JR Lazy Day Farms: Our Team

Meet Some of our Team

TEL/FAX 231.854.2500

7910 GRANT ROAD, HESPERIA, MICHIGAN 49421

EMAIL janet@jrlazyday.com

JANET REID ~ Owner/Operator

Janet Reid got her first pony at age 10. She didn't live on a farm or even in the country. She just wanted one real bad. She admits she "begged and begged until I got one." Soon, Jan's Sweetheart came along, and the pair enjoyed a 23-year love affair. "I said I'd never have another horse. I would never go through this again," Janet remembers. A friend invited Janet to visit her farm, and her resolve dissolved. Janet has lost count of the number of horses she has owned and loved over the years since. Her horses have been named champions and award winners many times over. Her babies, and babies of the championship get from JR Lazy Day Farms, have won countless awards. With her BA in Business Administration, Janet served 15 years at Reid Tool Supply Company, finally vacating her position as Director of Purchasing, and directing her attention to her first love. She started breeding in 1989, the first four years in Muskegon, Michigan. In 1993, she opened JR Lazy Day Farms in Hesperia, Michigan, a tranquil rural setting 30 or so miles north-east of Muskegon. You will see by the table below depicting Janet's equine training that she takes her job as a breeder seriously.

	School	Discipline
	COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY	~ Equine Reproduction Management ~ Equine Artificial Insemination & Collection ~ Collecting and Shipping Cooled & Frozen Semen ~ Lameness in the Horse
	MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY	~ Equine Reproduction
	TEXAS A & M	~ Equine Sciences Advanced Equine Reproduction Management
	NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY	~ Equine Nutrition ~ Foaling
	UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH	~ Equine Nutrition ~ Hoof Care
	UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY	~ Equine Reproduction ~ Collecting and Shipping Cooled & Frozen Semen ~ Behavior of the Horse
	LANSING	~ Certified Equine Adjuster ~ Equine chiropractic methods and clinical applications

ARCHIE WELCH ~ Barn Manager

Archie Welch came to Lazy Day in 1999, and is Janet's right hand man. As Farm Hand and Barn Manager, Archie takes care of all the routine workload, including feeding the horses, putting them out, cleaning stalls... Janet stresses that she also relies on Archie to maintain farm equipment and keep things running smoothly. Janet recalls that Archie approached her several years back with an interest in helping out around the farm even though he had never worked on one. He rapidly became her right hand man. "He had recently retired from a factory. He said he was bored with retirement," Janet remembers. "I was concerned that the horses might be intimidated because he's a big man, but they just love him. In fact, I think he's their Dr. Dolittle – 'Let me just put my head on your shoulder Archie...'"

KIM EUBANK ~ Assistant

Kim Eubank Kim Eubank joined the JR Lazy Day Team in June 2006. She grew up around horses, participating in 4-H and went on to attend Lake Erie College. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Equestrian Studies in 2003. She also teaches and competes in hunter/jumper, and dressage, and starts young horses under saddle. She also participates in speed events, western and trail riding. She started coaching the Shelby Equestrian Team in 2006 and hopes to continue helping local youth learn all they can about the horses they love. Kim lives on a small farm in nearby Rothbury with seven horses, 2 goats, several dogs and cats, and her husband Stan and very active son Lane. The Eubank family is working toward taking over the family farm in Claybanks, which is currently being run by Kim's Grandfather. Kim hopes to continue her "Jack of all trades, master of none" lifestyle at JR Lazy Day for as long as Janet will have her.

GARY HUNT ~ Farrier

Gary Hunt has worked as a farrier 15 years, but has been around horses all his life. His grandpa was an old school horseman, farming with work horses into the 1960s. Gary recalls that his grandpa had him on a cultipacker (presses seed into the ground) by age 8. The elder was such an amazing trainer, the team almost led itself through the chores, Gary recalls.
Gary actually stumbled into the business when he was invited to apprentice under the farrier who worked on his own horses. That farrier was very busy, Gary recalls, and asked Gary one day to do some initial trimming to move things along.
"He was impressed with my work, told me I was a natural, and invited me to ride with him and apprentice under him and share his workload," Gary recalls. "He was real pleased to team up with someone who could take up the slack."
Gary's work takes him into Newaygo, Oceana, and Kent Counties. He still does a lot of conventional iron shoeing, while keeping up with his profession by attending seminars. He and Janet have been experimenting with a relatively new trimming technique, which he calls a Natural Balance Trim. He explains the trim was developed by farriers after they studied how hooves naturally wear among horses in the wild.
Lazy Day's farrier has 14 horses of his own. He raises colts, breaks teams, shows at county fairs, and his favorite passtime, competes in annual horse-pulling contests.

MARI MONDA ZDUNIC
World Class Trainer ~ The Lark Ascending

Mari Monda Zdunic of Brighton, MI, a graduate of Duke University, is one of the nation's top dressage competitors, having earned USDF gold, silver, and bronze medals, Olympic Sports Festival silver, bronze and team medals, and numerous USDF top ten horse of the year honors from the United States Dressage Federation, from Training through Grand Prix levels, open and all breed awards.
Mari competed in the Olympic Trials in 1980, Gladstone, NJ; and the 1981 World Championship Trials. She is equally admired for her spectacular exhibition rides which have thrilled spectators from coast to coast.
A student and later partner of Chuck Grant, dubbed "Father of American Dressage", Mari has continued her mentor's fine work since his death in 1990, at her Brighton MI training facility, Shine-A-Bit Farm, where The Lark Ascending resides.
Shine-A-Bit is the only training facility in the United States for both Grand Prix dressage and high schooled exhibition horses from green to Grand Prix. Mari's farm holds the distinguished accomplishment of producing more American trained Grand Prix Dressage horses than any other facility in the United States.
Horses trained by Chuck Grant and Mari Monda Zdunic have tallied numerous regional and national rewards. The training and philosophy at Shine-A-Bit Farm is based on American Dressage from the heritage of the United States Army; which is a combination of the French and German Schools, but largely based on the works of James Fillis (1834-1913) of the French Calvalry School.

Training is concentrated at the softer paces to promote brilliance. Haute e'cole, or high school, movements are introduced to help the riders' coordination and to gain the horses' confidence. The Psychology of the horse centers on Action and Reaction. The Science and the Art must be understood before Art can be created. The specific mechanics (science) of how to execute and train movements are clearly taught to perpetuate the fine art of horsemanship.
The Lark Ascending — Mari started working with Larkie in 1998, and immediately recognized the exceptional champion he is. Having already knocked the socks off every judge in the country, he soon knocked the socks off Mari, who has led him to 4th Level Freestyle Championship for District II. Meanwhile, he continues to win and place in competitions around the country, and is literally one dressage win away from being the only horse in the world with AQHA Superhorse and Grand Prix titles.
Mari and Larkie also conduct clinics, exhibitions and demonstrations around the country for enthusiasts. Mari's philosophy is that the trainer must be a student of the horse. She says in order to successfully communicate with a horse, a trainer must get to know the whole horse – how he lives, his instincts, and his psychology.

ERIKA SCURLOCK ~ Trainer

Erika Scurlock has always loved horses and has trained dozens over dozens of years. "finally bugged my parents enough that I got my first horse when I was 16." Most of her background is in dressage. Erika says she uses the basic principles of dressage even with the western horses.
Erika has worked with Trusty babies (JR Lazy Day's Larks Trust Fund) since 1996.
"I love their intelligence and work ethic," Erika reports. "They love to please, and have good movement."
Erika's daughter Anita is a big help with the horses, and an important member of the team. She is 15 years old, and has been showing a Trusty baby, BWS Trusty Larkspur, for seven years.

Nan & Bob Dykesterhouse
~ Standardbred Trainers

JULIE WORTHINGTON ~ Trainer

Julie Worthington got her start in the world of horses when she won a yearling Shetland/Welsh cross pony in a school raffle. She was already too big to ride him, so she trained him to pull a cart. She hasn't lived without horses since!
"Little did I know that 25 years later I would be training harness race horses as a full time job!" notes Julie, who worked as a groom for a couple of trainers as a teenager, but didn't become really involved in the business until she went to work at one of the large breeding farms in Michigan.
She ended up with a mare and some foals that needed to be trained. By 1990, with the help of friend and mentor Stuart Church, she began training her own horse, and got acquainted with some owners along the way.
By 1998, she was set up at home with a training track and major barn remodeling, and is now training there full time with Stuart Church and her husband Dave, when he has time.
In 1998, she finished 2nd in the eliminations for a four-year-old mare trot Futurity. She was 4th in the $100,000 final, and brought home a nice 8% check for the owners.
"I try to cater to each individual horse's needs," says Julie. "Not every system works for every horse, so I try to be flexible in order to bring out the best in each horse, whatever their best might be."
She has a mixed stable, training yearlings through aged race horses. Some she owns in full or in part, and some are owned by others. She also has 2 brood mares, and raises a couple of foals each year.
Julie is currently training two JR horses, including Sugarmeister, an amazing five-year-old trotting mare raised by Janet, who has won or placed in the top three in seven of her last nine races, two years after serious injury which vets feared would end her racing career.

"Janet is a wonderful owner. She's in it for the long haul. One needs to be really patient in this business. We have to wait a long time sometimes to reap the rewards of our work. It's the nature of the horses. Janet & I have made a good team, partly because we're both patient, and ultimately we base our decisions on what's best for the HORSE. Some people have other priorities."