The Outstanding Clinicians at the 2013 Equine Affaire
Eitan Beth-Halachmy
Eitan Beth-Halachmy was born and raised in Israel where a Hungarian Calvary officer
instilled in him a regard for horses and horsemanship that is still the foundation of his
training methods and philosophy today. While studying pre-veterinary medicine at the
University of Vienna, Mr. Beth-Halachmy spent time watching, listening, and absorbing
classical training at the Spanish Riding School. He subsequently came to the United
States to pursue his studies at the University of California at Davis and over time
became deeply immersed in the training and showing of Morgan horses. Mr. BethHalachmy has since accumulated many world and national titles in Morgan horse
competition and is widely-recognized as the originator of “cowboy dressage,” a new
discipline that combines traditional western and classical dressage. He and his multiple
world champion Morgan, Santa Fe Renegade, performed in the closing and opening
ceremonies of the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany, and Lexington, KY.
Mr. Beth-Halachmy promotes cowboy dressage and shares his horsemanship
techniques through clinics, expo appearances, and educational DVDs.
Mark Bolender
Mark Bolender’s name has quickly become synonymous with the new and exciting
equine disciplines known as mountain trail, extreme trail, and trail challenge-competitive sports in which he earned national titles in 2008, 2009, and 2010 and which
he has been championing for the past eight years. Prior to his involvement in mountain
trail, Mr. Bolender developed a solid foundation of experience in breeding Quarter
Horses and training and showing horses in open, Quarter Horse, and reining
competitions. With Lee Sampson he founded the International Mountain Trail
Challenge Association to promote the sport of mountain trail. Mark Bolender
contributes articles for a number of magazines and is the author of Bolender’s Guide to
Mastering Mountain Trail and the producer of four DVDs about training for mountain trail
and bridle-less riding. He designs and builds mountain trail courses throughout the
United States, Canada, and Europe, and is active in both judging mountain trail
competitions and certifying judges for the sport. Mr. Bolender has also conducted
clinics for the AQHA and judged Trail Challenges for the association. He promotes his
training philosophy called “Unique Horsemanship” at Bolender Horse Park in Silver
Creek, WA.
Mickie Bowen
Mickie Bowen’s childhood adventures with ponies evolved into a lifetime career in
driving and breeding Welsh and Welsh-cross ponies. Ms. Bowen is a founding member
of the American Driving Society who served on the ADS Board of Directors for 20 years.
She is currently an “R” judge for all driving disciplines for the ADS and holds an
international judging card for Disabled Driving. As a sought-after judge, Mickie Bowen
travels across the United States and Canada judging many of the major driving events
including the Canadian Classic and Royal Winter Fair. She has also served on the
ground jury of the first and second World Disabled Championships and was Executive
Director and Chef d’Equipe of driving for the disabled for 20 years. Mickie Bowen enjoys
competing and training with her own four-in-hand of Welsh-cross ponies from her home
in Unionville, PA.
Craig Cameron
Craig Cameron believes that one of the keys to training horses is to first train horse
people. His engaging, motivational speaking style focuses on the training principles of
patience and understanding as does his four-video collection and line of training
products. A life-long rancher, working cowboy, and horse trainer, Mr. Cameron has just
about done it all from stocker operations to custom hay-baling to capturing wild cattle for
fellow ranchers. After years of bull riding on the professional rodeo circuit and
successfully operating his cattle business, Mr. Cameron decided it was horses and
horse training to which he really wanted to devote his time and talents. He wanted to
give something back to the horse, thus he honed his horsemanship skills and began
conducting clinics throughout North America and abroad. His work has earned him the
prestigious American Cowboy Culture Working Cowboy of the Year award. Currently
Mr. Cameron can be found hosting a horse training program as well as his Extreme
Cowboy Races on RFD-TV and at equine venues throughout the country and working
on his Double Horn Ranches in Bluff Dale, TX, and Lincoln, NM.
Diane Carney
Diane Carney is a professional horsewoman who has been competing in and coaching
clients for hunter and show jumping events for more than 30 years. Over the course of
her career Ms. Carney has personally earned Grand Hunter Championships and Grand
Prix victories in competitions throughout the United States and at Spruce Meadows in
Canada. At Telluride Farm in Chicago, IL, Diane Carney now trains clients to compete
in Grand Prix, Junior Hunter, and national equitation classes as well as local divisions.
As a volunteer for the United States Hunter Jumper Association she hosts numerous
riding clinics across the nation. For the past 20 years Ms. Carney has further served
aspiring hunter-jumper riders to achieve excellence in horsemanship by coordinating the
George H. Morris Riding Clinic in Chicago. Additionally she has been involved in the
hunter-jumper industry as a member of the USHJA Junior Hunter Task Force and the
High Performance Hunter Derby Committee and as the Association’ s Zone 5 Vice
Chair.
Connie Combs
Connie Combs of Comanche, OK, has spent a lifetime developing and riding barrel
racing horses to the highest levels in the sport. She is a Women’s Pro Rodeo
Association Champion who has competed at the National Finals Rodeo seven times—
where she has earned three Fastest Times and held the record for five years of not
hitting a barrel. During her extensive career, Ms. Combs has trained numerous NFR
and AQHA World Show qualifiers including the WPRA World Champion barrel racing
stallion, Maudies Joak. For more than 30 years Connie Combs has also shared her
enthusiasm for and knowledge of barrel racing with aspiring barrel horse riders through
clinics throughout the country and articles in industry magazines including Barrel Horse
News, Horse & Rider, and Western Horseman. Through her videos, articles, and clinics
Mr. Combs advances her training philosophy of utilizing barrel racing squares to
achieve natural balance and horsemanship. She has also been instrumental in the
development of various tack and equipment designed specifically for barrel racing.
Phillip Dutton
Phillip Dutton grew up in South Wales, Australia, where horses were a large part of life
on his family’s sheep and wheat farm and he actively competed in Pony Club rallies and
horse trails. He continued to pursue his passion for riding while studying at Newington
College and later at Agricultural College. In 1991, Mr. Dutton moved to the United
States to train in a more internationally competitive environment. He represented
Australia in three Olympics and four World Championships before becoming an
American citizen in 2006. Phillip Dutton’s career highlights include team gold medals at
both the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and a team gold medal
and individual silver at the 2007 Pan Am Games. He was a member of the United
States team in Beijing in 2008 and also a member of the fourth-placing three-day team
at the 2010 World Equestrian Games. Phillip Dutton is very active on the U.S. eventing
circuit, and, since 1998, he has accumulated 12 USEA Leading Rider of the Year titles.
In 2005 he was also listed as the number one FEI World Event Rider. Mr. Dutton
currently trains out of True Prospect Farm in West Grove, PA, and Red Oak Farm in
Aiken, SC. He serves the eventing community as a founding member of the
Professional Riders Organization and as a member of the Board of the USEF. He is
also a member of the USEF Safety Committee and High Performance Committee for
Eventing and the USEA Active Athletes Committee. Though his own competition
schedule is busy, he dedicates much of his time to coaching both young and adult
riders.
Jan Ebeling
Jan Ebeling, a native of Germany, has been a major American dressage competitor
since he began riding as a U.S. citizen in 1998. Before coming to the United States in
1984, Mr. Ebeling worked as an apprentice under the late German master Herbert
Rehbein and earned his berreiter, a German license to train horses. Aboard several
different horses, Jan Ebeling has collected numerous championship titles including a
2003 gold medal at the Pan-American Games and several USET Festival of Champions
wins. Jan Ebeling competed in the World Cup in 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2012, and, in
2011, he and Rafalca, were the highest-ranked United States combination at the World
Cup in Leipzig, Germany. In July 2011, Mr. Ebeling was a member of the U.S. team in
Aachen, and in 2012, he and Rafalca were awarded a spot onto the 2012 U.S. Olympic
Team. Fulfilling a life-long dream, he achieved a score of over 70% in the Grand Prix
while competing in London. In addition to his heavy competition and training schedule,
Jan Ebeling is a USDF Young Rider Clinician and a member of the High Performance
Dressage Eligible Athlete Committee. He conducts clinics internationally while also
operating his training and sales facility, The Acres, in Moorpark, CA.
Steve Edwards
Steve Edwards has devoted more than 30 years to education and is currently a
Professor of equine science at Pierce College in Los Angeles, CA. He began pleasure
packing with mules in the 1970s, and in 1990 began packing for the United States
Forest Service. Mr. Edwards currently travels throughout the United States teaching
donkey and mule training clinics. He has produced a variety of training videos, a unique
line of saddles and tack designed to fit mules and donkeys, and can be seen on RFD
TV on the Rural Heritage hour and Blue Highways TV. Steve Edwards and his students
have also won both national and international driving championships. He regularly
contributes articles to Mules & More and Rocky MT Rider magazines and operates a
working ranch from his home in Queen Valley, AZ.
Troy Green
Troy Green firmly believes in the importance of a good foundation for every horse,
regardless of its competitive discipline. Mr. Green holds that the key to success lies in
balance, rhythm, and self-carriage, and his ability to develop these skills in the Quarter
Horses he has worked with over the years has resulted in the production of a long line
of champion horses. Troy Green began riding and competing successfully at a young
age. By 14 he was competing and winning against Hall-of-Fame trainers and at 16 and
17 he placed Top 5 in two-year-old western pleasure and was the All–Around Youth
Champion at the All American Quarter Horse Congress. Troy Green currently owns and
operates Troy Green Quarter Horses in Seekonk, MA. Though he may be best known
for producing champion western pleasure horses, he has also trained champion and
top-placing horses in reining, western riding, hunter under saddle, and trail. Mr. Green
contends that training horses to excel in multiple disciplines is not only good for the
horses, but also enhances their value.
Julie Goodnight
Julie Goodnight is a full-time equine professional with more than a quarter of a century
of horse training experience. Her varied equestrian background ranges from dressage
and jumping to racing, reining, cow horse, colt-starting, and wilderness riding. Ms.
Goodnight teaches “Classic Skills for a Natural Ride” that help riders feel more confident
in the saddle and understand the “why’s” of horsemanship. She travels coast-to-coast
to work with riders of all disciplines at horse expos, conferences, and clinics and film her
award-winning RFD-TV show, Horse Master. Ms. Goodnight’s no-nonsense
horsemanship training techniques are also frequently shared through her articles in
Horse & Rider, The Trail Rider, and other publications. She is the International
Spokesperson for the Certified Horsemanship Association and in 2008 she was named
Equine Affaire’s Exceptional Equestrian Educator. Julie Goodnight resides with her
husband on their ranch near Salida, CO, where they enjoy versatility ranch horse
competitions and riding cow horses in their free time.
Pam Goodrich
Pam Goodrich has been a dressage instructor and trainer for more than 35 years. She
has been long- and short-listed with the United States Equestrian Team, competed in
World Championships in Toronto and in two Olympic Sports Festivals, and garnered
many year-end awards on various grand prix horses. She represented the United
States at the Coupe Des Ameriques in Quebec where she won the bronze medal and
placed second in the Grand Prix special. In addition, Ms. Goodrich has competed in
Europe and been awarded her USDF Silver and Gold Medals here at home. Over the
years Pam Goodrich has studied with notable dressage trainers such as Michael Poulin,
Herbert Rehbein, Harry Boldt, Kyra Kirkland, Klaus Balkenhol, and many others. Her
own students have competed successfully in everything from training level to
international competitions including Pan American Games, Olympic Sports Festivals,
World Cup, World Equestrian Games, and Olympics. Ms. Goodrich is a much soughtafter clinician who conducts clinics throughout the United States. She trains in
Loxahatchee, FL, during the winter and returns to Boscawen, NH, from April to
November.
Clay Maier
Clay Maier’s experience with horses is as diverse as it is long. For many years the
Maier family operated Riata Ranch, one of California’s largest and most respected
youth riding programs. He learned a variety of equine disciplines from top instructors of
the day and began an equestrian career that has included professional saddle bronc
riding, performing in Wild West shows in Europe and Asia, and stagecoach driving in
Yosemite National Park. During his professional career Clay Maier has started
hundreds of horses under saddle or in harness and competed in the disciplines of
jumping, cutting, and competitive carriage driving. Mr. Maier currently works as an inhouse trainer, consultant, and performer at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. He
served as the Equestrian Director for the opening ceremonies at the 2010 World
Equestrian Games at the Horse Park and was also the director of the American
segment at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant in Windsor, England. Clay Maier
travels nationally presenting clinics on long-reining and driving and dazzling audiences
with his multi-discipline equestrian act, “Friesian Spectacular.”
Guy McLean
Guy McLean is an Australian-born horse trainer and teacher who is widely-recognized
both for his extraordinary horsemanship and his entertaining performances. Mr. McLean
is an accomplished, self-taught, thinking horseman. Through a complete love of horses
and a burning desire to “find better ways” of building relationships with horses, Mr.
McLean developed his own training methods which “ask” the horse to do the job as a
partner. He is a champion colt starter in Australia and America, two-time Australian
Bush Poetry Champion, and was recognized as the “Ambassador of the Outback” in
2002 and 2006. Mr. McLean grew up on the Susan River with his family running the
Susan River Homestead Adventure resort and has performed and taught horsemanship
throughout Australia for many years. While maintaining a home base in Australia Guy
McLean now travels throughout the United States to perform and present at prominent
equestrian events including the World Equestrian Games, the National Rodeo Finals,
Dressage at Devon, the Washington International Horse Show, and major equine expos
and fairs. He has produced an educational DVD series to share his training approaches
and philosophy with riders of all disciplines.
Ken McNabb
Ken McNabb is the all-American image of what a cowboy should be, a modern day Roy
Rogers. With his wife and young sons he continues the traditional ranching family
lifestyle of his youth and trains horses on the McNabb ranch in the mountains of
Wyoming. As a boy, Ken McNabb knew that he wanted to help improve the lives of
others—and at the first horsemanship clinic he attended, he knew immediately that
being a clinician was his life’s calling. For nearly 20 years, Ken McNabb has helped
thousands of riders regain their childhood confidence with his easy to follow step-bystep methods and gentle communication style. He shares his vast experience and
knowledge of horses through clinics conducted across the country and his weekly show
on RFD-TV titled “Discovering the Horseman Within”—now in its seventh season. In
addition to his ongoing teaching activities, Ken McNabb won the 2007 Colt Starting
Challenge at the Mane Event Expo in Vancouver, WA; competed at the Road to the
Horse competition in Murfreesboro, TN; and won the 2008 Trainers Challenge Colt
Starting Competition in Chilliwack, BC, Canada. He is also a partner in the annual
Diamond-McNabb Ranch Horse sale in Douglas, WY.
Geno Middleton
Geno Middleton is a third-generation horseman who has trained and ridden horses
representing a wide variety of gaited breeds since he began training professionally in
the early 1980s. Mr. Middleton’s lifelong show career with the Missouri Fox Trotting
Horse Breed Association includes two Youth World Grand Championships in his
teenage years. At the age of 18 he won his first Senior World Grand Championship—a
feat he has repeated seven times since. Mr. Middleton has won the MFTHBA Two Year
Old Futurity 13 times since his first win at age 15. He has also claimed multiple Two,
Three, and Four Year Old World Grand Championships at the MFTHBA Celebration
and won the Two Year Old Breeder’s Cup $100,000 Showcase three times. At Geno
Middleton Stables in Pomona, MO, Mr. Middleton continues to train, breed, and show
champion Missouri Fox Trotting Horses and develop training bits and bridles specifically
designed for gaited horses. Geno Middleton contributes articles to the Missouri Fox
Trotting Horse Breed Journal and has developed a training video titled “Gaited Horse
Training with Geno Middleton.”
Daniel Stewart
Daniel Stewart has been a successful international competitor, trainer, and coach for
more than 25 years. From 1999 to 2007 Mr. Stewart coached riders on several United
States equestrian teams to success at many World Championships, World Equestrian
Games, and Olympics .In addition to working with riders in the United States, he has
trained riders in Spain, Portugal, Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Greece, and several other
countries. Daniel Stewart holds a degree in exercise science and psychology and is
widely considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on equestrian sport
psychology, biomechanics, and conditioning. He teaches clinics and seminars to
thousands of riders each year, is a popular guest speaker at equestrian conventions
and meetings, and is the equestrian sport psychology expert for the Horse Radio
Network. Daniel Stewart is the author of the internationally-acclaimed books, Pressure
Proof Your Riding and Ride Right, and has, himself, been the subject of numerous
magazine articles. He currently resides in Naples, FL, where he holds online mental
coaching sessions with riders from around the globe and certifies riders to teach
equestrian sport psychology seminars and rider fitness workshops.
Tommie Turvey
Tommie Turvey, known to many as the Equine Extremist, grew up on the backs of
horses and is now one of the most sought-after entertainers and trainers in the equine
industry. From Liberty Horse Ranch in Summerville, GA, Mr. Turvey travels the world
performing at most major rodeos, horse shows, and horse expos with his memorable
American Paint Horses, Pokerjoe, Joker, and Ace. Pokerjoe and Joker are stars in their
own right having been immortalized as Breyer® horse models. In addition to his talent
as an entertainer, Tommie Turvey is in high demand for his skills as a horse trainer,
clinician, and stuntman. He and horses trained by him have been involved in numerous
major movies and hit television productions over the years. Most recently he trained the
Budweiser Clydesdales for their highly-anticipated Superbowl commercial. Tommie
Turvey has dedicated his life to bringing the power and beauty of the horse to the
forefront through inspiring performances and he regularly shares his training expertise
and philosophy through clinics across the nation.
Stacy Westfall
Great insight and an effective teaching style have made Stacy Westfall one of the most
popular and sought-after clinicians in the horse industry. Ms. Westfall developed her
natural horsemanship techniques through years of training horses for reining
competition. During her career, she rode with numerous influential trainers and reining
competitors including Dan Huss, Clark Bradley, Rusty Dare, and Mike Flarida. Stacy
Westfall is an AQHA and NRHA Freestyle Reining Champion who impressed the horse
world twice by winning while riding both bridleless and bareback. Her famous 2006
Freestyle Championship ride, seen by millions on the Internet, led to an appearance on
the Ellen Degeneres show in 2008. In addition to her accomplishments within the
reining arena, Stacy Westfall is the first woman to take part in (and win) the Road to the
Horse competition. With her husband, Jesse, she presents clinics at venues throughout
the nation to inspire and teach people how to build better relationships with their horses.