Equestrian Management, LLC. Announces the Appointment of Kristi Seymour As Bergen Equestrian Center's General Manager

Company Awarded the Center’s Management Contract and Equestrian Services Selected to Renovate and Expand the Facility

(Charlottesville, VA, July 16, 2008) – Equestrian Management, LLC (the management affiliate of Equestrian Services, LLC, the company setting the standards for the planning, design, delivery and management of equestrian amenities for resorts and communities worldwide) announces that it has been awarded the management contract for the Bergen Equestrian Center in Leonia, New Jersey. This public facility is owned by Bergen County and for the past several years has been operated by the Bergen County Improvement Authority.

In addition, Equestrian Management is also pleased to announce the appointment of Kristi Seymour as the equestrian center’s General Manager. An equestrian for 33 years, who has ridden and shown in various disciplines within English and Western, Seymour has extensive experience in handling, riding and training horses. She is charged with ensuring the horses are well-cared-for, that the facility is in compliance with state and local regulations and the County’s mission, and that the facility and staffing run smoothly.

“I’m looking forward to bringing my professional business experience and equestrian experience to the Bergen Equestrian Center as its General Manager,” said Seymour. “It is my goal to introduce Equestrian Management's highest standards of quality care to the equestrians and horses that will use this center’s facility.”

Prior to joining Equestrian Management, Seymour developed equestrian programs for exclusive residential mental-health treatment facilities. She selected horses, trained them under saddle, planned and supervised facility construction, hired staff and developed protocols. She also oversaw the first Pony Club certification in the market. Seymour holds an M.A. from Fairleigh Dickenson University in Psychology and is a licensed clinical therapist with more than 12 years of experience.

In addition, she has several specialized clinical certifications, ranging from crisis interventions and disaster debriefings to equine therapy through the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) to model and psychotherapies, including Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) and Dialectical Behavioral Training (DBT.) She also has an M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix, which allows her to apply detailed quantitative analysis to equestrian projects and develop strategies that will help facilities capture and keep a competitive advantage while implementing best-practice strategies.

Seymour received her first blue ribbon at age eight while part of the Pony Club. While growing up in South Florida, she competed in the Quarter Horse and Appaloosa breed circuits, and she won many national, regional, state and local high-point and championship awards with her horses. Over the past 20 years, she has focused on riding jumpers and showed for many years on the “A” circuit, riding with leading trainers in the Large Amateur Owner Jumpers and Small Grand Prix classes with her German Hanoverian warmblood, Kallista.

Most recently, Seymour was honored to be asked to consult and develop protocols, as well as to provide training and horse care for the Royal Stables of His Majesty King George Tupou V, from the Kingdom of Tonga.

Equestrian Services, LLC, was selected to evaluate the operations of the Bergen Equestrian Center, as well as to assist in the planning of the renovation and expansion of the Bergen Equestrian Center. The Center features an all-weather horseback riding center, a riding arena and paddocks. The evaluation and planning effort included:

• Studying the layout of the site, its topography, soils, etc., as related to the specific equestrian elements;
• Conducting the preliminary review of conditions of the existing equestrian elements;
• Performing a selective review of other local equestrian facilities, both private and commercial;
• Reviewing all pertinent information relating to proposed equestrian facilities; and
• Reviewing the operations and maintenance of the facility.

Equestrian Services offers equestrian facility planning and design services to municipalities, developers and resort owners. Equestrian community developers have the opportunity to create an equestrian community under a Signature Equestrian facility brand that is associated with world-renowned equestrian experts. Modeled on successful golf-industry branding and management concepts, such as Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus golf course communities, Equestrian Services and its partners, equestrian Olympians Karen and David O’Connor, offer exclusively the world’s first branded equestrian facilities and amenities to builders and developers seeking to tap into the growing equestrian market.

Nearly two million people own the 9.2 million horses in the United States, with another two million people involved as equestrian volunteers or engaged in the equestrian lifestyle through family affiliation, according to the American Horse Council Foundation (AHCF).