This is just the icing on the cake!  For years we had wanted famed horsewoman Sheila Varian to join us at Light Hands Horsemanship. Sheila is a very busy woman but this year the stars aligned and the LHH dates and Shelia's schedule worked out. Sheila will be sharing a few stories from her life at the "Campfire" as an avid horsewoman and breeder and exhibitor for over 50 years of beautiful Varian Arabian Horses.

Sheila has a long and illustrious career in the horse industry. She has bred and continues to breed some of the finest Arabian horses in the world. Her blood lines have worn the roses in all divisions from western and english to halter.  Being a breeder and competitor in the show ring is just one of the many highlights in Sheila's career. Sheila has so many honors that I would have to start a whole new blog just too list them all. One of her top honors was to be inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, TX in 2003. Below are listed just a few more of her accomplishments:

College graduate from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo & Physical Education teacher at Arroyo Grande High School for 3 years.

October 1961 - Sheila and her Arabian mare Ronteza won the Open Reined Cow Horse Championship at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California.  She was the first amateur, the first woman and had the first Arabian to take that title.

• College graduate from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo & Physical Education teacher at Arroyo Grande High School for 3 years.
• October 1961 - Sheila and her Arabian mare Ronteza won the Open Reined Cow Horse Championship at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California.  She was the first amateur, the first woman and had the first Arabian to take that title.
• 1969 -  Sheila trained and showed Bay Event (Bay-Abi++ x Ronteza) to open Reined Cow Horse Championships throughout California. 1971 & 1976 – Bay Event was twice US National Champion Arabian Stock horse, unanimous both times.
• 1983 - Sheila and Don Severa syndicate Huckleberry Bey++ for 3 million dollar

At present, three Varian bred horses named Lightly Bey V, Murietta V & Jubilation that she has trained in Hackamore to the Spade bit, Sheila does demonstrations about the old California Vaquero method of training horses, which take the horse from the Hackamore through the Two Rein  and finally into the Spade Bit.  These seminars have been held in the Court Yard of the Santa Inez Historical Society, at the San Julian Rancho outside of Lompoc California , the Will James Historical Society Convention held in Santa Barbara, California in 2002, in the Court yard of the Historical Adobe in Santa Barbara, and many other venues around California.

Mentors: 
Sid (Mary) Spencer:  Owner of a ranch in Lopez Canyon, California, where Sheila, in her teens, learned from Sid about training hackamore horses and spade bit horses and how to work cattle in the mountains. 

Tom Dorrance:  In the mid 1960’s, Tom spent time guiding Sheila into his now universal “soft approach,” which has had the most influence on her and the way she has trained and interacted with her horses.

Sheila has a superb website where you can find out more about her, her accomplishments (which are many) and her lovely horses.  Their Spring Fling is April 24th and 25th at their farm in Arroyo Grande and the Summer Jubilee is August 6th, 7th and 8th.... check out her web site at www.varianarabians.com  for more information.