So as it turns out ... Ocala is a great place to develop and or sell show jumpers. While a multitude of nice facilities competing for clients can translate into reasonable board and excellent, knowledgeable care; multiple local schooling shows and every equine resource you may ever need at your fingertips doesn't hurt as well. Add the World Equestrian Center hosting FEI level shows year round ... drawing in serious horseman from across the nation paying top dollar (air conditioning at a horse show?, who'd of thunk?) and you couldn't pick a better location to send your equine athlete.
Throw in my odd situation, a proven repeated over the decades developer of show jumpers and a highly successful (if not acknowledged) coach, willing to keep things reasonable just to get them moving in the right direction (and the probability that anything I'm sitting on at a horse show is going to draw all eyes, if our last horse show I attended is any indication:) and this is a highly unusual and fantastic opportunity for savvy horseman/competitors/investors with a solid prospect. Particularly if you are looking to support the true good guys in the sport, who stand up to those who put their ambition before the horses and clients (often willing to say and do and manipulate any situation, regardless of truth, to maintain the appearance of legitimacy and a competitive edge ... by systematically taking out the competition before it even has a chance to show up.)
In spite of the mostly unwanted and unwarranted negative drama that has surrounded me due to a falling out with a certain someone that happened early on in my career ... at the end of the day ... there is NOT ONE INDIVIDUAL who has purchased a horse from or put one in training with me (BEING HONEST) who wasn't happy with the results. Developing show jumpers does not have to be a slice and dice business and it does not require professionals who collectively abide by 'treat your clients like mushrooms ... keep them in the dark and feed them lots of s--t.'
If horses are of quality and properly produced ... considering not just athletic ability, but treated and supported as a living sentient being with heart and a soul; they will be 99% of the time, long term dependable partners and co-competitors at a level which comfortably suits them. However when searching for the right pro you have to remember, riding made horses and developing show jumpers are two very different skills. A pile of ribbons and even medals does not translate to the ability or time or focus to train jumpers from the ground up.
Having produced from nothing to the top level repeatedly is the only guarantee of knowledge and experience that works. (As I'm doing right now with the last of my self bred Ace Sport Horses, with sites set on serious competition against every odd with a teenage never ever ex broodmare.) Anyone who has even touched a horse seems to have a myriad of opinions; but I can tell you from having lived and breathed the world and work for a lifetime from the back of a horse (whether I was financially and politically 'allowed' to be at the horse shows or not) if you've done it over and over for decades, most of those opinions and theories fell away a long time ago. All that's left is ... this is what I know works. Here ... let me show you:)
For more information feel free to text (preferred) or call Amy Hunter at (608) 632-6053 and I will get back to you at my earliest convenience.
