Lester Buckley is a multi-disciplinary teacher of horsemanship. He is respected among his peers as one of the most accomplished equestrians and gifted clinicians in the business today. Buckley earned his BS in Equine Science from Sul Ross State University in Texas. As part of his college education, he was able to ride with renowned horseman Ray Hunt, and share some of those principles with his fellow students. After graduation, Buckley started colts for the King Ranch in Texas and the Parker Ranch in Hawaii and apprenticed with National Cutting Horse Hall of Fame inductee Willie Richardson for seven years. While showing cutters, Buckley met Hannes Muller, head instructor at the German Olympic training center in Warendorf, Germany, who invited him to come to Germany and train. Buckley spent the next 10 years traveling back and forth to Germany as he was immersed in classical dressage and earned his International Trainers License in Dressage and Sport Jumping from the German FN (National Equestrian Federation). Buckley now lives with his wife Mary in Shelbyville, Kentucky, and is a sought-after clinician in the United States and Germany. He enjoys working with riders and trainers from every discipline, and his students include Grand Prix dressage riders, eventers, hunter/jumper trainers, and western riders and trainers from all disciplines (lesterbuckley.com). Michelle Grald is a horsewoman and a writer who enjoys blending these two passions to illuminate and inspire fellow equestrians. If she were a horse, she'd be a mustang - at home in perpetual movement, in the open sky and over challenging terrain – and not a fan of going round in circles! Professionally, she has enjoyed working as a copywriter, trail steward, marketing manager, graphic designer, equestrian trail event director, and journalist. As a lifelong equestrian, she has explored many disciplines and particularly enjoys endurance and distance trail riding. She is an American Endurance Ride Conference Trail Master and avid advocate for equestrian trails and open space.
