Young Professionals Profile
by Kathy Hobstetter
STEFANIE SAPER S TEIN S tefanie Saperstein was born in Houston, Texas, and lived
there till she was almost six years old when the family moved to Los Angeles. Her mother, Suzanne, wanted better weather and dad, David, liked the move for business. The entire family started riding with Beth Cadwalder in Malibu.
Her sister Alexis, her brother Jonathan, and her mom Suzanne, all wanted to show while dad David rode a bit at home for fun but didn’t competed, didn’t want to. David Saperstein loved coming to the shows to be the videographer so he brought his cameras to follow them around. “Beth’s barn was a great start and so much fun for us kids.
Halloween, parties, fun activities and good lessons created such a love of riding and horses for us,” says Stefanie. “But I guess I stepped to the true, hard education when Eddie Macken came and the goals changed.” When she was 10 years old, her parents were looking to buy Cold
Water Ranch in Beverly Hills. However, people who lived there didn’t want horses in the neighborhood so they went to see a place in Simi Valley. Nothing was there but the small cottage “The Sitting Bull House”, lots of open land and nothing else. It was a nice get away for them and Suzanne got to design and build the entire place from the
ground up, it took four years. In those ensuing years the family would ride with several trainers
that Stefanie still has a deep admiration for. “The trainer decisions were made for me by other people for different reasons, I was a child. Ray Texel, Nick Karazissis Jr, Eddie Macken, Helen McNaught, Chris Pratt and finally my own choice of Meredith and Markus Beerbaum. I am still great friends with all of them and love being around them at the shows, I am glad it worked out that way for me. I respect all of them and ask their opinions at different times; it has allowed me to create a system that works for me.” Returning from Europe last year, Stefanie returned also to the
ranch. “We have the horses there now but NOT in the main barn, we have our own. Of course it’s an amazing place but let me tell you about our normal days, you never know what will happen there since it’s now a major movie/TV photo shoot location. All of that is quite a ways away from our barn and training ring but it’s pretty cool to ride over and see what is going on. The Biggest Loser Finals, scuba diving videos shot in the lake in front of the barn, blowing up a car for a movie, an Indian wedding with elephants!” Her mentor, manager and business partner Richard Padilla chimes
in, “Working with Stefanie in this new venture is really exciting and fun. She is working hard to diligently succeed in a sport she loves. While she has found it is more difficult that just being a rider/owner, and I must say she is thriving on the work and plans for the future.” Stefanie herself is a surprise in many many ways. Being raised
as part of a family dynamic where having horses and traveling all over the world with them was normal, Stefanie is now determined
Photos Courtesy Stefanie Saperstein
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