PrintThis busy trainer inspires horsemen of all ages with her compassion, energy and positive attitude.
If you’re ever trying to track down Mindy Darst at a horse show, just look for a flock of kids.
If it’s the early morning during USEF Pony Finals (Ky.), she’ll be in the barn aisle giving a modeling lesson to any young riders who have wandered over. During the day, she’s probably in the schooling ring—warming up a student before a junior hunter class, giving a pep talk in a quiet corner to a pony rider who’s having a bad day or jogging alongside a 4-year-old on a pony while she trots her first crossrail. In the evenings, hers is the camper with the marshmallows.
A remarkable knack for connecting with young people coupled with Darst’s skill as a horseman means that those juniors learn to ride quite well as they’re following her around. Yes, her students have won tricolors at the fall indoor horse shows, Devon (Pa.) and Pony Finals, but perhaps it’s more telling that when it comes time for professionals like Lynn Jayne, Scott and Renee Lenkart, Michael Matz, David Beisel, Mary Anne Funk, Sarah Doyle and Jennifer Beiling to find a trainer for their own children and family members, they call Darst. Her former students include successful pros like Beisel and Abby Blankenship, and she mentors myriad trainers on how to communicate better with their youngest riders.
“Mindy knows how to make it magical for the kids,” said Doyle, whose daughter Ava Stearns rides with Darst. “When she teaches she has this way of making them want to do it for her. She makes them want to try harder. There’s a lot of content in there, and she knows how to be tough without being demeaning. My daughter loves riding because of Mindy. I’ve never bought or leased a pony from her, that’s not what drives it. She’s just so passionate about the kids learning to ride.”
For Darst, that preternatural ability to provide a positive experience for young people in their first lesson at her Lochmoor Stables in Lebanon, Ohio, and at major horse shows, is just the beginning.
She’s racked up a laundry list of successful mounts that she’s started or had a serious hand in training, including Newsworthy, Caped Crusader, Warlock, Bound To Shine, Longacre Hats Off, Brownland’s Mr. Mack, Hillcrest Blue Gem Stone, Dare Me Little Willy, Highland’s Make Believe, Walk The Line and Washington.
She’s a leader in governance at a national, affiliate and zone level, the visionary who’s guided Pony Finals from an event with 400 riders to one with 700, an avid fundraiser and volunteer for various programs, a busy clinician and an R judge in hunters and hunt seat equitation.
“Mindy puts 150 percent into everything that she does,” said friend and mentor Sue Ashe. “She’s been through so much, and you’d never know it. She’s unbelievably generous with her time. She’s just a phenomenal person who makes a real difference in the lives of everyone she’s around.”
