RIDE HOST SPOTLIGHT
Heidi Thiel
North Carolina Ride Host
We all have a story about how we became involved with horses. Heidi can thank her brother Peter for her life changing endeavor, as he expounded with the enthusiasm of youth, his adventurous ride with a friend. Heidi was 10 years old at the time, and as a kid, if your sibling said something was fun it was definitely worth a try. And boy was Peter right. Back then, there was a barn where you could ride all day for $5 or $2.50/hour. Needless to say, Heidi would save her allowance for weeks so she could “ride all day”.
With the exception of a few years after college horses have been a constant presence in Heidi’s life. She bought her first horse when she turned thirty and is now on her sixth horse, “Go Mac Daddy”, the horse she broke as one of her project horses during her yearlong certification in Kenny Harlow’s “Training With Trust” program.
As a young girl Heidi had two influential riding instructors, first Herbert Wells and then in high school, Jimmy LaRosa. Fortunately for Heidi, both instructors had a way of teaching that incorporated fun, along with the finer point of horsemanship, as both would play key roles for Heidi later in life.
Looking to further her equine education Heidi and Mac returned to Kenny’s in the fall of 2014 for the Professional Trainers week. As Heidi says, “If I only knew then, what I know now, Keks would have been one great pony.”
Heidi’s third horse Keks, was the horse that led her on her journey to understanding true horsemanship. Wishing to start a horse with no baggage, she purchased Keks as a yearling. Something she will readily admit, at the time she had no idea what she was doing and had no business buying such a young horse, given her own children were 1 and 2 1/2 at the time. Through their 23 years together Keks taught Heidi that she needed to teach a horse the correct way. In the mid 1990’s one of Heidi’s farriers introduced her to John Lyons and his magazine, “Perfect Horse”, which became her training manual. Each month she would take the magazine out to the barn and work with Keks on the featured training article, and together they learned.
By Jen Wenzel
For Heidi, the key to hosting a good ride starts with a Ride Host who has experienced an AOC or CTC themselves. Being a competitor gives a ride host added insight, a good feel for what riders are looking for and how things work.
Photo by Doug Albrecht