Saddle Mountain Ranch
Boarding, indoor riding, outdoor arenas
Historic SMR - revisited
Leigh Ann has been riding horses since she was young. She grew up in Steamboat Springs and was in the Yampa Valley Pony Club. She earned her C2 Pony Club rating before graduating from high school. She has always loved working with horses whether it was teaching, training or learning. At the age of nine, Leigh Ann started helping at Perry Mansfield. When she was old enough, she started working as a wrangler and slowly moved up to instructor. By the age of 15 she was teaching up to 5 lessons a day during the summer.
When Leigh Ann was 13 she bought her first project horse, a 14-month-old Canadian Wormblood named Flika. After starting and training the filly, she sold her as a 1st level dressage horse. Her next project would be a potential event horse. He was a 6-year-old Thoroughbred off the track named Joey. This horse made her fall in love with eventing. With the help of her trainer Beatrice Marieneau she trained the horse to jump and do dressage. Beatrice, also known as Trixi, is an amazing teacher and rider with experience in everything from high-level show jumping to grand prix dressage. Leigh Ann interned with Trixi for two summers. She was able to learn a lot about life and riding from Trixi. Leigh Ann eventually fell in love with dressage as a result of her time with Trixi.
After riding with Trixi, Leigh Ann traveled to Unionville, PA to ride and train with Jessica and Missy Ransenhousen. Jessica is a three-time Olympic dressage rider. Missy is one of the top event riders in the world. While in Unionville Leigh Ann had the privilege of riding some of Jessica’s Prix St George horses to learn better dressage discipline and advanced movements. Leigh Ann rode and trained at the Ransenhousen’s barn for a few months but was forced to return home when her horse came up lame. After being on the east coast, Leigh Ann moved to Fort Collins and remained involved in the horse world. She worked for a racehorse trainer, starting and riding thoroughbreds on the racetrack. Leigh Ann is now living in Steamboat again and very excited to be teaching and training at Saddle Mountain Ranch.
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Get involved in a ladies riding club now and ride all winter long! We have the lounge geared out with heaters, coffee, books and schooling videos.....SMR is just a great place to hang out year round!
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