Meet Neil Visser one of the TOP Trainer's in the Saddlebred Industry -Interviews Avaialble this week at the World's Championship Horse Show
THE 2019 KENTUCKY STATE FAIR World’s Championship Horse Show & The STARS of the Saddlebred Industry: MEET TRAINER Neil Visser
Top competitors from all corners of the globe convene in Louisville to compete through Saturday, August 24
Louisville, KY – For trainer Neil Visser of Vissar Stables, based in Versailles, Kentucky, his love of Saddlebred horses was crystalized as a child back home in South Africa when he witnessed one jogging in a neighbor’s cornfield. Fast forward to 2019 and he is now one of the most successful trainers in the industry with 46 stalls, 46 training horses, 25 of which are on their way to this year’s World’s Championship Horse Show (WCHS) in Louisville.
“I love all horses, but I am particularly fascinated by the way Saddlebreds move and the technique of how one helps them develop that. Working with this breed is very hands on, more so than many other breeds, which I really enjoy,” Visser says. “However, the horses don’t themselves do not receive enough credit; I’ve never made a bad horse great, because it really is about them. The real athlete in the ring is the horse.”
Visser was born in Wellington near the south coast of South Africa and then moved to the north into cattle country, a place where no one trained horses for a living. But by the time he was a teenager he was determined that was to be his life’s work and high school he shadowed with a trainer in his home country to better learn how to work and train Saddlebreds. During that time he learned a lot from Harold Poil, a Montana native living in South Africa, a man who was his first of four mentors, and who learned from and worked with the WCHS legend Garland Bradshaw.
Upon completion of his military service after high school, he wrote several letters to American Saddlebred trainers in the U.S. and legendary trainer Don Harris was first to respond. He absolutely fell in love with the American Saddlebred, the States and everything his new world encompassed. Today Visser mentors other internationals that are interested in following in his footsteps. “I want to help people that really want it and are passionate about learning,” he states. “If you are going to do it go work for someone really good. Make sure this is something you want to do and that you don’t have any ideas of doing something else.”
Naturally, Visser’s passion for the annual Kentucky State Fair World’s Championship Horse Show is palpable. “I love it! It’s super exciting and it brings together such a great, diverse group of people, whether they’re horse enthusiasts or not,” he exclaims. “Plus we have mainly young horses this year and I’m very excited to see how they perform.”
For more information about Visser Stables, visit https://www.facebook.com/VisserStables/.
About Us
About the American Saddlebred Horse Association
AHSA’s mission is to safeguard the integrity and expand the knowledge of the American Saddlebred horse. The Association promotes humane treatment and improvement of the breed, as well as the stimulation and promotion of interest in its history, breeding, exhibiting, and general improvement. AHSA encourages safe equestrian activities, educating youth in safe, proper horsemanship, as well as the formation of youth associations, the dissemination of educational materials, and awards scholarships to participants in youth horse programs. For further information visit www.asha.net.
About the World's Championship Horse Show
The most anticipated event in the industry and held annually since 1902, the prestigious World’s Championship Horse Show, presented in conjunction with the Kentucky State Fair, crowns world champion Saddlebreds in a host of different divisions. The show attracts spectators and competitors from across the world, culminating in the World’s Grand Championship Finals on the last Saturday of the week, and includes over 2,000 horses competing for more than $1 million in awards determined by a panel of equestrian professionals. For more information visit www.kyhorsehow.com.
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