Opposite Page: Tom
and Ginny Spooner
Left: Richard Spooner
riding Airtime at Spruce
Meadows
Below: Richard at age
2 on Bucky
s t a b l e This work ethic is what made riding and showing pos-
close to sible for Richard and it obviously was passed on to him.
h o m e “The day he got his license, was the day I got my free-
in Huntington Beach when Richard was young. In the dom,” she laughs. On a more serious note, Tom reveals,
mid 80’s she assumed the show barn manager respon- “Through his junior years of going back east to Harris-
sibilities of Silver Wind Farms operated by Mickey burg and Madison Square Garden, it was very expensive,
Hayden and Kathy Hobstetter, overseeing every detail of and we were budgeting very frugally at the time.” Ginny
the care and maintenance of show horses on the road. quietly adds, “What we did was mortgage the house…..
Ginny's love for the horse business was obvious. As Rich- several times…..every time he needed a new horse we
ard's riding progressed through the years, training with Joe would say, do we have any equity in the house? Okay, we’ll
Lombardo and Mark Mullen before ending his junior years mortgage it one more time! We made a big stretch when
in the Equitation ring with Jamie Mann, Ginny was right Richard was trying to buy Robinson from the owner. In
there in each of the training barns, doing what she loved..... essence we put together a syndicate with some others,
watching her son and playing with horses and working. and were able to get Robinson for Richard, and of course
The road to success was paved with many sacrifices for that was the start of tremendous change for our son.”
Ginny and Tom. After dropping Richard off at school dur- “You watch those two (Richard and Robinson) togeth-
ing the week, Ginny would be the first one to arrive at the er around the barn, when Richard walks down the aisle
barn. Her day would start with charts and schedules for Robbie watches him, and if Richard walks by his stall
the training businesses, making horse show arrangements, too many times, Robbie gives him that get over here Dad
while working with the veterinarians and blacksmiths, as look. They have an unspoken language between them.”
well as every other possible detail needing her attention. Tom takes the reins of the conversation again at this
Ginny would take her lunch break late in the afternoon point. “In his last junior year Richard won the USET Fi-
so she could use that time to pick Richard up at school nals and was Reserve Champion at both the ASHA and the
and drive him to his riding lessons every day. While he Maclay Finals. Then George Morris offered to train him on
was in his lessons, Ginny would go back to work till the the jumpers…..he was dying to get into jumpers so he went
sun went down and the horses were settled safely in their east. While he was in Florida training with George, Ian
stalls for the night. Long after the other children and par- Millar asked Richard to train in one of his barns in Perth,
ents had left for home, Ginny would be putting the fin- Ontario, so off he went north and did that for a year."
ishing touches on that day’s work, and be preparing for Ginny jumps in, “When Richard went to Canada was
the next day, before heading home with Richard in tow. when I said okay, I don’t have a horse show to go to, I
There are many training barns that ran smoothly only don’t have a horse to groom, I don’t have a child……….
because Ginny Spooner was at the helm, laboring tire- So what am I going to do to keep myself from go-
lessly to make sure the horses had whatever they needed. ing crazy? That’s when I started teaching; I was just
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