Recent News
Hardwick Stable Owner Nealia McCracken Receives National Award
Local Warren County horsewoman, Nealia McCracken of North Wind Stables in Hardwick, NJ accepted the Shirley Parkinson Professional Achievement Award at the 2012 UPHA National Convention held January 5-7 in Nashville, TN.
McCracken was honored “for her unselfish work, outside her expertise in horsemanship, for the betterment of our organization and our industry”.
The United Professional Horseman’s Association (UPHA) is a nationwide organization comprised of equine professionals involved with the American Saddlebred, Hackney Pony and Morgan breeds. Their creed is “Horsemen Helping Horsemen” and their mandate dictates that members “work towards certain goals that help not only the individual horseperson, but also the industry as a whole”.
McCracken was tapped for the award due to her 25+ year participation in the show horse industry as a trainer and instructor, her lifelong volunteer work to promote the American Saddlebred breed and in more recent years her passion and innovation in the equine rescue sector. One of the founders of Saddlebred Rescue, Inc., McCracken has made it her mission to rehabilitate, re-home and return Saddlebreds to their “roots” in the lesson programs of training stables across the country, and in this way promote the breed. Rehabilitated rescues are also placed as personal pleasure horses and competitors in a variety of disciplines other than saddle seat.
McCracken has a long history in the horse industry as owner, along with her husband Mark, of North Wind Stables, a training facility for American Saddlebred horses and their riders. She has coached horses and riders to countless national titles, across a wide range of divisions: from equitation (junior riders and adults), to Western Pleasure to the gaited performance divisions.
Prior to its moving to Hardwick in 1999, North Wind Stables held a prominent position in the industry at its location outside of Chicago, IL. A business transfer for Mark McCracken necessitated the move, which turned out to be serendipitous for Nealia McCracken’s evolving career.
In late 2005 McCracken went to the New Holland livestock auction in Pennsylvania to purchase two horses in need for a Youth Club project at the barn. Through this experience she discovered that these horses would make good lesson horses, a better alternative for these horses that had worked all their lives, than being sent to slaughter. In 2006 McCracken joined forces with Christy Parker in Georgia who founded Saddlebred Rescue and soon thereafter, the physical operations part of the rescue was moved to McCracken’s horse farm in New Jersey.
The proximity of North Wind Stables to Lancaster County with its large population of Saddlebreds was something that McCracken never anticipated. When these animals reach the end of their useful life as buggy horses with the Amish, they are sent to the livestock sales at New Holland, PA, where sadly, many find themselves being shipped to slaughter in Canada and Mexico. McCracken realized that these horses, although no longer able to do the relatively strenuous work of pulling buggies 30+ miles a day, were in many cases, still very usable in a variety of other capacities. Additionally, McCracken knew that many of these horses had spent their earliest years in a Saddlebred training barn and that they would have retained the memory of that early training.
Animals brought into the program at Saddlebred Rescue are evaluated by a veterinarian, as well as McCracken and the one full-time employee of Saddlebred Rescue, Anne Butler, for any health or usability issues. The horses are carefully screened for their suitability as lesson or pleasure horses and then promoted via the Saddlebred Rescue website to potential adopters.
McCracken and her team have placed over 500 horses in new homes since the inception of Saddlebred Rescue, building business and goodwill all along the way. You can find more information about North Wind Stables and Saddlebred Rescue on Facebook or go to their respective websites at www.northwindstables.com and www.saddlebredrescue.com . Look for the rescue’s new website to be posted soon.
Carson Kressley Promotes Saddlebreds on The Nate Berkus Show
by David Tuffy Owens on Monday, September 12, 2011
Carson Kressley will be appearing on an upcoming episode of The Nate Berkus Show. This appearance will be extra special for the Saddlebred community, as Carson and Nate will be on horseback! The North Wind Stables team brought two Saddlebreds, CH A Magic Surprise and CH Prince Of The Day, into the heart of New York! Always a great ambassador for the American Saddlebred, Kressley also promoted the Equestrian Life program that is being run by the UPHA, along with ASHA and AHHS. For those who have missed the promotional blitz for this fantastic program, Equestrian Life has put together a campaign called “Learn to Ride and Drive in Style.” This program is putting a Saddlebred and Hackney presence in millions of homes. Even more important than that, the Equestrian Life website, EquestrianLife.com, has a coupon available for download for a free riding lesson at any of the approved stables around the country. The hope is that thousands of new people will be brought into Saddlebred and Hackney stables and their lesson programs through this effort.
For more information on the upcoming episode of The Nate Berkus Show, go to www.TheNateShow.com. You can use the “Station Finder” on Nate’s website to find the time and channel to watch in your area! The show is set to air on September 28. Carson Kressley had this to say of his appearance on the show: "Our American Saddlebred gained a lot of new fans the day we taped the segment for the Nate Berkus show. Nate, the crew, and the audience all fell in love with our breed. Hopefully after the show airs, millions of Americans will also be won over by their charms. We owe a debt of gratitude to Nealia and Mark and Erin McCracken and Jason Molback from Northwind Stables in Blairstown NJ for volunteering their time (the day after they returned from Louisville - AND through a hurricane no less!) bringing these great ambassadors of the breed to New York City for the taping. CH A Magic Surprise and CH Prince of the Day could not have been better examples of our breed. They were presented beautifully and their manners were extraordinary! We also need to thank their owners Pat Johnson and Dr. Geraldine Meanor for lending us their horses for what may have seemed a bit of a crazy adventure. I would encourage everyone to make a donation to Saddlebred Rescue to honor these trainers, owners and horses who offered their time, talent and horses for the overall betterment of our breed.
Carson Kressley with CH Prince Of The Day and Nate Berkus with CH A Magic Surprise
USEF's 2008 Junior Equestrian of the Year
December 26, 2008
Jessie was recently notified that she was the chosen Junior Equestrian of the Year to be awarded at a USEF banquet in mid January. Jessie is the 5th Saddlebred competitior to win this award. The following is a copy of a news story ran soon after the press release by the USEF.
Moctezuma is a winner on or off a horse
by Nancy Jaffer/For The Star-Ledger
Saturday December 13, 2008, 6:29 PM
Courtesy of Howard Schatzberg
U.S. Equestrian Federation Junior Equestrian of the Year Jessica Moctezuma, of Hardwick, on Top Beat.There have been plenty of show ring honors recently for Jessica Moctezuma, but they pale in comparison to the trophy the Hardwick resident will accept next month for being the U.S. Equestrian Federation's Junior Equestrian of the Year.
"This is the most meaningful thing I've ever accomplished," said the 18-year-old, a graduate of Pope John XXIII High School in Sparta, who learned of the honor last week.
Moctezuma specializes in saddle seat riding, yet she also sits tall in a western saddle and has competed successfully in hunt seat classes as well. She was the senior equitation champion at the prestigious Lexington, Ky., Junior League Show, is a three-time Mid-Atlantic Regional Equitation Champ and a member of the five-gaited team at the World Cup in South Africa this year.
While that record more than fulfills one of the qualifications for the award -- calling for candidates to have taken part in USEF shows during the year -- consideration also is given for good sportsmanship and integrity. In Moctezuma's case, her efforts outside the show ring have called attention to her desire to make a better life for horses, especially those that have been abused and neglected.
She works with her mother, trainer Nealia McCracken, who founded Saddlebred Rescue with Pat Johnson. The organization also has been recognized for its accomplishments by USEF. Operating out of McCracken's North Wind Farm, the rescue takes horses that have been discarded and abused, retrains them if necessary and then finds them new, loving homes.
"I feel like I've had a really good life with the saddlebreds," said McCracken, explaining her devotion to the animals.
"When I found out these horses were going to slaughter, I felt like this was something we needed to do, take responsibility."
She has passed that mantra along to her daughter, who began riding as a tot in the same saddle with her mother before graduating to riding on her own after just one lead-line class. Saddlebred Rescue offers work that strikes close to the heart for Moctezuma, who assists her mother in the evaluation and training part of the operation.
"I imagine my horses I love so much, and us losing them and then someone finding them and rehabilitating them. I always picture my horses in that situation," said Moctezuma, explaining why she is so eager to give back and offer the animals another chance.
"I've put more hard work into the rescues than anyone can believe. Not a lot of people realize how much we do for them -- and how much they do for us," said Moctezuma.
"They helped me learn patience, and appreciate the things in front of you. It makes me see you never know when something is going to happen to make your whole life switch around. Some of these might have been show horses or lesson horses, and then they got sore and people took them to the sale," she continued, referring to auctions where too many horses wind up destined for slaughterhouses.
Her "catch-riding" work with Saddlebred Rescue has paid off in another way, as she has learned how to develop a horse herself, rather than spending six figures for a made mount, as many others in saddle-seat equitation do. She can't afford that anyway, but has gotten so much more out of taking a talent and honing it. A case in point is Top Beat, known around the barn as Elvis. He was a five-gaited horse (saddle seat equitation horses usually come from the three-gaited ranks) who she trained as a partner for the most exacting competitions in her discipline.
"I decided to take on the challenge," she said, a characteristic course for this rider.
Moctezuma, who will study childhood development and psychology at Sussex County Community College starting next month, is quick to give credit to her support team that includes her stepfather, Mark McCracken, who met her mother when he bought a horse from her. Now he rides Frank, a draft horse who came from Saddlebred Rescue, which has more equine breed diversity among those it saves than the name would indicate. Moctezuma's father, Mayo Moctezuma, is a trainer in Illinois who helps her when she's out there, and her brother, Jason Molback, pitches in by taking photos.
They're a close-knit group at North Wind, and rather unusual; saddlebred-oriented farms are rare in New Jersey, where hunt seat dominates the stables and the shows.
"Not a lot of people take me seriously when I say I read saddlebreds," Moctezuma said wistfully. When she receives her trophy at the USEF annual meeting in Cincinnati, it may well give her a whole new image in her home state.
