Laurie Quincey to Apprentice at Stoner Ridge Farm
By: Lyngle Lawson

In April, Laurie Quincey will make the long trek from Avoca, New York to Paris, Kentucky where she will be spend the summer in an apprenticeship program at Stoner Ridge Farm under the direction Robert Lawson. She will study all aspects of running a training facility. Laurie will get the big picture by learning about finances, record keeping, conducting lessons and clinics, and training the horses themselves. She will be learning to start young horses moving on to discover how to finish them out so they will be safe, respectful, and responsive. Laurie will also refine the skills that she already has when it comes to exhibiting horses in the show ring both under saddle and in halter.

Laurie first met the Lawson's in 1999 when she and her fiancé, Rick Bohrer, were looking for their first Rocky Mountain horses. They had a twenty year history with American Saddlebreds and were even the proud owners of a colt by the magnificent stallion Supreme Sultan whose bronze statue stands proudly at the Kentucky Horse Park. Laurie and Rick decided to move more toward trail riding and after reading an article about Rocky Mountain horses in Western Horse magazine, they knew that Rockies were everything they wanted in a horse. It was then they made the difficult decision to sell their Saddlebreds. 

While they didn't purchase their first horses at Stoner Ridge Farm on that initial buying trip, they were impressed with the operation of the farm. Laurie remembers the horses she rode that day never broke gait and their heads never moved. She made the decision that if she ever got the chance to someday train horses full time, she would definitely contact Robert. That is exactly what she did when she was forced into a very early retirement for Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, NY, where she had worked for over twenty years. 

Laurie and Rick were attending the RMH International this past September where she had decided to approach Robert about an apprenticeship. Robert had taught and coached several young trainers who went on to have successful careers in the horse industry. Charlie DeAtley, Jessica Shannon, and Erin Lawson all learned about the business of starting and refining a horse from Robert. Kari Johnson had come from Washington state to live with the Lawson's for a month to learn more about the business before starting her own training barn in Washington. Even though he had not developed a full apprenticeship program at the time that Laurie approached him, he believed he was ready. After considering it for a few days, Robert thought the time was right to step up to the challenge and decided to develop an apprenticeship program at Stoner Ridge Farm. He called Laurie to let her know. She is excited about coming to SRF.

Laurie and Rick own Fox Ridge Rocky Mountain Horses and Bernese Mountain Dogs which was established in 2002. They currently have ten Rockies of various ages on the farm, which includes their recently purchased stallion, Rockenstein. It consists of 27 acres with access to hundreds of miles of trails that surround the farm. They will be adding a 64 x 120 indoor arena in the near future where they will be able to work horses during the winter months when the weather is bad. Laurie plans to implement everything she learns while staying in Kentucky in order to establish a top-notch training facility in New York.