Our Trainers
The staff at North Wind Stables has decades of experience and dedication in all aspects of teaching and training riders and horses.
Nealia McCracken
Nealia was raised in the horse industry and established North Wind Stables in 1985. NWS was originally founded and operated in northern Illinois outside of Chicago. With her husband Mark’s transfer to NYC in 1999, Nealia moved the business to northern New Jersey. During her career she has trained many riders and horses to world, national and state championships in equitation, pleasure, performance and driving. While Nealia has made her living training and giving lessons in the English seat divisions, over the years she has become known as one of the top western pleasure trainers in the country for the American Saddlebred.
Adding to her already busy schedule and with a desire to give something back to the horses, in early 2006 Nealia became one of three operating directors of Saddlebred Rescue, Inc. a non-profit horse rescue organization. Nealia is a regular speaker at national conferences and writes articles for The National Horseman magazine.
North Wind Stables is a family-run business. Mark works on the administrative needs of the business and Nealia’s son Jason Molback has been an assistant trainer for North Wind since he graduated college in 2004. Nealia’s daughter, Jessica Moctezuma is a multi-national and world title winner in performance, equitation and western pleasure, competing internationally as a part of the 2008 World Cup 5-Gaited Team and as co-captain of the 2010 World Cup 3-Gaited Team. In 2008, she was named USEF Junior Equestrian of the Year.
Anne Butler
Anne brings a lifetime of experience to her duties at North Wind Stables. Raised on her family’s Icestone (Morgan) Farm in northeastern Pennsylvania, Anne came to North Wind Stables after having run Hopewell Valley Stables in central New Jersey. In addition to having been an award-winning juvenile competitor, Anne shepherded her daughter Julie through the juvenile show ranks in the dual capacity of instructor and “show mom”.
Through her involvement in the ASHA of NJ and the regional saddlebred world, Anne adopted two horses from Saddlebred Rescue to place in her lesson program. She fell in love with the rescues after adopting Tangueray and Tonic. In early 2008, Anne decided to fold her business into North Wind Stables and take a position as trainer for Saddlebred Rescue and help expand the lesson program for North Wind. Anne commented, “I now understand better how valuable these horses can be to the industry as a whole and I am excited to be part of the effort." In her position at North Wind and Saddlebred Rescue, Anne excels at providing care and compassion for her charges, both human and equine
Jason Molback
As the son of North Wind founder, Nealia McCracken, Jason grew up fully immersed in the horse business. As a junior competitor, Jason excelled in the pleasure pony ranks, earning two reserve champion national titles. Additionally, he competed in the ASB Western Pleasure division, where he garnered three reserve national honors.
Attending college at Salem International University as a computer technology major, Jason took the opportunity to work with Cecile Dunn, one of the nation’s leading equine educators. He graduated from Salem in 2003, and after a brief stint in the business world, decided to return to his first love, horses.
Since committing himself to horse training, Jason has distinguished himself as one of the very few trainers, young or old, to successfully train in all divisions: 5-gaited, performance, pleasure, western and ponies. His recent accomplishments with “Detonator”, a roadster horse also prove his growing expertise in this division.
Jason can be a man of few words, but under his quiet demeanor is a competitor who always strives for the best. He emphasizes a calm, consistent approach with both horse and rider. He urges and encourages rider responsibility, but always with kindness and often with a wink of wry humor.
In the last several years, Jason has developed another talent for which he is widely recognized: equine photography. Self taught, and then mentored by Howard Schatzberg, Shane Shiflet, Doug Shiflet and Rick Osteen, Jason is in high demand for his over-the-rail shots at horse shows. His discerning “trainer’s eye”, coupled with his artistic and technical talent, combine for pictures that capture a unique beauty and emotion of horse and rider in the show ring.
