New Team Page

Our Team

Lauren Maas

Executive Director, NorCal

Lauren has been riding since the age of ten when her parents gave her horseback riding lessons for her birthday. Lauren met and began leasing her first love, a 1985 OTTB gelding named Sunny, just before her eleventh birthday. Her love of thoroughbreds has continued and grown ever since, falling in love that same year with 2006 Kentucky Derby winner, Barbaro. Since 2017, Lauren has volunteered for CANTER CA in various roles and is a thoroughbred gelding mom of 3 - One of which is 2018 CANTER CA graduate, CTR Gallon. Lauren was voted on as Executive Director of CANTER California in early 2022, and has been hard at work to revamp the adoption and listing program. Lauren plans to continue to grow CANTER’s presence in NorCal with hopes of increasing awareness of the breed and placing a greater number of OTTBs into their forever homes.

Anna Humes

Executive Director, SoCal

Anna's first interaction with CANTER occurred while scrolling through listings and stumbling upon CANTER Cutie, Maxx Play “Dexter”, who she had to have. Dexter went from unsuccessful racer to sport horse life with Anna where they enjoyed everything from eventing, hunters/jumpers, trail riding, dressage, and ponying all of the nieces, nephews, and aunts around on their yearly visits. After Dexter’s sudden passing due to suffering a fatal pasture injury, Anna found herself toeing the line between having just lost her best friend and “what happens next”. In a new state, she sought comfort in a place that only something familiar and rewarding could offer- CANTER. Through volunteering with Exhort (2021), Bear Down Cats (2022), and Cowboy Tim (2022), Anna found her joy and her passion again! She continues to volunteer for daily retraining, bodywork, and various administrative work. Her greatest pleasure is finding where each horse finds their unique version of happy. Anna was voted onto the Board of Directors (#fangirl moment during her first board meeting!) and into the role of Southern California Executive Director in October 2022.

Jody Imel

Horse Manager, NorCal

Jody’s obsession with horses and horse racing began at an early age. Growing up she often heard stories of past great race horses like Native Dancer and Secretariat. Jody half leased an older OTTB when she was 13 and has loved riding former race horses ever since. She began riding at six and was a working student for a hunter jumper trainer for many years. Surrounded by accident prone horses, Jody has gained a lot of experience in treating wounds and rehabbing various injuries. As a fan of racing, she is excited to use her experience to help race horse transition into new careers.

Marlene Maurer

Horse Manager, SoCal

Marlene has loved and gravitated towards horses from a very young age. Taking her first riding lesson at the age of 6, Marlene has gained experience in various equestrian disciplines over the past 25 years. From vaulting, over long distance trail riding and endurance to riding gaited horses and jumping, Marlene enjoys learning about different training philosophies and believes all horses benefit from a diverse training program. In January of 2020, Marlene decided to take a break from her 9-5 desk job to pursue a lifelong dream of training horses full-time. Working on a horse farm in Northern Iceland, being surrounded by horses 24/7, Marlene got to study herd behavior and natural horsemanship. After returning to the states, Marlene started volunteering with CANTER California in April, 2021 and it turned out that the skills needed to start up half-wild young Icelandic horses transferred perfectly for preparing off-the-track thoroughbreds for their second career. Marlene finds incredible joy in helping these incredible horses find new purpose and joined the Board as SoCal Horse Manager in October, 2022 to further support CANTER's mission.

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Christine Brown

Treasurer

Christine began riding at the age of seven, and spent much of her childhood on horseback or at the barn. An avid Pony Clubber, she also competed in 3-day eventing, was a member of a state champion drill team, and played polo through high school. After graduating from college, Christine had difficulty finding a way to incorporate horses into her life in New York City. Almost immediately upon moving to California in 2013, Christine began looking for ways to become involved with the equestrian community again. Having owned and ridden several OTTBs as a young adult, Christine gravitated immediately toward CANTER’s mission of helping transition retiring racehorses to new careers and responsible, loving homes. A volunteer since 2014, Christine owns CANTER CA graduate CTR Three Little Birds and continues her involvement with the organization even after relocating to the East Coast.

Elizabeth Klein

Secretary

Elizabeth Klein has served on the CANTER CA board since 2022. She is the Executive Director of Wellness Within Cancer Support Services. Prior to Wellness Within, she spent nearly 20 years at the McGraw-Hill Corporation, responsible for managing operations and portfolios of business for McGraw-Hill's K-12 assessment division. Over the last twenty years, Elizabeth has provided forever homes to three OTTBs, currently working with her 2015 mare, and is honored to work with CANTER CA to help many more transition to successful forever homes of their own.

Rebecca Wittman

Grant Writer

Becca is a long-time horse girl who took a break from riding in her teen years. She began riding again during the pandemic, competed on the UCLA hunt seat IHSA team, and is now back in NorCal enjoying time with her pony Ginger. Having been an assistant instructor as well as a beginning rider in recent memory, Becca owes a huge debt to all the lovely OTTB lesson horses, leases, and catch rides that have populated her equestrian experience and looks forward to supporting CANTER CA's efforts to rehab and retrain racehorses.