About Trainer Chris DeVere
Born in Los Angeles, Chris was first exposed to riding when her family moved to the Sacramento area at age 8. She quickly developed what would become a lifelong passion for horses while visiting her grandparent´s home where she began regularly riding the pony they kept on their property and began taking lessons.
At the age of 12 she was given her first horse, an Anglo-Arab mare named Gypsy. Her riding progressed and it was on this horse that Chris was introduced to the hunter/jumper discipline, which became her focus.
When she turned 14, Chris bought a Thoroughbred mare off the track and began working at a breeding and training farm in exchange for lessons. During that time, she discovered a passion for working with young or green horses and began riding with trainer Jeri Lou Paul in Orangevale where she spent 5 years sucessfully competing in the hunter, jumper and equitation rings on a number of horses.
After marrying her husband Christopher in 2005, Chris took a break from from the show circuit and devoted her time exclusively to working with young and green project horses. Within a year Chris began riding as a working student at Los Lagos Equestrian, gaining experience in training and selling
show horses. When the opportunity to work for Hunterville Stables trainer Patty Ball arose, Chris accepted
a position as
barn manager
and spent the next 3 years at Hunterville competing in equitation and medals. While there, Chris also rode the horses in training
on a daily basis and assisted with teaching lessons as needed. Chris has also had the benefit of riding in multiple clinics
with USA Equestrian coach George Morris, Julie Winkel, Karen Healey, and Will Simpson among others.
Chris's lifelong passion for horses and over 15 years of equestrian and show experience culminated in the creation of Black Bay Equestrian. Chris now operates this training barn out of the beautiful Royal Oak Farm in Granite Bay, CA.
She offers a wide variety of training options, from beginning riding lessons to full Hunter/Jumper training programs and starting young sport horses to accompanying clients attending
local schooling and rated shows.
