Outside the Grind is our occasional feature that spotlights the unique passion projects, side hustles, and hobbies of finance professionals outside of the office. Let us know if you know, or you are, a CFO or finance pro with an interesting, weird, or unusual side gig.
It’s not often we at CFO Brew have to move interviews because of a pregnant horse. But when Carol Sonnenberg agreed to an interview, she warned us that she might have to move the time if her horse gave birth. Sonnenberg, VP of finance and HR for McKinney Capital and owner of her own CPA firm, is also a long-time horse owner, trainer, and riding instructor.
She lives in Heber City, Utah, and owns three, going on four, horses. Along with a neighbor, she is building a horseback riding facility and hopes to build her own ranch someday. She’s a lifelong Girl Scout member and leader, and she has taught horseback riding for the Girl Scouts for decades. As a CPA, she’s audited the Girl Scouts and served on the group’s endowment committee.
Sonnenberg’s passion for horses and finance have been intertwined almost her entire life. Starting at six years old, she worked in her father’s CPA firm, sorting checks to pay for horse camp. Throughout her teenage years, she used her earnings from her accounting work to fund her horseback riding passion.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
What was your first introduction to horseback riding?
I'm the oldest of six kids, the only way I could ride horses was to go to Girl Scout camp. But full circle, I would go work for my dad. I’d earn the money to go to camp to ride the horses. All year, I’d work to pay the money…I learned to ride at Girl Scout camp.
Then as soon as I was old enough, I begged him to hire me. That went hand in hand with giving me a reason to work so hard for my dad to earn the money. I might have been one of the only girls that paid her own way through Girl Scout camp. I’m proud of that. It matters when you pay. I mean, $200–$300 was a lot in the ’80s.
What does horseback riding mean to you?
It's a very backyard hobby for me. When it comes to horsemanship, I don’t ever want to show; I don’t care what other people think. I do it for the exercise, for being outdoors, for the partnership with that animal. Anyone who has a dog or a cat can understand that. This is 1,000 pounds of it. Over time, I’ve always had two [horses], so that I always have a riding partner. I’ve got three now, with a fourth on the way.
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There’s a lot of healing for people, a lot of strength, and a lot of learning that comes from being around horses that I like. Like martial arts or a musical discipline, I approach it as a discipline that has life skills, strength, and sanity.
You’re involved in teaching Girl Scouts how to ride. What’s that like?
When you get a group of girls coming to Girl Scout camp, and on the first day, they don’t know each other, and they’re nervous, and they’re nervous about riding, you put them through a program when you teach them the correct way to do things. Every day, we build on it. Girl Scouting is about progression. Whether it’s one ride or a week of riding, you see growth. You see competence. It’s a pretty cool thing.
For me, it’s not just about riding for the glory of it, it’s who I can share it with—what strengths can I bring out in them? It’s just so damn cool.
Do you see a relationship between your finance work and horseback riding?
Communication. You have to be a good communicator in both. If you go to a meeting, and you yell, and you threaten, you’re not getting what you want. You get on a horse, you yell and yank and kick, you’re not getting what you want.
When I’ve worked with horses that are really anxious and jumpy, you have to do the opposite. When you want to freak out, you have to be calm. When I go in front of a board of directors and it’s not going the way I want, I have to stay calm. If I want them to trust me, I have to stay calm, stick to my training, stick to the facts.
The same thing with a horse. When the horse is not acting right, stick to the training, stick to the facts. Know when to end the meeting, know when to end the ride, and go out on a good note.
Some people think accounting is numbers and being a mathematician. It’s communication, right? That’s the whole point of an audit. An audit is making information useful to the reader. So the commonality is communication, and being good at it. To learn, to get better at it, sometimes you have to be really bad to learn.—DA