| Winter 2005 |
An Uncommon Horse Sense BY KATY DOYLE Mary Kay Drury doesn’t look like she’s broken her nose. Or her collarbone. Or a few ribs. But she has. And she didn’t suffer these injuries while crunching the numbers for Just Us Girls or The Men’s Room, one of two stores that she co-owns on Town Center Drive in Valencia. She’s broken bones falling off horses. And not just any horse, but her warmblood mare, a Hanoverian and Thoroughbred mix, named Mirabella. In addition to being one of Santa Clarita Valley’s better known socialites and fashionistas, Drury is an avid equestrian and a tough-minded one at that. She’s competed against some of the world’s elite riders in events like the Los Angeles National Horse Show. “I have a strong competitive edge,” the tall, well-put together redhead confesses. “No one will play board games with me.” Her love of horses began in childhood. “My first words were ‘Horses!’ and ‘Ponies!’” Drury recalls. She moved to California from New Jersey when she was four years old and began riding soon thereafter. “I cleaned stalls. I rode other people’s horses. I did whatever I could to be around them. I spent 15 years out in the sun, setting up makeshift poles to jump over, racing kids on mini-bikes.” Horses saved her from much of the drama associated with adolescence. She explains, “Horses were my life. No boys. No trouble.” In her early 20s, while considering a career in pharmacy and working as a technician, Drury was struck by the appearance of the pharmaceutical sales representatives who visited. Intrigued by the opportunity to be professionally attired, travel and earn a good living, she took a job with AmeriSource Bergen. She was later promoted to national account manager at another company, in charge of fifteen states. While traveling for work, Drury visited stables to scout for investment horses. “I got hundreds of tapes and watched how the horses moved,” she says. She had a knack for finding horses with potential. “It’s a one in a thousand chance to find a horse with the right temperament,” she explains. “You can’t make a two thousand pound animal jump if they’re not jumping.” With the help of a trainer, Drury transformed her diamonds in the rough into proficient show horses and sold them, owning up to five horses at a time. And when the pharmaceutical company offered her a buy out, she jumped at the chance to spend more time with her animals. Over the next few years, she showed a great deal. “I competed against the Levi Strauss heirs, the Firestones, little kids who climbed out of limos or helicopters to get on their horses,” she describes. “I was not always the best, but I was the best for that day.” Her can-do attitude eventually grew to include more than her equine partners. “I saw my horses in the morning and after 11 a.m., I had nothing to do.” Her then-husband caught sight of her keeping busy at a ceramics-painting store and suggested a day job. That’s when she teamed up with Lesleen Kukucka, who was mentored by Margo Miller of Margo’s Fashions. Kukucka had assembled ensembles for Drury when she was a sales rep, and Drury knew she wanted to start a business with her fashion guru. “She’s a real salesperson, and the only person I know who could convince someone that Groundhog Day is a gift-giving occasion,” Drury says. With Kukucka interfacing with the public and Drury handling the behind-the-scenes action, their five-year business partnership has become “the perfect yin-yang situation.” Drury says of Just Us Girls, their clothing boutique, “We love the end result. When we dress someone perfectly for a reunion or a date, we see them happy with themselves and that’s really gratifying. We’re very appreciative of what Santa Clarita residents have done for us.” The community is also appreciative of what Drury and her business have done for them, donating everything from in-store shopping parties to must-have purses to nonprofits as varied as the Henry Mayo Foundation, Soroptomist International of Santa Clarita and local high schools. “We donate whatever the organization thinks would be the most exciting and provide the most benefit,” she explains. Drury recently volunteered to serve meals to guests at a Michael Hoefflin gala and is interested in getting more involved in a hands-on way: “I thought my time would mean more. It’s hard work, but a lot of fun.” She attended her first Carousel Ranch event this year and found the therapeutic riding program to be a natural fit for her. “Watching them on the horses, you see the results right away, what it does for the kids,” she says. Though the addition of The Men’s Room has made less time for her own horse-related activities, Drury, who is affiliated with Far West Farms in Calabasas, still finds time for a therapeutic morning ride. “Riding is such a creative part of myself,” she says. “It requires mental concentration and a connection that keeps me prepared. It’s a good way to start the day. If things have gone well on a ride with my horse, the whole day goes well.” |
 |
VOLUME 3•NUMBER 4 
