Alejandra (“Alex”) Abella

Project Director, Equestrian Services LLC

Alejandra Abella is Project Director for Equestrian Services and Director of Equestrian Management, LLC. She is a trainer and a Certified Instructor / Stable Manager with the American Riding Instructors' Association. She graduated with a BA, Magna Cum Laude, and she holds a CC in Horse Science, from which she graduated Suma Cum Laude. She also has done graduate work in Animal Science. She was awarded the 2004 Instructor of the Year Award by the American Riding Instructors' Association, and she has been featured in The Horseman's Radio Weekly, Horse Talk, The Equiery, and The Chronicle of the Horse. She sits on the Equine Business Management Curriculum Advisory Committee at the Institute of Applied Agriculture of the University of Maryland, and she is a past member of the Horse Welfare Committee of the United States Hunter-Jumper Association. She was a National Merit Scholar and a member of five honor societies in college, and she is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Portuguese.

Alejandra has more than 30 years' experience in handling, riding, owning and training horses, as well as showing experience in eventing, jumping, pleasure and hunter disciplines, both in Europe and the United States. She followed her dream to join the equestrian industry professionally after a decade spent in a corporate career in international development banking at the Inter-American Development Bank, headquartered in Washington, DC. During her tenure at the Bank, she was involved in international event and conference organization, team and crisis management, media relations, and audio-visual production. She was a member of the Bank’s first television production team, with monthly satellite feeds throughout Latin America, and she led the team for this work, as well as for several social documentaries, to win the first Inter-American Development Bank Outstanding Team Award in 1997. Following her stint at the Bank, she worked for French custom-saddlers Devoucoux and Antarès, having been instrumental in this last brand’s business start-up in the U.S.

Alejandra has traveled widely and/or lived in Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and today she owns her own horse farm in Maryland. She is an avid reader, researcher, observer, and follower of other trainers' methods and writings, staying current on equine training and teaching disciplines of renowned trainers such as Linda Tellington -Jones, George Morris, John Lyons, Jane Savoie, Monty Roberts, and Michael Page, among many others.