Our horse trainer Terry Wegener has spent much of his life on Colorado ranches, but originally hails from Wisconsin. Terry fell in love with horses at a very young age, and his father sent him to work on a race horse farm with hopes of “getting it out of his system”. Anyone with a horse crazy child will tell you, in hindsight, that horses never leave the system. As an 8 year old, Terry was exercising racehorses and even rode in some races. In an effort to do what his parents wanted him to do, Terry attended University of Wisconsin and received a degree in Education. After two weeks of his first teaching job, Terry threw in the towel and returned to the race horse world. At that time he had a friend who put him in touch with a guest ranch in Colorado and next thing Terry was working at that guest ranch and stayed for 7 years. During that time Terry became involved in the cow horse world and began training under Monty Foreman.
Terry’s pursuit of the world of horses was sidetracked by a 3 year bout with cancer. Despite the grim outcome doctors anticipated, he was still able to persuade his love interest to marry him. Close to 15 years later, Terry and Annie are still enjoying their unexpected time together and living life to the fullest. Sharing a training venture in the Denver area, they have trained top level horses and both are active judges. Terry has trained World Champion AQHA reining horses, National Champion Arabian horses in reining and cow horse competition and multiple Regional Champions. He’s also coached amateur riders and their horses to World Championships and the NRHA Amateur Horse of the Year. In addition to winning all these awards Terry is also a NRHA, AQHA and IAHA judge and still judges several shows a year.
Terry has taken a step back from the show world at Vista Verde. He spends most of his time training our young horses, overseeing the breeding program and leading clinics for our guests. His love of horses and enthusiasm for the theories and techniques for becoming a better horse person are infectious. In the years to come we will have more horses available for sale- whether to head into the show ring or someone’s backyard. With Terry’s oversight we’re breeding solid minded, well conformed and kind Quarter horses. The string of 6 or so broodmares crossed with our two stallions will allow us to continue putting better and better horses into our riding string.
The Vista Verde riding program continues to improve under Terry’s leadership and with the help of his Assistant trainer Nicky and Head Wrangler Johanna. If you are looking to improve your riding skills, we would love to have you come join us for one of the Ranch Versatility Horsemanship clinics. We host them several times a year.