Training

All-breed Trainer / Instructor

specializing in

Arabian / Pinto / AQHA

Mark Boyle

Mark and Frostbyte

Click here for CO Pinto Horse Assn.

It is difficult to quickly summarize all that Mark Boyle has contributed to the Colorado and National horse industry, and we at Rising Star are very proud to welcome him as our newest resident barn trainer!  Mark has been training since 1968 while working for Golden Animal Hospital, and also taught 4H for 15 years at Table Mountain Ranch.  His first World Championship was on a Saddlebred mare named Frosty Melody, who was world champion in 1974, 1975, and 1976.    On Royal Panda Prince +++// Mark campaigned nationally and brought home multiple National Championships in the United States and Canada in show hack. Mark also bred, trained, and owns FrostByte, a great grandson of Khemosabi, who is shown by Mark and his wife Susie and has won multiple World and Regional Championships.  He has also won Regional and National Championships in Arab, Half Arab, and Pinto Horse, as well as multiple additional Championships in Pinto Horse.  Mark has served on the Rocky Mountain Horse Show Association Board and the CAHC Dressage Committee, and is currently President of Colorado Pinto Association and Sector Director of the Pinto Horse Association. Mark has a background in AQHA, showmanship, equitation, hunt seat, stock seat, western and hunter pleasure. His fortes in instruction include hunt seat equation, hunt seat pleasure, stock seat equitation, western pleasure, and basic balance riding. Mark enjoys teaching, and offers students over the age of 12 the unique opportunity to train and prepare to show in a variety of disciplines involving many diverse breeds.  We welcome Mark Boyle to the Rising Star family and proudly recommend him as an instructor!

Glenda was born in  Colorado and raised on the back of a horse. Her first “dressage” horse in 1997 was Brown About Town, an appendix quarter horse. They earned four USDF Horse of the Year awards; Nine 1st Place, 1st level to Grand Prix, USDF AQHA All Breed Awards; 3 Adult Amateur USDF Region 5 Championships and one third place at Prix St. George. She was the USDF Adult Amateur Champion at fourth level in 1995 and was presented an Achievement Award from Sportswomen of Colorado. Also during these years she earned her USDF Bronze, Silver and Gold medals.  Glenda’s 15 hand full Arab, Matinee V +//, has won RMDS awards; a 4th and 2nd place Arab USDF All Breed Awards; International Arab Horse Association Region 8 Championships at 1st, 2nd and 3rd Levels and a Top Ten at 2nd Level at the IAHA U.S. National Championships, as well as winning the 4th Level championship and Prix St. George Reserve Championship at the Arab Sport Horse Nationals in Sacramento CA.  In 2003 Glenda swept the RMDS Futurity Class with a win on a client’s horse over her own young horse Regalo Cavallo (Reo). In 2004, Reo was 6th place in the USDF Horse of the Year Awards at 1st Level and won 4 High Point Awards at four different shows. Glenda also showed in hand her three year old imported Sandro Hit stallion. Serious Hit was the USDF Breeders Championship Rocky Mountain Region Grand Champion Colt/Gelding.

Dressage Trainer / Instructor

Glenda Needles

Glenda and Regalo Cavallo (Reo)

                   Click here for Horse Show Results.

ARS Riding Instructor

Susie Tompkins

Susie and Student

Susie grew up in Maine and has been riding since she was six years old. Among other trainers, she rode under Annalisa Hall for seven years, a well known and respected Saddle Seat trainer. She began showing competitively in the A circuits at the age of eight in Saddle Seat Equitation, and moved on to Park and Show Pleasure by the age of fourteen. She won two MHA youth of the year awards in 1997 as well as Three-Gaited Junior Exhibitor. She also showed in Stock Seat Equitation as a youth, as well as lots of gymkhanas, winning the MHA High Point awards in Barrel Racing and Pole Bending in 1997, 1998 and 1999. In 2000 she moved to Colorado to attend CU. Susie has been teaching at A Rising Star since February of 2005, specializing in starting students new to horses, from first rides to the first trips to the show ring.

Naya has been riding and working with horses for 11 years, and has loved them her whole life. She has gained a lot of horse sense working with different trainers, instructors and horses. She is currently taking lessons from Glenda Needles and has purchased Bella, her wonderful dressage partner, from Renee Dierdorff. Naya has also been working with children over the past 11 years. She has baby sat, worked day care, and taught swimming lessons. For over a year, Naya has been instructing children of all ages (3 to 53) at A Rising Star. She loves introducing children to horses and sharing her love for them. She believes that horses teach us a lot about ourselves, and feels the most rewarding part of teaching is seeing how students grow. 

ARS Riding Instructor

Linnea (Naya) True

                           Naya, Student, and Sugarfoot