Offering 3-Day Clinics
Talea Metivier and her husband, Ransom, live near Chewelah,
Washington. Talea has been riding most of her life and started
training horses for outside clients in 2007. She enjoys competing
in Extreme Trail and Ranch Trail competitions throughout the region.
Talea grew up on Appaloosas and has a diverse riding background.
As a teenager, she learned some dressage and jumping in the Cabinet
Mountains Pony Club, rode under Pat Wyse in weekend basic handle
clinics, and worked with her dad, Jory Morgan, starting colts.
Talea then spent six years in the United States Army before returning to
the saddle.
While riding in the hills and dabbling in team sorting, Talea
took an interest in the Extreme and Ranch Trail competitions. They
required an easily adaptable horse with a good handle and sound mind.
Many of the obstacles on the courses were the same exercises used in
real life, like opening gates and sliding over banks, and the rest
simply tested how willing the horse was to trust and obey the rider’s
commands.
Talea and her Appaloosa gelding, Heza Mystic Dreamer,
successfully competed in trail competitions in 2007. Their wins
included both the Open and Bareback Jackpot classes at the Mountain
Trail Classic in Baker City, Oregon, and the Open class at the URSC
Trail Classic in Santa, Idaho.
In 2008, Talea competed a few times on her up and coming trail
horse, Smart Little Sign. “Smarty” is her black and white
Appaloosa stallion. They ran in Craig Cameron’s Extreme Cowboy
Race in Albany, Oregon and placed 13th out of 36 competitors.
They placed 4th in the X-Treme Trail Challenge at the Ride
the West Horse Expo in Spokane, Washington and in Extreme Trail at the
Horsin’ Around Expo in Sandpoint, Idaho.
Talea began starting colts and doing advanced training on client
horses in 2007. She focuses on starting colts so that they have a
solid foundation to continue on in any discipline. A combination
of technical training such as forehand turns, desensitizing such as
carrying a flag, and trail miles including creeks, brush and hills turns
out user friendly horses that her clients can enjoy. Advanced
training Talea did recently included working with and taking Formula One
Farm’s Appaloosa stallion, Northstar Casper, to a Pat Wyse clinic in
Sandpoint, Idaho where he performed stops, rollbacks and flying lead
changes.
Talea’s future training goals include 60-90 day colt starting
sessions and more advanced work in the arena and in preparation for
competing in Extreme and Ranch Trail competitions. She and Ransom
are also working on building a training facility on their property,
calling it Riding Spots Ranch.
In 2009 Talea took 1st place in X-Treme Trail Challenge at Ride
the West Horse Expo and 1st place in the Trainers' Challenge at the Horsin’ Around Expo. Stop by to watch and say, “Hi.”