By Laura Scaletti
Portraits by Lauren Ann Wagner
During the Sacramento, California, flood in 1998, Michele Vaughn, a dressage professional, drove around the area with her truck and trailer helping rescue and relocate horses from the storm-ravaged area. Michele didn’t know it at the time, but one of those rescues would spark a lifelong passion that turned into an equestrian career for her daughter Genay.
“My mom rescued a little blind miniature stallion from a garden shed. She brought him home to our little barn. When it came time to give him back, the owners told her she could keep him,” Genay said. “I wasn’t the most creative 4-year-old, so I embarrassingly named him Rescue. He was awesome and started the whole horse obsession.”
Clad in a dress and cowboy boots, Genay would put a halter on Rescue and ride him bareback around the family farm. “I was so obsessed with him that I would cry when my mom told me I had to go to school. The minute I got home, I’d head straight to Rescue and hang out with him, and my mom would have to drag me inside when it was time for dinner,” she said.
As Genay got older and her mom saw her commitment to horses, Michele decided it was time to take the next step and buy her a Shetland pony named Little Joe. “He was a great pony, but I think he only trotted with his previous owners. When I was learning to canter, every single day he would just launch me. Eventually, I learned to stay on when he bucked,” Genay chuckled.
Although it was nice for Genay to have Little Joe at home, Michele signed her up for Pony Club once a week so she could be around other horse girls. “She wanted me to have fun with other kids, and Pony Club was really fun. Looking back, we did some crazy things like double jumping over cross-country, but we also learned a lot of great horsemanship,” Genay said.
Through Pony Club, Genay learned the importance of being a hands-on horsewoman, which she carries on as a dressage professional today. “I learned to wrap, all about tack, every part of the horse, so many things to move up the Pony Club ratings,” she said.
Pony Club also brought Genay’s pony, Tommy Mac, into her life. While at the Pony Club gala, Tommy Mac was brought out on the ballroom floor for auction and Genay’s father, Greg, couldn’t resist Genay’s pleas. “He was a 4-year-old Connemara pony with no training. I ran over to my dad and told him I wanted the pony. My mom was giving Dad a death stare, like, ‘We don’t need another pony, especially an untrained 4-year-old imported pony for our 8-year-old daughter,’” Genay said. “Of course, my dad was the high bidder and then mom had to train him for me.”
Following Footsteps
Genay was splitting her time between the jumper ring and the dressage arena until she was 15. “My mom told me that I needed to decide if I wanted to focus on dressage or jumping, because if I wanted to be really good and accomplish my big goals, all my energy had to go to one discipline,” she said.
Loving the adrenaline and speed that came with the jumper ring, Genay told her mom she was going to do the jumpers. “My mom, a dressage professional herself, said, ‘I know dressage. I just built an amazing farm and facility; it doesn’t make sense for me to trailer my kid to jumper lessons every week so you’re going to choose dressage,’” Genay said. “I didn’t put up a fight about dressage being my sole discipline. I’m a perfectionist, so it’s actually the perfect discipline for me.”
Following in her mother’s footsteps made perfect sense, as Michele had trained Genay from the start. However, being the trainer’s daughter didn’t make things easier for Genay.
“My mom is not one of those moms who always says ‘Honey, you’re doing great!’ She really wanted me to excel at dressage, so she’s always held me to the highest standard and been very honest with me,” Genay said. “Mom had no problem telling me when I was messing up or had a bad attitude with my pony, which she would not tolerate. I’m grateful for her approach, because I think that’s what’s gotten me to where I am today.”
When Genay was competing in the Juniors, her horse, Shah, unexpectedly passed away, leaving her horseless. Michele stepped in and saved the day with her elite Hanoverian mare, Waranja, who’d been imported at 4 years old as a broodmare.
“Waranja was doing Second Level at the time, and mom told me that if I could teach her changes, I could use her as my Junior horse. She wasn’t a schoolmaster horse, so I had to figure out how to school up a very hot horse when I was only 14,” Genay said. “I’m so grateful for that horse. She ended up being my Junior and Young Rider horse. We competed with great placings at the National Championships and NAYC during my Junior and Young Rider career.”
From her first dressage show at Training Level in 2004 through college, Genay had her fair share of stellar accomplishments as a Junior and Young Rider. Some of the highlights include multiple top-three finishes at USEF Dressage Festival of Champions, two team silver medals at North American Young Rider Championships, gold medalist at USEF Dressage Seat Medal Finals and a member of the first-ever U25 USA Grand Prix team, which took her to Europe to compete on her stallion Donarweiss.
Throughout the highs and the lows of the sport, Michele has been Genay’s number one supporter since day one. “I think it’s easier for people to believe in you once they’ve already seen you doing it, but my mom always knew I could do it. No matter what horse I had or what stage I was at, she believed in me,” Genay said.
Starr Vaughn Equestrian
Genay knew she wanted to make horses her career; however, with two sports professionals in the family, her mom as a dressage professional and her dad a former Major League Baseball (MLB) player, a priority was put on education. “They said if I wanted to be a trainer, I had to go to college and get a degree as a backup plan. At UC Davis, I initially considered going down the path of studying to be a small-animal vet but realized as much as I love dogs and cats, that career wouldn’t leave me much time for riding,” Genay said. “I ended up majoring in communications and minoring in coaching principles, two areas that have helped me with the family business.”
After graduating in 2016, Genay joined her family’s Starr Vaughn Equestrian. “The farm is actually named after me, which is super sweet. I was born during one of the years my dad played in the MLB All Star game, so my middle name is Starr,” she said.
Michele started building Starr Vaughn Equestrian in 2000 and opened for business in 2004. “My mom worked with the architect Robert Jolicoeur, who designed the equestrian venue for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. She designed it in a way where it has everything you’d want as a horse person—tons of paddocks that are close enough that you can see all the horses, you don’t have to walk too far from the cross ties to the tack room, the arena is completely open on both sides, so it has really good airflow,” she said.
Starr Vaughn offers dressage training, sales, sport horse breeding, foaling and rehab, and hosts many events including dressage shows, clinics and breed inspections. Michele is the head trainer and manages the facility while Genay focuses more on working with the horses and clients.
“It’s really nice that we can share this passion and business together. We breed the horses, take turns with foal watch, see them when they’re born and then work with them until it’s time for me to get on them. I’m always the first one on them and it makes me feel so good that my mom is the person at the end of the lunge line holding on,” Genay said. “You really have to have a lot of trust in someone helping start young horses, so I’m glad that person is my mom.”
Genay lives for the full-circle moments when it all comes together in the show ring with horses they bred. “From an early age, my mom taught me that I was going to have to make up my own horses. That’s what makes stepping into the FEI ring even more rewarding: knowing all the hard work that we’ve put in to get there,” Genay said. “The whole process of developing horses brings me so much joy.”
Breeding their own future stars is what helps Genay ride at the top of the sport. “It’s such an expensive sport; I don’t have a sponsor who’s able to purchase confirmed Grand Prix horses, so we have to plan far ahead to create a pipeline of up-and-coming horses, and hopefully I’ll have a horse ready to go at the right time,” she said. “Breeding our own horses is what makes it possible to have quality horses to develop and compete up the ranks.”
Family Support
While Genay gets her passion for horses for her mom, she gets her mental toughness from her dad. “My dad is not horsey at all. My mom said that when they were in their 20s, he went on a trail ride in Mexico. It was the funniest thing she’d ever seen, and he hasn’t gotten back on since. However, he’s a great treat-giver and super supportive,” she said.
After retiring from professional baseball, Greg happily tagged along to Genay’s lessons, clinics and competitions. “When he went to my clinics, he would watch and take notes about what the clinician was saying and give them to me afterwards. He also did that for my lessons. At shows, he would always bring his camera to capture me in action,” Genay said.
With his own background in sports, Greg has always helped Genay make sure her mind was right when walking into the show ring. “My dad realizes the highs and lows that come with sport and has always encouraged me to embrace positivity. He says, ‘Who cares what other people think? To be a champ, you gotta think like a champ. Don’t let anyone’s negative energy get into your head,’” she said.
Aiming to be a high-performing athlete, Genay missed out on some “normal” kid activities growing up. She didn’t go to certain dances or experience rights of passage as a teenager, because she was focused on being the best equestrian she could be and sometimes the events conflicted. “Doing an individual sport could feel a little isolating, because I wasn’t hanging out with friends while I pursued my goals. Sometimes that would make me want to slack off,” Genay admitted.
It was during those times that the advice Genay’s dad gave her impacted her the most. “He would tell me, ‘Remember, when you’re not practicing or slacking off, there’s someone out there who is practicing and they’re trying to take your spot.’ That helped keep me focused on the end goal. You can obviously only train your horse so hard, so it wasn’t ever about that, but I could always give 110% in making sure I was ready to go in terms of my own fitness and discipline,” she said.
The Vaughn family definitely lives under the premise that pressure creates diamonds. “There were no participation trophies growing up. You had to train hard and be good. I still remember at the National Championships in Gladstone one year, I was second on the first day and so happy. My dad was like, ‘Why are you happy? You were second.’ Meanwhile I looked around and saw another girl’s family who was thrilled she was ninth,” Genay said. “It’s funny looking back on that, but I’m grateful for that upbringing. I think it’s made me who I am today.”
Gino and Grand Prix
In 2017, Genay and Michele went on a shopping trip to find a new horse for Michele. When Michele saw Gino, she immediately fell in love with him. A 6-year-old who’d only done one Second Level test at the time, Genay questioned whether Michele really wanted Gino, as he was a bit behind in his training. “Mom was adamant that Gino was the one she wanted. After she rode him the second day, she told me we were bringing him home,” Genay said.
Once Gino arrived in California, Genay was the first one to ride him. “I always get on the new horses when they come over, just in case they’re a little bit fresh. When Mom saw me on Gino, she loved the picture and wanted me to ride him again. She said, ‘Wow! I knew this horse was special, but he has even more potential than I thought. This is a horse that could be considered for a team one day,’” Genay said.
Just like with Waranja, Michele happily handed over Gino’s reins to help Genay’s competitive dreams come true. Gino and Genay made their international Grand Prix debut in 2023. “It’s been a long journey. He’s completely a freak of nature talent-wise, and each year he and I have gotten more confident together. We’ve really grown into a good team,” Genay said.
This past winter, rather than heading to Florida to compete, Genay stayed home and continued to work with Michele. “I think that was really a breakthrough for us, because it’s the system that we’re used to,” Genay said.
The duo won all three qualifiers this past winter to secure their spot at the 2025 FEI Dressage World Cup Final in Basel, Switzerland, held April 2–6. “Competing at the World Cup Finals was an incredible honor, something I’ve dreamed about for years. It fulfilled a lifelong goal and inspired me to continue pursuing my goals of representing the United States on the international stage,” Genay said.
After her World Cup Finals debut, Genay finished the spring season undefeated in the US Equestrian Open Series, moving her up to fifth place on the leaderboard. She plans to continue qualifying for big competitions each year. “I’m really proud to be competing at this level and be one of the few women of color I’ve seen in this sport. Hopefully, I can inspire other young people of color that they can do it too,” she said.
Genay has never forgotten what drew her to the sport when she was a young girl—the horses. “I’m so lucky I was able to take my lifelong passion and turn it into a career,” she said. “Even though horses are now my job, I’ve never lost the love for horses or the sport. I don’t foresee that ever happening.”
For more information visit Genay’s website at svequestrian.com and on Instagram @genayvaughn and @svequestrian
Photos by Lauren Ann Wagner, laurenannphoto.art, unless noted otherwise
