Karen Dallimore

I was born and raised in Toronto but somehow agriculture and horses got into my brain. My curiosity about all things agricultural took me to the University of Guelph to earn an Honours B.Sc. in Agriculture (OAC '85), graduating with an Animal Science major sprinkled with literature electives. 

Equine Midwife, Stable Hand & Assistant Farm Manager
The horse racing industry snatched me up after graduation. I worked as an equine midwife at Armstrong Bros. Farm in Inglewood, Ontario, known to most as Armbro, for five years. I delivered over 300 foals during my time in the Standardbred horse industry at some of the leading farms in Canada (Armbro & Assistant Manager at Cantario), Australia (midwife at Alabar Farms) and New Zealand (midwife and farm hand at Curtin's Farm), looking after matriarchs such as Armbro Flight and Fan Hanover, managing mare and foal health, assisting with breeding and teasing, training foals and weanlings and working more than a dozen yearling sales in Ontario, Kentucky and Auckland, NZ. I spent another two years as Assistant Farm Manager at Windswept Farm in Ballinafad, ON raising and training their magnificent Hannoverians for Bill Mulholland. 

Office Manager
As a break from the horse industry I spent several years at Roof Trusses & Components Ltd, a manufacturing business now located in Elora, Ontario, rounding out my skills in administration and customer service. Once I figured out how to turn on the computer they couldn’t stop me: I looked after everything from balancing the books to designing roof truss systems. I wrote and delivered training sessions to customers, scheduled orders and deliveries, built trusses, motivated the troops, and became involved in just about every other aspect of the business that is so important to the bottom line, all while helping the company itself to grow five-fold in seven years, leaving in 2002 to return to school and launch my writing business, Words For Hire.

Horse Trainer, Breeder and Coach
My enthusiasm for working with horses continues to grow and my skills continually develop, deeply influenced by incredible people like Temple Grandin, Pat Carter, Stacy Westfall, Guy McLean and Ray Hunt. Over the years I have worked with a large cross-section of breeds and disciplines and enjoy working with young stock, with an addiction to foals and foaling. For over ten years I worked regularly with a Standardbred breeder, Stu Cockshutt, giving his foals their early education. In recent years,  I have participated in clinics and lessons under Peter Fraser, Jason Irwin, David Cowley, Jim & Andrea Anderson, Johnie Clemm, Chet Martin, Sue Caldwell, Lindsay Partridge, Sheila Rondeau, Lantz McLaren, Joanne Milton, Karen Rohlf, Kris Simpson and Mike Raynor. 

I have also trained, bred and shown our own Sweet Grass Farm herd of Paints and Welsh ponies, with our homebred Scotch Bay Time colt Sweet Scotch Man (Spike) winning his division at the Ontario Paint Horse Club Futurity in 2012 and as a yearling, High Point Pinto Stallions and Geldings all ages and Reserve Overall High Point Pinto Halter horse in 2013, conceding the High Point Champion honour to his dam, SR Hot Lady of D Nite, herself holder of an ROE in Pinto halter, among other honours. Spike earned his ROE in Pinto Halter in 2016. Spike left us in 2021 but our 15-year-old homebred gelding and lovable clown, Sweet Grass Jake, stepped up as the 2017 OXC Green Horse Champion and has since discovered cows, which means I've discovered the lariat. Jake won Extreme Cowboy in two divisions, Intermediate and RideSmart, in his only appearance in 2024. We also have a ten-year-old gelding named Sweet Scotch Nemo by Scotch Bay Time who won his first Extreme Cowboy race at the Erin Fair in 2022 in the Green Horse division and of course, their dam, Sweet Grass Tatti is our herd matriarch. She gave me a start in Extreme Cowboy and many happy miles. At 25, she owes no one anything.  Our newest herd member is Starflicks Rey, a two-year-old Dual Rey granddaughter who will take us in the ranch riding and cow horse direction.

Extreme Cowboy Judge
In 2022, I obtained my Level 1 Judge's Card for the Extreme Cowboy Association. I've travelled to New Zealand and California as both a clinician and judge and produced our hometown EXCA sanctioned Erin Extreme Cowboy race from 2019 through 2024. In 2024, I shadow judged and scribed under Peter Fraser, EXCA Head of Judging, and scribed for Dee Lad at the 2024 EXCA World Championship in Glen Rose, Texas. I've participated in six of Pete's clinics since 2016. I have judged beside Micheal Raynor and scribed under Diana McMurtrey, Shannon Townsend, David Cowley, Chuck Ornstein, Paige Swanson, Rick Sandness, Samantha McFadyen and Susan Caldwell. In 2025, I started the season by judging two EXCA races for Maverick Hill Extreme Cowboys in California, then back in Ontario for two days of True North Extreme Cowboy at Trout Creek, Grass Roots Extreme Cowboy at Sutton Fair and Hockley Meadows, and Saints and Sinners Extreme Cowboy at Restoration Ranch in Port Perry. 

Freelance Writer
Along the way, I started submitting articles to local newspapers and in October 2002, Words For Hire was officially launched. In 2014, I merged my business names, Words for Hire and Horse Basics, to become known as what I have been all along, a Horseback Writer. My curiosity, my urban roots, my education, experience, writing and photography skills and my passion for everything I do has been able to come together in a successful business. My writing appeared once a month in the Horse Tales column in our local paper, Country Routes, for ten years, as well as in the Ontario Farmer, Canadian Poultry Magazine and various agricultural specialty publications and newsletters. I also penned the memoirs of Ed Stewart, founder of Stewart's Equipment, in a book called It's Been A Fun Ride.

When I'm not out working around Sweet Grass Farm doing hay and maintenance or sharing our obstacle facility with students and guests as host and coach, you'll find me on FB where I have a personal page and currently administrate Horse Basics, Sweet Grass Farm, Ontario Horse Trainers and Coaches, the Extreme Cowboy Racing Trading Post and the Desperate Horsewives. As a hobby, I held shares in several Standardbred racehorses for five years through TheStable.ca, racing weekly in Ontario, Ohio and Australia. 

Do you want to talk about judging your event or holding a workshop or clinic? Would you like to find out more about how your time at Sweet Grass Farm can help you and your horse? You can reach me at karen.dallimore (@)gmail.com, call/text 519-855-1127, find me on Facebook or go to the contact page on this website.