BY TAMECA JOHNSON
Freelance Writer

Cary White has always been a man with a plan.  The desire for security, led him to take the road more traveled.  The New York native and design engineer graduated high school, moved to Gainesville to attend the University of Florida, transferred to the University of South Florida then earned a Master’s Degree from the University of Phoenix.

His plan for financial security was well in place, or so it seemed; then came the year 2003 that put a dent in everything.

That year the stock market took a dive and along with it, White’s years of retirement savings.  “I had stocks worth $43 a share that went down to $3 a share.”  White also lost his Executive level position with Avaya Lucent and AT&T.

With little money and no job, he needed a plan B and it came in the form of a birthday party.  “I went to a party on a farm that my son was invited to and the host challenged me to a horse ride.”  The horse’s owner told White if he could successfully ride the horse he could have it.

“That horse was a bad boy.  The lady who challenged me had gotten a cracked rib riding it.”

What the horse owner didn’t know was that White was well trained in horses and riding.  White’s grandfather used to ‘break’ horses and taught White to ride at the age of six.
“I climbed on and discovered my roots again,” says White.  The woman kept her promise and gave White the horse.

Word of White’s gift of horse taming spread throughout rural Hillsborough County.  He was given a second horse, then a third and before long he had a total of six and a second career in the making.
“People would come to me and say I need my horse broken.  A parent would spend $30 to $50 thousand on a horse and have no idea what to do with it.  As a result, I’d be called to train horses for five-year-old kids.”

White is not confined to the country.  He and his horses often venture into Hillsborough County communities.  He’s a regular at the monthly Picnic in the Park in Palm River and gives the kids the opportunity to ride and practice caring for horses.  He’s a hit with the adults, too.  He says, “One mother told me, you live out in these equestrian neighborhoods and these people don’t want us looking at their horses, much less touching them.  Comments like that make me feel real good.”

White is not the only cowboy in the family.  His two sons, Cary, II and Trey also ride and train horses on a private ranch in Odessa.

White hasn’t totally given up the corporate world either.  On occasion, he can be found in a suit and tie giving presentations on website development to Fortune 500 companies.  He is also a proud member of Phi Beta Sigma, Inc. (Photo courtesy of Ishmon Johnson)