Curiosity keeps Jeff's barn open not only to top quality, show-ready horses, but also to the beleaguered problem horses. He gets a kick out of working with a new breed of horse, an oddity like a hot warmblood, a Tennessee Walker who trots, or a Saddlebred who doesn't. He enjoys "meeting" your horse: your new stallion or your old gelding, or your plain fuzzy little foal. I have never known Jeff to dislike a horse. If you like your horse, he will help you with the what and how of a harmonious horse-owner relationship.

Taking a horse to Jeff can resemble a visit to the doctor. While Jeff makes his own private assessment of each horse that comes in, he also asks the owner about the horse's "symptoms." If a horse chases his owner when she tries to catch him, he asks "how do you put the halter on him?" When she demonstrates, Jeff nods: an inscrutable gesture which might say, "so that's the problem," or "well done."

Jeff with apprentice Chris Brutocao at Region 2 Championship Horse show in Santa Barbara

Jeff will offer possible alternatives to the way a handler does things, explaining why the horse might not respond to this or that cue. But he will not suggest that this is the only way: that decision is always up to the student.

The lessons I've learned from Jeff follow the rule of "you can't tell people what to do, you can only suggest it." The same applies to Jeff's training methods. A horse has the temperament to do a job or he doesn't. Give him the opportunity, encourage him to do what you want him to do, and see if he does it.

If it takes people a long time to sort these intricacies out, it doesn't take horses very long. Many times I've seen a nervous or frustrated horse relax in Jeff's presence, as if to say "finally, someone who knows what he's doing!" Aside from his training business, Jeff is currently breeding and raising half Arab palominos, with an emphasis on the part Quarter cross. 

Jeff with Poco Padrino (Regis x Rama Jane), 1975 U.S. National Champion Stock Horse

His goal is to produce a typey western horse with flash and class.  Those he has so far are showing the physical traits he seeks, as well as the temperament and manners one would expect from horses raised by a consumate horseman.  They are the pets we all want, without the vices!

I join many others in thanking Jeff for 50 years of experience, good-humor, and wisdom which his career brings to the horse world.
--Marylisa Walsh