Katie Finkes-Turner
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- Title:
- Head Equestrian Coach
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- Phone:
- 937-481-2378
Katie Finkes-Turner joined Wilmington College in 2017, as the Equine Center Manager and Riding Instructor/IHSA Team Coach.
She has lived locally for the majority of her life, helping manage her family farm (Finch Creek Farm of Xenia, Ohio), working in and managing local equine facilities, and most recently, previous to Wilmington, teaching Agriculture and Equine Science and Managing the Equine Program at Greene County Career Center along with being an FFA Advisor there. Finkes-Turner attended Morehead State University where she studied agriculture and equine Science and rode on the IHSA riding team, Antioch University Midwest where she received her bachelors in business management and The Ohio State University where she completed masters coursework for her educational licensure.
Before entering the educational realm of the Agriculture and Equine worlds, Finkes-Turner gained considerable experience working in a variety of horse barns ranging for thoroughbred racehorses, to world champion friesians. She has managed traveling show barns, been a professional groom and has shown and trained in a variety of disciplines. In having such a broad and diverse industry education, she brings a wealth of both practical equine knowledge and training/coaching techniques to her classes and riding team at the College.
When not teaching and coaching, Finkes-Turner spends her free time training her many quarters, paint and draft horses, working on her family farm and spending time with her son Joey, husband Aaron and dog Sally as well as being active in the IEA and IHSA. In addition to being an IHSA coach she also stewards IHSA shows, is the Regional President for Zone 6 Region 2 of the IHSA and is an IEA steward.
Finkes-Turner's parents, Melissa and Reinold Finkes, are both alumni of Wilmington College.