Pennsylvania trainer Lora Knelly Thomas says it’s taken a long time for her to get there but she’s finally at the point where she trusts her instincts. “As everyone knows there are lots of variables in life and work and many times you can over think things, that’s when your instincts are the most important,” she says. Knelly grew […]
Mary Katherine and Marguerite Camp of Longview, Texas have always been close as sisters, so it was no surprise that when Marguerite began taking riding lessons at a local barn Mary Katherine was right there with her. The two have been competing against and with each other as their passion for the American Paint […]
<Most people in the horse business, especially horse trainers, get their start because one or both of their parents are involved, but for Ocala, Florida based trainer Sean Knowles it was a completely different story. Growing up in Horseheads, New York the Knowles family didn’t live on a farm, they lived in a city and […]
Fourteen-year-old Kayla Budine, of Oakdale, California, says she couldn’t help but follow in her mother Marcie’s footsteps and live her life at shows and surrounded by horses. “The passion and excitement that she displays when she works with the horse is contagious,” she explains. “As a little girl, I wanted to ride like my mom.” […]
It is not at all unusual for Shelly Boyle to return to the stalls at a show to fetch her partner, Put Your Spurs On, for a class only to find the 2006 brown gelding, sired by Potential Investment out of All In Chocolate, sprawled out taking a nap. “He frequently lies down at horse […]
The new year brought about some big changes for 17-year-old Cydney Benes, of Boca Raton, Florida. After sharing a partnership with the AQHA mare Rockin Raisinette for almost all of her show career, her family decided to retire the 2003 bay mare by Rocked And Steady out of Zippos Golden Raisin. This year Cydney, the daughter […]
After taking 27 years away from the horse industry, Massachusetts native Janae Walker Bronson is back in the pen with her new show partner The Roan Bone. Growing up in Indiana, Bronson was just eight when she won her first walk-trot class aboard her pony named Poco. From then on she was hooked. At 15 […]
To Ohio trainer Brian Cox, Western Pleasure is an ever-evolving discipline, especially when you are talking about futurity horses. “I believe in a solid foundation,” he explains. “If you do your job correctly in the beginning your job will be easier in the long run.” Cox says the first 90 days in a horse’s training […]
When she’s not soaring over a jump on her hunter-jumper gelding, Golden Opportunity, or to the top of a Horsemanship class with her All-Around partner, Chex Is The Choice, Natalia DeVencenty is likely still flying high, in a plane at Travelaire, her family’s private air-ambulance service in Pueblo, Colorado. “Because airplanes are a part of […]
As the proud owner of AQHA stallion Hot N Blazing, breeding is the cornerstone of Courtney Battison’s horse program. From her 180-acre ranch in Purcell, Oklahoma Battison has developed one of the top Hunter Under Saddle breeding operations in the country. Each year she breeds about 10 of her own mares to the AQHA World […]
Showing horses is a family affair for the Flowers family of Ocala, Florida. Both Makayla, 18, and 14-year-old brother, Ryan, show under the guidance of Kim and Curtis Reynolds of Final Four Performance Horses, in Fairfield, Florida. The family has lived all over the country from the Northeast to the Midwest before finally putting down […]
Jackson, Tennessee veterinarian Brenda Looney and her husband, Lee, made an important decision a while back. “We didn’t want to look back on our lives when we are older and say ‘what if…,’” she explains. “He’s been the biggest influence in my horse show career because he pushes me to achieve what I had previously […]
