NWSHBA Member Spotlight

DNA Sporthorses

Describe your business/involvement with sport horses:
Developer of talent
Nurturer of class
Advocate of excellence

DNA Sporthorses is a small privately owned facility in the Vancouver, WA area. Adrianne Gabris breeds, raises, trains, shows, & sells Swedish Warmbloods (SWB) & Thoroughbreds. Adrianne trains in the disciplines of Dressage, Eventing, In-Hand, Hunters & Jumpers, as well as conditioning Endurance horses. She has, over her riding career, trained & competed most breeds. Her motto being “I will teach anyone, on any breed, in whatever environment they choose”. Her true passion is raising & training young sport horses. She successfully starts young horses, prepares horses for presentation at breed association Keurings/Inspections, & retrains for other/new disciplines. Her website is: www.dnasporthorses.com

Please describe how you became involved in the sport horse industry:
Adrianne came under the sport horse ‘spell’ with the purchase of her first SWB yearling in 2003. In the next six years she purchased three full siblings & finally the dam, Cameo, in foal with another full sibling. Cameo was bred back to the same SWB stallion, Amorex, & Adrianne was rewarded with her stallion prospect, Amador. This sport horse addiction has been further fed by breeding Thoroughbred & SWB crosses.

What is something that most people do not know about you:
Adrianne grew up in southern California & was bitten by the ‘horse bug’ at the ripe old age of five! She began with ponies, & quickly moved on to the ‘big’ horses. She has always had a special affinity with horses. No horse was too difficult for her to tackle. She honed her skills with the horses others considered “difficult or troublesome”. Adrianne trained a ‘green broke’ horse for a successful career in the police mounted patrol – she loves a challenge.

What are your goals relative to your business/involvement with sport horses:
Adrianne’s goal is to KEEP LEARNING! Her dream is to develop her home bred stallion from birth through Grand Prix level Dressage. She is on the path - breeding, training & showing. Adrianne has recently branched out into assessing Thoroughbreds & Quarter Horses at the race track – confirmation, soundness, temperament, & use suitability. She either purchases those with the potential to be retrained & succeed in a new discipline, or acts as broker with prospective buyers. She is compassionate about providing a ‘middle woman’ service between the horse racing industry & the sport horse community. She is thrilled to assist a few of the many horses that are in need of retraining for new careers & homes. Adrianne is part owner of the Thoroughbred stallion Ito the Hammer, retired from racing due to an injury. He is in training with Adrianne for a new career as a sport horse stallion. Her overall “goal” is to breed to be competitive, & to raise winners.

In what ways do you gain enjoyment from your business/involvement with sport horses:
Adrianne’s interest & priority is in building a strong foundation that ensures a successful experience for both horse & rider. She believes it is important to foster a partnership with the horse. It is a thrill for her to watch a horse improve in the areas of rhythm, submission, impulsion & straightness based on trust.

What are some “crowning achievements” relative to your business/involvement with sport horses:
In 2005 Adrianne’s SWB gelding earned a Double Diploma for Jumping (free jumped 4’9”, scoring 9’s on temperament & technique) & Dressage at the SWB Inspection as a three year old, as well as earning the rare 10 on type (only the 2nd horse in North America to have ever earned this distinction), the following year her SWB mare earned a double Diploma as a three year old (the only horse so honored at that years North American Inspections), and another SWB mare earned a Jumping Diploma in 2009. Amador, her SWB colt was approved a premium foal & she plans to take him through the stallion approval process. Adrianne raised & trained all four horses & she is very proud of them.

Straight Forward Dressage & Jumpers

Straight Forward Dressage & Jumpers is primarily a training program located in Snohomish, WA. In addition to training a variety of horses and riders, Straight Forward also offers their two competing warmblood stallions for breeding. Rabenschwarz and Genuine are both international quality stallions that are already conquering the shows.

Patrick Billes, along with partner Laurel Roth, started Straight Forward in 2006 after their return from Europe. Starting with nothing but a name, this couple has built a program respected across the North West. They will soon announce their recent purchase of their own facility. Their website is: www.straightforwardhorses.com

Please describe how you became involved in the sport horse industry
Patrick: I grew up riding anything I could get my hands on…mostly the naughty ponies in the neighborhood that no one else wanted to ride! I putzed around on the trails and with my family until I was 11 and tried my hand at western pleasure and games. At 15 I started Pony Club. Later, after the Mechanical Engineering program at WSU, I realized that I was happiest with the horses. The rest is history!
Laurel: My mother and I always had horses growing up. We rode on trails and did some small 4-h shows in Colorado. When we moved to Germany, I leased a Trakehner gelding from Claus Schermer and was instantly addicted. Like Patrick, I ended the mechanical engineering program to pursue my passion.

What is something that most people may not know about you?
Patrick: When we go to dinner every year with George Morris, we talk to him about places we have been and vacations we would like to take. We share photos of our trips to Europe and Thailand but also of our pet dog and pig…we rarely talk about horses.
Laurel: I attended a Catholic School for Girls while living in England. I would ride the train to school every day and watch the jockeys race the train as we passed Newmarket.

What are your goals relative to your business/involvement with sport horses?
To take a horse we have started and train them all the way through Grand Prix. We are well on our way with Rabenschwarz!

In what ways do you gain enjoyment from your business/involvement with sport horses?
Patrick: I love when the clients come on the weekends! We catch up on their horse’s progress, their troubles at work, and any other gossip they have to share. We spend so much time at the barn that our clients are our main window to the outside world.
Laurel: Knowing every inch of a horse. Since we don’t have grooms to tack up the horses for us, I know every square inch of each of our horses. I know when they have an unusual bump or ruffled hair. There is so much comfort in the idea that nothing gets looked over.

What are some “crowning achievements” relative to your business/involvement with sport horses?
First is taking a horse from 6 months of age and watching him develop into a phenomenal stallion. When we show Rabenschwarz, he puts on a real show and always comes home with plenty of “loot”. This year he was NWSHBA Horse of the year, USDF Reserve Horse of the Year, and All Breeds Champion, making him the top breeding prospect in the North West. We took Genuine in his first Grand Prix this year. It was so much fun to keep pushing him and watching him rise to the new challenge!

Liberty Farms Sport Horse Company

Liberty Farms Sport Horse Company has two farm locations in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. The two farms are about 50 minutes apart and embody the best of what Washington State has to offer. The East Farm (Graham, WA) is located in the foothills of the beautiful Cascade Mountains, while the West Farm (Olympia, WA) is located near the saltwater shores of the Puget Sound.

Henrietta Morey and Christopher Bredeson, cousins and life-long horse enthusiasts, along with Henrietta’s husband--Philip and Chris’s wife--Darla officially founded Liberty Farms in 2000. Liberty Farms owns 2 sport horse stallions: HS So Rare and H Sir Bungee and breed Hungarian Warmbloods, Oldenburgers, Trahkehners and Thoroughbred crosses for the Dressage, Hunter/Jumper and Eventing disciplines. Their website is www.libertysporthorses.com

Please describe how you became involved in the sport horse industry
We grew up in the small, rural town of Roy, Washington where we were first introduced to the sport horse world by trainer and eventer Val Sivertson.

Both of us have had horses since being young children. After college and as young adults, both of us had successful business careers that took us away from Washington. Horses, while always being a part of both of our lives, took a back seat to education, careers and family. Henrietta moved to St Louis, Missouri to work as a marketing manager with Anheuser-Busch and Chris to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida as an executive for Coastal Physician Group. Horses were still a great passion for both of us but time to pursue our dream was scarce.

What is something that most people may not know about you?
Henrietta: In my teens, I was a Rodeo Princess and participated in barrel racing…a long way from our current sport horse involvement.
Chris: I am one of 13 children and got my first job at age 12 cleaning stalls at a local stable to earn money for riding lessons.

What are your goals relative to your business/involvement with sport horses?
Our goal is to continue producing quality Olympic discipline sport horses which have the ability to compete internationally and with minds and temperaments that an amateur appreciates.

In what ways do you gain enjoyment from your business/involvement with sport horses?
Henrietta: First it’s the foals…love those babies and the planning and dreaming that goes along with breeding. Secondly, I get great satisfaction from matching a sales prospect with just the right buyer and then following that resulting partnership.
Chris: Foaling out mares and seeing the result of all of that pedigree research I enjoy doing.

What are some “crowning achievements” relative to your business/involvement with sport horses?
Owning & promoting our black Hungarian Warmblood stallion (HS So Rare). Based on the accomplishments of his foals, So Rare has been the USEF #2 dressage breeding Stallion and held the Champion NWHBA Dressage Breeding Sire title for four consecutive years...a feat unmatched by any other stallion. So Rare has also been the NWSHBA Champion Hunter Breeding Sire. We feel very fortunate to have a stallion of his caliber and bloodlines which are found in some of the top Sport Horses in the world such as: Blue Hors Matinee, Totilas, Gribaldi, Hohenstein, Caprimond, His Highness, Contucci, Enrico Caruso, Kostolany, &Silver Moon.