Shawna spent nearly ten years working to perfect her skills, not with horses, but in the pools at Sea World of California with killer whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals. Her infectious enthusiasm, sense of humor, and rapport with an audience, put her center-stage in the Sea World show. She also worked backstage with show producers, facilitating the writing, blocking, and staging of performances.

Shawna built steadily on her academic foundations. She assisted in directing the daily maintenance of the mammal facilities; which included training programs, meal preparation, medical distribution, scheduled feedings, daily exercise, and assisting with veterinary procedures from X-rays to minor surgeries.

Two years later, Shawna took her first horseback riding lesson at the Rancho Riding Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California. There she met Vinton Karrasch, a veteran of the grand prix circuit, who became her husband and business partner.

Vinton had begun riding at the age of 15, quite a late start for a serious junior rider. Nevertheless, he progressed at a fast and furious pace, studying and absorbing all he could to become a successful jumper rider. Vinton competed as a junior up through the grand prix level, and spent years training with some of the top professionals of show jumping. He focused on riding and training his own up-and-coming horses and grand prix jumpers, as well as on coaching his clients and training their horses.

Vinton found many aspects of his jumper business frustrating; particularly the effort to maintain a balance with coaching his clients, developing his horses, and managing the business.

He decided to make a clean break from the equine industry and pursue a new career where he could work with animals while someone else actually managed the business. Ironically, Vinton had come to California in search of a new career as an animal trainer at Sea World.

After being introduced by a mutual friend at Sea World, Vinton and Shawna talked and decided the training method Shawna mastered with marine mammals might produce similar breakthroughs with horses. The idea was too exciting to ignore.

Convinced that they could actually accelerate a horse's learning curve and encourage the horse to want to perform, Vinton persuaded close friend and top trainer John Madden to look at their system. John was so impressed he invited Shawna and Vinton to work out of his world-renowned training facility with his wife, Beezie Patton-Madden, an international show jumping team member.

In 1995, the Madden farm became the testing facility for adapting the training process for horses. Beezie found her horses "began to have an idea of when they were doing something right, and then they clearly had the desire to do the right thing!"

Few visitors at Sea World ever get to see the remarkable training process that builds trust between animal and trainer, actually unlocking the animal's desire to perform. Shawna now brings this remarkable process to the equine world, for horse enthusiasts and professionals alike to use. The On Target Training system is safe, highly effective, and easy to use.