We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Cleary a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

Farm Star Equine Services was named after my horse “Jus a Farm Star”. He was my 3rd horse who taught me so much. He became blind in one eye after only 3 months of owning him. He lived until he was 29 years old.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I trained my first horse at 9 years old. My cousin Clark Jones gave us a 2 year old filly and taught us how to break and train.

At 13 I started training and instructing for clients.

At 17 I received my first of many, certification courses on equine massage therapy and rehab.

At 18 I started to sell supplements and products that we tested for companies with our horses that help to enhance the performance and overall health of horses. We now sell products for many companies that we have tested and back with our own case study proof.

At 20 we opened up Farm Star Equine Services where it is located today. It has evolved since then to a full blown training facility where we train and raise barrel horses and show horses. We have expanded the therapy side adding many therapies such as body work, massage, kinesiology, dental, correct hoof care, magnawave and laser therapies, among others. We also host barrel races weekly at Farm Star.

The unending effort, some days literally around the clock, sets us apart from others. We have been blessed with great horses and teachers along the way but without the effort and diligence day in and out, no amount of talent alone will achieve goals.

Our stallion that we bred and raised, “FS Golden Ticket” was born in 2016. He has since achieved multiple futurity and derby wins, multiple world and national titles. his first foals to hit the show ring have accumulated many reserve, top 5 and top 10 world titles.

We solve many issues for clients with their horses from training issues to lameness and illnesses and breeding. We take a total health approach to reach our clients and horses’ needs.

We recently had a set of successful twin foals “MikeNIke” (which is extremely rare) through a bit of rehab and work they are totally healthy and thriving. They are gaining a large fan base!

We are continuing to nearly double in volume of clients each year. Our focus the last couple of years has been with the breeding business, working towards successful embryo transfers on difficult to breed mares.

We are proud of the entire business, FS Golden Ticket has been a once in a lifetime horse that has taken me farther than I could have dreamt. We are very proud to own him and be a part of his success.

We continue to set high goals to accomplish each year, to improve Farm Star for our clients and their horses.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Honesty, there are more downs than ups with horses. If it can go wrong it will. I would say one of the most difficult times was during the process of moving Farm Star to where we are now. We moved due to difficult times. I initially thought that farm Star was no longer due to the tough times we were facing. A client came along and gave us an offer we couldn’t refuse (as I had ZERO options) he told me to never EVER have a plan B. He saw in me what I didn’t see in myself. And to this day continues to drive me forward no matter the circumstances.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

Curt Daniels (the client described in question above) started out as a lesson student, his family was going on a vacation at a dude ranch and he wanted to surprise his family that he could ride better than them all! The original plan was to lesson for a few weeks for his vacation. After vacation he decided to continue lessons! We rode together everyday. I had never had a student up to then that literally came everyday for lessons. Later that year is when we hit tough times and I thought that Farm Star was going to close forever. When I called him to send him to a new instructor he told me NO! He is the reason we were able to keep going and to move Farm Star to this new location. He told me no plan B. He said that investing in myself was number 1 and to keep going no matter the struggles. He was right and I try to live everyday in that mind set. I am forever grateful for his guidance and for believing in me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: farmstarequineservices
• Facebook: Farm Star Equine Services, FS Golden Ticket – stallion , Mike-N-Ike

Image Credits

Diamond AC Photography

Carlyon Photography