| Staff |
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Our full-time staff includes: |
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Tara Mathews Best, President, Manager,
Head Trainer:
photos curtsey of Al Cook and Ron
Peterson Photography |
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 Tara is
the heart of Stonehouse Stables and its guiding force. She graduated from
Christopher
Newport University
with a degree in Business Management in 1996, and was honored as the
Outstanding Management Senior. Tara
grew up in James City
County and has been an avid
equestrienne since she was eight years of age.
Her strong interest in hunt seat equitation and everything about the
care of horses has grown ever since that early start. Her original show pony, Le Bronze Fleur, carried her through many years of successful
competition in the Peninsula Horse Shows Association and the Capital Horse Show
Association in Richmond, and
numerous awards at the District and State 4-H Horse Show Competitions,
including a State Championship Trophy in Equitation. Tara moved up to
further competition with her horse Sir
Lancelot, competing at District and State 4-H and on the CHSA Richmond
circuit. At CHSA the pair won the 1991
and 1992 Pleasure Horse Championships, Reserve Champion Children's Hunter in 1993, and as
Reserve Champion in the Amateur Adult Hunter Division in 1996. In addition, Tara won
the Equitation Finals and the Championship in Equitation in CHSA in 1995. Tara also went to the
VHSA Equitation Finals as a Junior in 1994 and an Adult Amateur in 1995 and 1996, where she distinguished herself
with excellent rounds and placed within the top ten amateur adult riders in
Virginia
before turning professional in 1996 with the establishment of her own stable,
 Stonehouse Stables, Inc., in Toano, Virginia. More recently, Tara has coached her junior
and adult riders to many year-end awards in the PHSA Local Circuit, trained
several young horses (Royal Grant, Cornerstone, Milestone, Dear Prudence and
currently Ironwood), and most
recently coached one of our junior riders to a Reserve Championship in
Junior/Amateur Hunter at the 2003
Deep Run Hunt “A” Show.
Tara’s 2004 accomplishments included riding several horses to Champion
and Reserve Champion in Baby Green Hunter and Green Hunter, as well as several
top ribbons in Open Hunter, Baby Green and Green Hunter in the PHSA year end
awards. Tara was also 2005 Special Hunter
3rd place in CHSA on one of our school horses: Valentino.
In 2006, Tara became certified with the American Riding
Instructor Association. You can email
Tara at ssTMBest@cox.net
Tara is pictured here on her
horse, Ironwood. The pair were Reserve Champion at the
2007 VHSA Associate Championship horse show in Special Hunter
and 4th for the year in CHSA Adult Horse Pleasure. |
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Photo's of
Tara and Stephanie Curtsey of Ron Peterson's Photography.
Stephanie Scherer, Assistant Instructor: |
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 Stephanie joined our Stonehouse Stables family immediately following her May
2006 graduation from Sweet Briar College (Virginia). There she earned a degree
in Biology with a certificate in Equine Studies – Teaching and Schooling - and
was active as an undergraduate in Sweet Briar’s Riding Program Advisory
Committee and Riding Council. She also served as a teaching assistant for three
years at the Sweet Briar College Roger’s Riding Center where she taught beginner
riders (students and faculty), planned and carried out trail rides and games,
and educated student on the basics of riding and horse care. She has worked as
an instructor and as Recreational Assistant Riding Director at Camp Friendship
Stables in Palmyra, Virginia. In addition, Stephanie has extensive experience
as a groom and stable worker during summers and as a part-time weekend worker,
working in stables of 20 to 40 horses. She is also First Aid and CPR
certified.
Stephanie grew up around horses on her mother’s horse breeding farm in Natural
Bridge, Virginia, specializing in riding and training ponies. Contact Stephanie via
e-mail at
ssMcCallister@cox.net or ask for her when you call
757-566-0666. She recently established the Stonehouse Riding Academy,
creating structured learning programs as a fun way to learn more about good
horsemanship.
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Jennifer Gardner, Barn
Staff Manager:
Jennifer has years of
experience taking care of your special needs for each individual horse.
She is a long term employee of Stonehouse Stables and is very at good
handling young horses and teaching them manners. Please feel free to
contact her with any special concerns you may have with your horse as she will
be the one directing the staff to take care of the details that matter most to
you and your horse. She can assist you in
mane pulling, body clipping, and in general horse care. Please contact her via the
office or email at ssJLGardner@cox.net.
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Jamie Lynn Brabon,
Office Manager and Assistant Instructor:
A 2006
graduate of Virginia Intermont College in Abington,
Virginia, Jamie comes to Stonehouse Stables with a
Bachelor’s Degree in Equine Studies and a minor in Business
Administration. She is no stranger to the Stonehouse
family, having been a student here for many years and a
part-time instructor and trail guide for several summers.
In addition to her degree, she is
also an American Riding Instructor Association Certified
Instructor in Hunt Seat and is Certified in Stable
Management as well. While in college she competed in the
Intercollegiate Horse Show Association for Virginia Intermont, riding at the Nationals in 2006. While her
primary interests lie in teaching and showing Hunt Seat, she
is also a member of the Intercollegiate Dressage Association
and competed as well in Show Jumping and Eventing. In
addition to her previous work at Stonehouse Stables, she
worked during college at several horse farms in Southwest
Virginia, gaining practical experience while completing
formal equine studies. Jamie and her horse “Wilbur” will
add both depth and breadth to the Stonehouse full-time
staff. Her email is
ssJBrabon@cox.net.
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Teresa Walton, Full Time Office Executive
Assistant: Teresa is here to help
communicate all of your horse needs to our staff. She assists all
of our staff with horsey details to ensure that our clients get the
attention they desire. She came to us after owning and operating
her own Interior Decorating Company, Unlimited Interiors. She also
was working as a Senior Director of Home Interior for 15 years. She
decided to leave corporate America and pursue a more peaceful and
stress free life.
She has always enjoyed being a Stonehouse
Stables Family Member along with her 2 daughters. Here, she has
watched her children blossom into educated young riders. She found
herself wanting to spend more time out at the barn and fulfilling
the love of horses she had growing up. She wanted to be more
involved, so she joined our team of loving professionals, dedicated
to serve your horse needs. She also has started riding herself and
is finding the challenges of riding very exciting.
She
can be reached in the office at 757-566-0666, Monday through Friday
usually between 9-6 or at her email,
ssTWalton@cox.net |
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Audrey Smith, Part Time Instructor:
Audrey is an avid horse enthusiast with years of experience.
She not only had her own horse as a child, but has two loving girls
who are now into horses as well. Audrey understands the connection
between horses and children and just how special that bond can be -
just ask Lucy, Ramsay, Sophie or Pumpkin. We welcome her as an
addition to our Stonehouse Stables family.
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