When Bascule says its team lives and breathes horses, this is what we mean. Mikaela Cormier, our Farm and Ranch Underwriter, has spent her whole life in the saddle. We asked her to tell us about the horses that shaped her, and the list says a lot about the person our agents deal with every day.
Buddy, Kali, and a little extra spice
Both sides of Mikaela's family grew up around horses, so she started riding young. Her first pony, Buddy, came from a local auction and taught her the basics. When she outgrew him, along came her first show horse: a blue roan mare named I'm Whipped Blue, known as Kali.
“She had a little extra spice,” Mikaela says. “She's who I give all the credit to when it comes to knowing how to ride out a good buck.”
Mikaela showed alongside her mom for years at local open and 4-H shows, riding both English and western, before moving up to breed shows in high school.
The one-eyed horse who showed her the ropes
The horse that changed everything was The One Eyed Notice, known as Willie. Despite losing his eye at a young age, Willie was seriously talented, and he introduced Mikaela to the AQHA All-Around circuit: equitation, horsemanship, showmanship, hunter under saddle, and pleasure.
The pair earned their spot at the Level 1 AQHA Championship East in 2017, where they won the Rookie Amateur Equitation along with a string of other top placings.
Four horses a semester at Morrisville
Mikaela earned her bachelor's degree in Equine Science and Business Management from Morrisville State College in New York, with a concentration in western breaking and training. Half of every day was spent in the barns. Each semester, students were assigned four horses: a reiner, a pleasure horse, a project horse, and a young client horse to break out.
She rode on the IHSA western team, worked as a TA for freshman riding labs, and spent the summer of 2018 as an intern showing reiners. Her assigned show horse that summer was Smoken Tejon, a little bay mare the interns nicknamed “The Dragon” for the way she flared her nostrils when she got fired up. Together, Mikaela and TJ won multiple Green Reiner 1 and 2 divisions, took the CNYRHA Green Reiner 1 and 2 Series Championship, finished as NRHA Green 1 Reserve Champion with the YRHA, and competed at the All American Quarter Horse Congress, finishing in the top 20 in large, competitive classes.
Jackson: from hunter under saddle to the jumper ring
Morrisville also connected Mikaela with the horse she owns today. Sonnys Hot Moves, known as Jackson, is a 17.2-hand registered Appendix Quarter Horse who was donated to the college during her internship. “I was immediately drawn to him,” she says, “and the rest is history.”
She leased him the following summer and, at their first two shows together, picked up multiple regional top tens, plus circuit champion and reserve circuit champion in the Amateur Hunter Under Saddle.
Then COVID cancelled the show calendar, so Mikaela taught him to jump. What started as a few small fences on hunter paces turned into competing in the jumpers, where Jackson thrives on the speed and challenge. In 2024, the pair won the Saratoga Horse Shows .85m USHJA Outreach Festival Championship.
Why it matters
“From auction pony to show horses, they each have something to teach us.”
Mikaela Cormier · Farm and Ranch Underwriter, Bascule
That range, from breaking young horses to riding reiners to jumping, is exactly the kind of firsthand knowledge Bascule's agents rely on. When Mikaela reviews a risk or supports a claim, she isn't imagining the horse on the other side of the paperwork. She's ridden hundreds of them.
That experience goes straight into her Farm and Ranch work. Years spent in barns, arenas, and on working farms mean Mikaela knows how an equine property actually runs: the structures, the equipment, the day-to-day operations, and the liability that comes with boarders, lessons, and visitors.
“Mikaela's hands-on experience shows up every day in how she works with our agents. She knows what to ask because she's lived it, and agents can tell. It makes the conversation faster, clearer, and more useful for their clients.”
Laure Pridgeon · Director of Farm and Ranch, Bascule
About Bascule: Bascule writes specialist equine insurance for horses, the people who own them, and the businesses built around them. Based in New York and active nationwide.
