Board of Directors
Cooper Anderson
President
Cooper is a Prescott area realtor and property manager. He grew up with horses as a young boy and currently owns a quarter horse gelding that he rides on trails and considering competing with in the future. He also enjoys steer and bull riding and is a member of the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association. AS an active horseman in the community, he has become involved with CVEA in the hopes of seeing it grow into the pre-eminant horse facility in Northern Arizona.
Sally Hensley
Vice President
Sally has been horse crazy since birth and has owned horses for the past 35 years. Retirement has allowed her to feed her horse addiction with showing, mounted drill, equine clinics, trail rides and horse camping. She also enjoyed running horse camps for kids and giving riding lessons. After moving to Prescott in 2014 she became involved in various horse related associations and is looking forward to continuing her relationship with CVEA as Vice President and Horse Show Manager.
Trudy Ruth
Treasurer
Trudy is currently employed as a commercial real estate/contact paralegal. Her love of horses started at age 9. She was able to ride and show in hunter/jumper and dressage into her early 20’s at which point she took a break to raise a family and establish her career. Trudy resides in Chino Valley with husband George, son Terry, dogs Mattie and Annabelle, and equine partners Grayson and Sal. She was drawn to CVEA to connect with other horse people and is excited tohelp make the vision for the Park a reality. As a Board member in 2023 she worked on grants and fundraising for the Park and is proud to serve as the 2023 Treasurer.
Mary Henry McGah
Secretary
Mary’s love of horses spans 30+ years, and has continued into retirement. Beginning with trail ranch horses for her and her daughter, she quickly expanded into team penning, sorting, and reining. Joining the turquoise circuit for a short time, she hazed for steer wrestlers, which encouraged her to even start barrel racing. Her husband’s love of pointing dogs led to the purchases of gaited horses to support the many field trials they have been involved in. Her experience as a Sr. Administrator and paralegal in commercial banking and real estate development provides a good background for the organizational skills needed as Secretary of the CVEP Board.
Kay Oden
Board Member at Large
Kay Oden works part time in the office for a local mobile veterinarian. Although the family hadhorses when she was a teenager, Kay did not start riding until her late 40’s. Currently she rides Warrior, a 9-year-old quarter horse that she acquired as a 4-week-old foal (along with his mama). Having never raised a foal or trained a horse, Kay says they have grown up together. She has been active with Prescott Frontier Days World’s Oldest Rodeo as a chairman of Cowboy Country and the PFD Trail Ride and has ridden in the Rodeo Grand Entry for the past 12 years. Her favorite hobbies are trail riding and trail obstacle competitions. She was on the 2022 Board
and is the Membership Chairperson for CVEA. She is looking forward to serving on the 2023 Board and continuing her work supporting the association.
Bill Oden
Board Member at Large
Bill Oden grew up with horses, horse shows and rodeo as part of his life and to this day enjoys others who share that same adventure. Bill truly believes in the ‘Cowboy Way and Cowboy Ethics” and when scared to death “ Saddle Up Anyway”. He served two years as President of Prescott Frontier Days Rodeo and is currently the Vice President of the Prescott Frontier Days Foundation. CVEA welcomes the experience and outlook Bill brings to the table as Board Member at Large.
Susan Van Buren
Board Member at Large
Susan was lucky enough to get her first pony at the age of 6 and has been riding horses ever since. She grew up riding in the woods of northwest Pennsylvania and moved to Arizona over 30 Years ago. After retiring from managing her husband’s medical practice, she and her husband owned a summer home in Prescott for 10 years before moving here full time 5 years ago. Besides riding, she enjoys training her Border Collies and competing in the dog sports of obedience and herding. Susan has served on multiple competitive canine organization’s boards at the local and national levels. She and her husband now own 3 horses and Susan rides at CVEP several times a week. Her motivation for being a board member is to create a safe and welcoming environment for all members of the park and to help develop it to its full potential.