Ray LaCroix

Ray LaCroix rode his first horse at age 3. From that moment on, he was involved in "the family business" of Arabian horses -- first as Lasma Arabians, and later LaCroix Ltd., Ray won his first National Championship at age 16. At 27, he became head of the training division at Lasma Arabians, supervising 20 assistant trainers over the course of 15 years. Many of the trainers who apprenticed with Ray at Lasma Arabians and LaCroix Ltd. went on to head their own successful training operations -- familiar names like Gordon Potts, Brian Murch, Dwane Hankins, Joel Kiesner, Tom Moore, Rob Bick and Carolyn Schroter, to name a few.

Horses and riders trained by Ray can account for over 200 Arabian National Champion and Reserve Champion wins, and literally hundreds of National top tens. Of Ray's amateur clients, over 50 percent won either National Champion or Reserve National Champion titles, in the diverse divisions of English Pleasure, Western pleasure, Country English Pleasure, Pleasure Driving, Formal Driving, Halter, in Formal Combination and Park.

In 1990, Ray swept the U.S. Arabian National open divisions in English Pleasure, Half Arabian English Pleasure and Arabian Park with three young horses he selected and trained from the ground up: Mafier, Ice On Fire, and Matoi. In 1993, he taught an amateur rider to repeat this accomplishment, winning amateur titles with the same horses in all three divisions.

In the mid -- 1990's, Ray became aware of a system of accelerated learning used by sports psychologists in a wide range of disciplines, from tennis and skiing to golf. He dedicated two years to taking advanced communications courses in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, which helped him further refine his teaching approach for horse and rider teams.

The result is the Accel Horsemanship Seminar Series, which for the first time makes Ray LaCroix's own personal recipe for show ring success available to other riders and trainers.

Today, Ray LaCroix is a full-time equine consultant, involved in marketing, herd evaluation, sales, seminars, and individual coaching.

Some of his current affiliations and accomplishments include:

• Arabian Professional Horseman's Association Saddle Seat Trainer of the Year.
• Member of IAHA, AHSA, APHA
• Licensed Judge - AHSA Arabian Division
• Certified Master Practitioner, NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming)

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