Services & Businesses
Karen Richardson:
I was not involved in the horse industry until I moved to KY in 1981 from Milwaukee, WI, and starting taking riding lessons by finding the least expensive lessons in the phone book….and that was a Saddlebred Stable in Louisville, KY.
I had never seen an American Saddlebred before I started my riding lessons and instantly fell in love with their beauty, animation, intelligence and willingness to please. What fun they were to ride!
I purchased my first Saddlebred (a childhood dream come true!!) in 1983. There was an instant bond, and although she was never a show ring "star", we had more adventures and fun together than I could ever expect. She lived to be 28 years old and I still miss her to this day.
One of the women who boarded their horse at this same barn had moved to KY from WI, like I did, and she came to be the Executive Secretary at the American Saddlebred Horse Association (ASHA), at the time, headquartered in Louisville, KY. She got me a job there and I started with ASHA in the spring of 1984.
When the ASHA moved their offices from Louisville to Lexington at the Kentucky Horse Park, only I and one other employee made the move and I was assigned the job of Office Manager. I stayed with ASHA until March of 1988, when I was hired by the United Professional Horsemen's Association (UPHA) to be their Executive Secretary. While the ASHA is the breed registry and works with mainly the owners, breeders, exhibitors, etc., the UPHA is an organization for professional trainers of the Saddlebred, Morgan, Hackney and other saddle seat breeds. In 2010, I begin my 23rd year with the UPHA and 27 years in the Saddlebred industry.
I am married to a former Lexington police Officer, and we met because he was on the LPD Mounted Patrol and they kept their police horses out at the Kentucky Horse Park.
At one time, we had a small farm in Sadieville, KY, and had 5 American Saddlebred horses that we rode for pleasure and at small shows. We have since sold the farm and we now have one American Saddlebred mare, who won a National Championship title in 2006, and we are breeding her this spring for a 2011 foal. She is boarded at a major Saddlebred farm in Versailles, KY.
There's nothing better than the horse industry in Kentucky! Get a leg up and go for a ride!