Natalea Watkins took up Therapeutic Riding as a “third career” after a car accident put her on an “electric horse” for the rest of her life. She attended the first session at Turning Point Ranch in Stillwater thinking it would be a chance to ride a real horse again.
In the twenty years since, she has only gotten to ride two times but has served in countless other roles: Board Member, Treasurer, Webmaster, Instructor, ESMHL, Mentor, Caterer, Event Organizer, Painter and Donor. She is known as the “Christian Siriano” of Turning Point for her t-shirt, sweatshirt, cap and hat designs. She accidentally became the queen of Webinars in the past two years and now gets twenty plus notices per day of free and subscription opportunities to learn about Fundraising, Communications, Board Management and Websites.
In addition to Turning Point, Natalea has served on close to 40 non-profit Boards in the past 40 years, including the LSTEN Board and service as the PATH Oklahoma State Rep for nearly 10 years. By the way, her first two careers were in television news where she was the first female anchor in Oklahoma then two decades as a News Director on the east coast. In 1990, she returned to Oklahoma as a University administrator in Communications. With her late husband, she managed a Foundation Quarterhorse breeding program based on the youngest living grandson of the great horse, Leo. One of his mares still serves at Turning Point today.