecca competed in Pony Club Rallies, where she learned three-day eventing and fell in love with cross-country. She also learned stadium jumping, the forerunner of today’s hunter classes. As a 12-year-old, she found dressage boring! But preparing for dressage competitions taught her its true value: dressage builds better horses and riders, and its principles apply to every style of riding, English or Western. (By the way, dressage is French for “training.”)
Design, Family, and Sissy
Rebecca took a break from riding while she attended college and worked full time as a graphic designer at a local engineering company. In 1990 she started her own design agency, ComQuest Designs. Her daughter was born in 1993, and in 1994 she bought the first horse she ever owned: Sissy, a five-month-old (weanling) Thoroughbred filly from a small breeding farm in Reddick, Florida, and a granddaughter of the famous Secretariat.
In 1998 Rebecca closed her in town studio, kept her favorite clients, and worked from home while raising her daughter and training Sissy. With help from her trainer at the time, Jan Bowen, Rebecca did all of Sissy’s groundwork herself. For many years she was the first and only person to back, start, and ride Sissy. She worked her horses every weekday, and on weekends she’d escape to Crescent Beach for sun and fishing.
Nikel and Man o’ War
Rebecca later bought another Thoroughbred, Nikel, who turned out to be a great-great-grandson of the legendary Man O’ War. Nik looked just like the Breyer model of Man O’ War she received for her sixth birthday. “Mom was very hesitant to spend $15 on the statue, and very clear that it would be my only gift. So expensive!” That vintage statue, now worth over $120-220, has stayed on display in her home through every move.
Teaching
When Sissy turned six, Rebecca began riding in monthly clinics with Wolfgang Scherzer, and she rode with him every month for six years until the clinic moved. In 2009 she found a 14-acre farm in West Gainesville (Jonesville) and began teaching riding lessons to beginners, timid riders, and people with special needs. In October 2017 ThaddleDo Farm moved to High Springs, Florida, and we love it out here! In Fall of ’27 we anticipate the move back to our NE Gainesville farm, where Walleigh (was born 2003) and Dusty (born in 1985) were delivered for retirement 10/16/26.