Heather Runyon- Appaloosa Trainer of the Year
By: Kili Crawford
As equestrian athletes, we each have our own goals and dreams that we work every day to achieve. Sometimes, it takes days, months, and even years to accomplish, but that feeling of elation, accomplishment, and excitement make all the hard work, tears, sweat, and blood worth it. For Appaloosa trainer, Heather Runyon, all of her hard work and dedication to the Appaloosa breed helped her win the prestigious Appaloosa Trainer of the Year award.
Heather’s dedication to the spotted horse breed began when she was just 10 years old, when her mother purchased her first Appaloosa. The versatility of the breed got her hooked. She showed them throughout her youth career, and she soon realized she couldn’t see herself doing anything else with her life.
After finishing off her youth career, she took a few horses into training. From there, her business blossomed where her initial success came in Hunter Under Saddle and Hunter in Hand. Since then it has expanded and Heather has seen success coaching students in all-around events and fitting Halter horses.
Heather speaks about a few individuals who have made a tremendous impact on her equestrian career as a professional. “Ray and Connie Burchett were wonderful mentors, and they had a significant influence on my style and love of Appaloosas. They ultimately assisted with my decision to be a trainer,” Heather explains. In recent years, another mentor for Heather has been John Hardin. He guided her and pushed her to be the best she could be. His dedication and love for the Appaloosa breed strengthened her love, dedication, and training style.
Heather’s training philosophy has two prongs of support: number one is “Know your horse” and number two is “Understand your client.” She expands upon these two ideas by explaining that “each horse is unique and responds differently to training, so you need to know what works for the horse. The same is true of the client. Each client has different skills, and it’s important to match those with the right horse. The training program has to be tailored around the horse and rider team.”
As all of us in the horse industry know, a trainer has to deal with the owners and riders as much as the horses themselves. This goes to show Heather’s dedication to both her hooved clients as well as their human counterparts.
One of the main requirements to be considered for the Appaloosa Horse Trainer of the Year award is to be dedicated to the breed itself for many years. Heather considers her greatest accomplishment to be “sustaining a business devoted to furthering the Appaloosa breed through breeding, training, and showing.”
Heather has produced and trained many National and World Champions, as well as coached several clients to prestigious wins in classes from Halter to Horsemanship and beyond. Through all of these accomplishments her main goal is to make sure that the Appaloosa continues to be the breed of choice for future generations.
Congratulations to Heather on this prestigious accomplishment. We wish you all the continued success in the future!
