Ray LaCroix - Sharing His Recipe for Success

Many competitors can testify to the invaluable training of Ray LaCroix, as seen here

Ray LaCroix certainly has the recipe for success in the horse show ring. His list of National Championships titles is impressive indeed. Only two trainers in history have shown more than one National Champion Park horse and more than one National Champion English Pleasure horse. Add three National Champion Western Pleasure titles, five major US National Championships in Halter, Formal Driving, Pleasure Driving and Informal Combination and the list of two quickly dwindles to only one very impressive trainer - Ray LaCroix.

With all those National Champion titles to his name it is unquestionably certain that Ray LaCroix holds the recipe for show ring success in multiple disciplines. And now, Ray is sharing his understanding of horsemanship and training with the general public in his intense, 3 day ACCEL training seminar to be held March 15 - 17 at Mitchem Arabians in North Scottsdale. Unlike other training and horsemanship seminars, Ray's students will learn the art of training their horses at an accelerated level through various techniques. Each of 10 horse and rider pairs will learn to work together more cohesively and will become better partners during the sessions.

The Accel training seminar has been a lifetime goal for Ray LaCroix. Born into the horse business, Ray began riding at a very early age. By 5 he was in the show ring, but quickly lost interest until, at the age of 15 he began helping his brother Gene in the training barn. " I became enamored with horses again," says Ray. "I learned I could actually teach a horse something, and from that point on I was hooked on horse training." It was a long time before Ray considered himself a horse trainer, however. "Even though I loved training, I struggled for many years before I could consistently produce what I considered a well trained horse." Eventually Ray was producing winning horse after winning horse, but he found his greatest strength was his ability to explain how the training process takes place. "This became particularly valuable as the Arabian horse industry changed to an almost exclusive amateur market," says Ray.

"After 25 years of being a public trainer, I decided to incorporate some of my other interests with horse training - pooling my knowledge of equine anatomy, sports psychology and accelerated learning," explains Ray. "I was interested to learn if there was a way to accelerate the learning process involved with horsemanship. " Thinking "out of the box" proved that it is entirely possible to shorten the learning curve. And this was the beginning of the Accel learning program.

After consulting for a number of years, with various Arabian ranches, farms, show barns and amateur riders and trainers, Ray realized his first 3 days in any situation were always the same. He covered the same material, used the same basic exercises and utilized the same training techniques - no matter what the circumstances. "The commonalty of all horses that do things well was indeed the basis for this entirely new seminar that accelerates horsemanship competency," explains Ray. From that point, Ray began designing the framework for the Accel learning process."

At this point I had to ask if the seminar is as complicated as it sounds. Ray's Answer? "Absolutely Not!" That would defeat the purpose of learning things quickly. The seminar is designed around the horse, first and foremost, because our ability to communicate with him is our greatest limitation. What I teach is a way of thinking for the rider, combined with a variety of techniques that are presented to the horse in a specific order that "make sense" with his natural response to pressure. By not fighting with mother nature, the learning occurs much faster for the horse, and, with a lot less stress."

Intrigued with this approach, I asked, "What level of rider do you work

with?" "The Accel Seminar system," Ray explained, "has evolved over the past 3 years. I started with Level One, which was designed for the focused amateur, or young professional, involving a horse that was already competing or had at least 6 months training. I soon saw a need for a seminar for novice riders and less finished horses and put together a seminar called Accel Basics. There is also a seminar for young riders called Accel Jr. Each seminar has a basic structure and with only 10 participants each person ends up learning as much as they can digest at their own pace. Each rider will leave with an understanding of how these techniques work and will have an excellent road map for future progress."

For more information about the Accel Training Seminar, contact Ray LaCroix at 480-563-5187.