 Her mother, Lola Kathleen Verrill, was an American of Irish ancestry.By the time she was three years old, the family had moved to Lima, Peru, where she grew up, learned to ride, and began her career as a bullfighter.In Lima, she rode her first pony at three, and joined the riding school of the Portuguese "rejoneador" Ruy da Cámara, an immigrant to Peru, at 11.