Through the many years of her father’s illness, steady mental decline, and death in 2015, Cashlyn had to forego many “normal childhood” experiences. She was in the barn, working alongside her mother daily to keep the farm afloat. In spite of Parker Lovell’s insistence that Cashlyn consider a life other than horses, Cashlyn pushed back. She was going to be a horse trainer, just like her Daddy, she declared for the first time at six years old. She hasn’t wavered from that path since.

A Little Background

Parker Lovell, who grew up showing Arabians, wanted to expose her daughter to many different types of riding. Parker had also ridden hunters as a child, and she enjoyed fox hunting and three-day eventing. Parker didn’t want Cashlyn to choose the American Saddlebred horse, and Saddleseat riding, without having knowledge of other breeds and disciplines. Having learned the dangers associated with jumping horses, Parker’s only rule to Cashlyn was: No Jumping. Instead, and much to her mother’s dismay, Cashlyn chose trick riding and barrel racing. She was successful at both.

At 13 years old, Cashlyn had not yet had the opportunity to ride a five-gaited horse. Peter and Kim Cowart didn’t know that when they asked Cashlyn to visit their West Wind Stables to ride a sassy young mare named Callaway’s Don’t Blink. Cashlyn’s first pass slow-gaiting, and then racking, set her future in motion. The girl had her Daddy’s hands and feel for a gaited horse. She never looked back. The American Saddlebred world is where she chooses to build her career.