Krista and her husband Shawn and children: Evan, Ashley and Melissa own
and operate the MonteRay Ranch in Manvel, ND. The
ranch offers boarding, training, stallion service, lessons, and
show coaching, with clients ranging from children and adults
that have never touched a horse, to students showing at their
breeds world championship shows. At this time there are about
80 horses living at the ranch so it is definitely a busy place.
Krista has been involved with horses her whole life.
In the mid 1970's and early 80's Krista showed quarter horses
on a regional and national level. Her favorite classes
were hunter under saddle and reining. She remembers that back
then hunter under saddle was called Bridle Path Hack Hunt Seat
and the horses were shown with double rein pelham bit bridles
and people fashioned a checkerboard shape in the horses hair
on the rump. Styles and horses change but the one thing that
has never changed for Krista is the fact that even after all
these years she still loves her job because it has been so fun
and rewarding.
Krista worked at the MonteRay when she was
a teenager and began breaking horses for people at the age of
17. When she was no longer showing in youth, she began to haul
some very successful youth riders to shows; training and
coaching them. Krista then earned a bachelors degree in Equestrian
Studies from Findlay College, Findlay, Ohio. After taking a
break from the horse business to start her family, she decided
to reopen her mother-in-law, Annabel Montgomey's ranch. Her
greatest moments have been to witness the success of her children
and her students. She is very proud of the fact that her
children have become such wonderful showman but even more importantly,
have developed into just plain great riders.
I would like to thank my family for putting up with our
somewhat chaotic
lifestyle. I am especially grateful to my children, for their
grace in handling times when they have had to share their life
and their mother's attention with so many other people. Also I
would like to thank my husband, Shawn, because none of
this would be possible without his continuing support of me and
of the ranch. I want to thank the Red River Horse Breeders
for honoring me in this way. It is made even more special
because my late mother-in-law Annabel received this very same award
many years ago. She was passionate about introducing people to
horses and dedicated much of her life to promoting horses in
the upper Midwest. I am more than thrilled to continue her
work. Her vision was to have a ranch where any level horse and
rider could learn and excel and that is what I think we are
continuing to do today.