For years now, Krieble has hired people from outside the country to do the horse park's worst work. She always looks for American workers first, but few seem to want these low-paying, far-from-glorious jobs. Plenty of illegal immigrants apply every year, but Krieble refuses to break the law by hiring them.

"We need a guest-worker program, badly, to eliminate all these illegal people who are coming in here," Krieble says. "Then we wouldn't need that damn fence that they're building on the border."

Krieble opts to import laborers from Mexico -- legally. The process is a bureaucratic headache that eats up dollars and time, both for Krieble's staff and the state and federal government officials charged with monitoring the program. And at any point along the way, a prospective worker could fall through the cracks for something as simple as folding a form wrong. But right now, Krieble says, she has no choice if she wants to do things the right way.

She knows there's a better way. And rather than wait for the government to propose a guest-worker plan, Krieble has come up with her own proposal. It's caught the attention of not just Governor Bill Owens, but also senators and representatives. From her equestrian center in Parker, the 63-year-old Krieble has even gained the ear of presidential advisors. But are they really listening?

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