Dayton Has Booming Training Business

DAYTON - For Jill Andrews, it has always been her calling to train horses and riders.

"I used to sit in class as a kid and all I would think about was training techniques," she said with a laugh. "I never wanted anything else."

Andrews, of Dayton, has been riding horses since she was 10 and training since she was 14.

Now, she is the owner and trainer of Graycyn Farms in Dayton and has earned the Union-Bulletin's Best of The Best Award for her business two years in a row.

But until seven years ago, her business didn't have a name. She said she was timid about her business. She had always trained and shown horses, she just didn't know if she wanted to commit. But, her passion pushed her forward.

"I wanted to do more and more and more," Andrews said. "Now we're outgrowing everything."

Andrews thought doing business in a small town like Dayton would make it harder for her to be successful. However, she said most of the Arabian show horse barns in Washington are in Puyallup and Monroe, so there's actually a good market here for her business.

She is now adding breeding to her list of services and she competes with a stallion in horse shows. Andrews recently returned from the biggest horse show in North America, the 2012 Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show Halter Championship and she and her horse won second place.

"She beat all of the people we looked up to for years," said her client and good friend Cheryl Strang.

Strang's daughter started training with Andrews and has competed at Youth Nationals.

"To have clients and horses be successful - it's an opportunity that's outstanding," Andrews said. "Showing horses opens your eyes to a new world of opportunities."

Andrews has four children of her own and she said teaching them how to ride and care for horses builds responsibility and skills for kids. They also learn the benefits of hard work.

"There is not one iota of this that's easy," she added.

Andrews' love of horses started when she was growing up in Tri Cities.

At age 12, she began training at an Arabian show barn and rode with a family who won at the national level. She remembers simply being in awe by the equipment they had.

She moved to Dayton 15 years ago when her husband got a job at Columbia REA. She said the family had intended on staying a couple of years in Dayton and moving on, but the company and town were too good to leave.

"It was a meant to be kind of thing," she said.

And now she's up to her ears in horses and riders.

On a typical Saturday, about four part-time employees ride 15 to 18 horses, while she teaches five lessons, one hour with each rider, and the helpers lunge and saddle horses. The baby horses are also ridden to prepare for their futurity competitions. And then if there's time, they spend time clipping and bathing the horses.

"We're always making sure they have whatever they need," Andrews said of her horses.

One month of horse training, which includes board and a weekly riding lesson, costs $700 per horse. Riding lessons are $35 and horse show fees are additional.

Andrews stables her horses at her home and an offsite facility and can keep and ride 29 horses a week.

But, those interested in boarding and training horses with Andrews will have to wait.

"I'm totally full," she said with a smile.

But Andrews can certainly accommodate more outside riding lessons, which is a huge benefit alone, she said. The business is growing much more rapidly than she ever anticipated and it's harder than she thought, too, trying to teach many different personalities how to ride and show horses.

Strang said Andrews is such a great trainer because riders often get caught up on competition losses or small obstacles in training. But, Andrews focuses on the potential of the horse and rider over the long run.

"She has the desire, passion and hard work ethic to get it done," Strang said.

Andrews has faced many critics on the horse show circuit because she is a small barn compared to those that have turned out winners for decades. But, Andrews said she doesn't think politics play into show results as much as some may think. Even she, a small barn from a small barn in Eastern Washington, can turn out a second-place show horse in the biggest competition on the continent.

"You have to believe in yourself," she said. "There's nothing you cannot do."