Lee Paul Shinn – A Story of Recovery

Click here to read the complete article
124 – November/December, 2017

By Alison Foster

Lee Paul Shinn started showing as a young boy in Texas more than 40 years ago. What started as a hobby at local 4-H shows quickly grew into a passion that led him to compete in all-around events at AQHA breed shows. The moment he graduated from high school, he launched into a career in the horse industry. “I became a horse trainer at a very young age,” Lee says. “When I graduated high school, I went to work with Halter horses at Wilson Ranch, but within a year I moved back home and began training for the general public. I was only 18 years old, and I was lucky enough to find more established trainers, men like Jerry Erickson, who were willing to answer my questions, offer me guidance, teach me, and help me find quality horses that would help me move from the local to the national level. It wasn’t easy, but with a lot of hard work, persistence, commitment, and a bit of luck, I was able to make this happen.”

Though Lee originally started training Halter and Western Pleasure horses, he soon found his niche in English events. “My career grew very organically. I started working with Western horses, but people kept bringing me horses to see if they would jump. I guess I developed a reputation for getting along with horses that were troubled or difficult. I was able work with them and help find their place in the English events. It was an unexpected turn of events for me. I never saw myself doing the Driving and Jumping, but it was my talent. I found my niche, and soon clients began seeking me out. I was tremendously lucky to find a spot in the horse industry that needed and wanted my talents.”

To an outsider, it looked liked Lee lived a fulfilling life – he paid his dues, worked hard, and found success in a career he loved. However, as the saying goes, appearances are often deceiving. Despite his success in the show pen and as a trainer, his talent at teaching horses difficult disciplines, and his ability to bring out the best in troubled animals, he was personally unfulfilled and unhappy. It was this depression that led him to make a series of choices that would nearly destroy his life. He confides, “It’s hard to say why I turned to drugs and an addiction that nearly killed me, but if I had to come up with a reason I would say it was because I was an unhappy person. It didn’t matter how well my career was going, when it came to my emotions and to my personal life, for many years I was simply unhappy and depressed. I came out at a very early age when it wasn’t very accepted, and I was never able to balance my sexuality and my family. I was hard on myself, and that lead to years of unhappiness. In the end, it was the desire to fill that hole, to mask the pain, that led me to turn to drugs.”

Click here to read the complete article
124 – November/December, 2017