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Southern Saddlebred, in partnership with Equine Sports Council, has granted two lesson programs with a lesson horse each, provided by either Saddlebred Rescue or Dreamscape Rescue.

The first recipient is Brian and Susan Reimer's Reimer Stables in Turin, Georgia. Susan is a veteran instructor and demonstrated a need for an additional beginner horse for her lesson program. “The Reimers are located outside Atlanta, which is an ‘underserved’ area for saddle seat riding,” said Jackie Hale. "We hope an additional beginner horse will cultivate new riders for them."

Daybreak Farm & Riding Academy in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, is the second recipient of a rescue lesson horse. Carmella Menolasino is the stable owner and Sarah Wood assists with training and instruction. “The Southern Saddlebred shows are located in middle Tennessee, so it certainly makes sense to assist a ‘hometown’ lesson program,” explained Hale. Daybreak is currently teaching more than 70 lessons per week, and also needed an additional beginner horse to accommodate the new riders in their rapidly growing program.

Both recipients are located in geographic areas where saddle seat is not the primary discipline, but the demographics are there to support owning a show horse. “We hope we can help these barns promote the American Saddlebred and grow their program, which will eventually support our horse show,” said Hale. "It’s a longer-term investment, but one that we believe will pay us back ten-fold in the years to come."

Southern Saddlebred announced this program at the Fall Finale horse show in mid-October and accepted applications from lesson programs until November 15. Said Hale, “We received a number of impressive applications and we plan to continue to grant one or two lesson horses each year to deserving riding programs in the Southeast, with preference given to stables who support our horse shows."

Saddlebred Rescue, Inc. is the flagship ASB rescue program – well known for their excellent program of rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming American Saddlebred horses that they select from auctions where they may be at risk of going to slaughter. While the home base is located in New Jersey, Christy Parker, a founding member, is located in Georgia and is assisting in identifying a lesson horse for one of our stables. Dreamscape Rescue is located in Eagleville, Tenn., and their mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and repurpose American Saddlebreds who are bound for slaughter. "Kelly Reason will be working with us to locate a suitable lesson horse for one of these lesson programs," Hale added. “Saddlebred Rescue and Dreamscape regularly work together to save and place horses, so they will be teaming up to fill these orders as quickly as possible.”

-- via Southern Saddlebred