Erika was born in Blue hill, Maine and began riding  at the age of four.  Starting with walk/trot shows around the Downeast region, she quickly progressed to larger regional competitions.  With the purchase of her first horse, Austy, Erika competed in a variety of clubs including the American Paint Horse Association, Appaloosa Horse Club, International BuckskinHorse Assoiation, American Quarter Horse Association, and the Arabian Horse Association competitions in
the hunters, jumpers, western, and halter classes.  Erika was commissioned to train a young appaloosa mare during this time and qualified for the Appaloosa Horse Club Nationals in the Low Preliminaries. 

In 1996, Erika changed her focus from breed shows to Pony Club.  She competed at the Pony Club Nationals in Lexington, Kentucky as well as many regional rally's.  Erika then purchased her first event horse, Land of the Dance,  and together they finished off the 1997 year with a win at the Virginia Horse Trials at training level, Erika's third event.  The following year, Erika competed in her first preliminary horse trials with less than a year of eventing experience.   Along with achieving her C-2, Erika also purchased a young Irish sport horse mare, Babalily, from Bruce Davidson to be her future event horse.

Erika graduated high school a year early be become a working student for Olympian Bruce Davidson.  Lady of the Dance was sold and Rick (Tir na nOg) was purchased.  Rick and Erika won the University of New Hampshire horse trials in the open preliminary level and finished off the year with Erika's first intermediate horse trials.  Save for some time penalties, they finished on their dressage score.  Rick was sadly injured at a CCI* in the fall and was sold the following spring.  Erika was accepted in to the University of Delaware Wildlife Conservation and Entomology program in 2001 and began her freshman year without a horse.  Erika began searching for a new mount in the fall of 2001 and found Clifton Disney.  Disney, originally from New Zealand, was a fourth level dressage and experienced event horse.  Erika and Disney wont multiple preliminaries in the spring of 2002 and finished 15th at the Morven Park CCI*.  Disney was sold to a young rider in the fall of 2003; however, Erika competed another horse that summer, Which One's That, for fellow event rider Rebecca Grey.  Erika and "Pit" wont the Millbrook Horse Trials at the intermediate level in 2003.  Pit was found by Erika for Rebecca to be her upper level event horse.  The following year, Pit and Rebecca were the 10th best amateur pair in the country at the preliminary level.

In 2004, Erika lightly competed Babalily (Lily), but due to some family medical issues did not finish a full season.  In 2005, Erika moved Lily up to the preliminary  level with several top three finishes.  Lily competed in the Morven Park CCI* in the fall of 2005 but unfortunately suffered quite a bad grab on XC and they were forced to withdraw.  Lily was again injured in the fall of 2006 and was kept in work by not competed during the

winter months. Erika brought her focus on another young event horse, Into the Void, in the winter of 2007.  Erika brought him up the levels from an unbroken five year old off the track to a winning novice horse in four months.  Nick was sold in the spring of 2007 to a young rider from Georgia.

Erika purchased her second track prospect, Such Great Heights or "Dexter" in May 2008 and enjoyed much success at the training level with him.  Dexter was sold in the fall of 2009 to a jumper rider.