Page 30 2025 Animal Stories Lincoln Daily News February 2025 was a little more of a project pony than she wanted. Ruthie went back home a couple of months later to help her childhood trainer, Lori, with an annual charity horse show in Springfield. She rode Joe again and this time decided to buy him with extra scholarship money awarded by the college. This meant that she was still going to school, working, and caring for Joe, not to mention planning for her wedding all at the same time! Six days after Israel and Ruthie marry, she finalized the purchase of a horse from West Virginia. Going up a steep mountain, in three feet of snow pulling a trailer with the brakes smoking because of the pull, they get their second horse ‘Nelson’. Nelson was the game changer for Ruthie and Israel. You see, Nelson was only five years old and had already had back surgery. Ruthie said, “I knew I was gambling, and I was gambling hard”. Unfortunately, after 13 months Nelson Nelson, the first horse Ruthie started by herself from scratch. She said “He was able to teach me more about all aspects of riding and horsemanship than any other horse I’ve had so far. I only had him 13 months. He wasn’t my ‘heart’ horse, but I will never forget him and everything he taught me.” had to be put down, but not before he taught Ruthie that she was capable of so much more. She credits him giving her confidence in her training abilities and teaching her about equine medicine. Ruthie now has seven horses and has a passion for finding “diamond in the rough” horses and giving them a second chance. She teaches them to ride, makes them family friendly and finds them their next riders. In asking Ruthie her suggestions on how to guide others who are interested in learning more about anything equestrian, she says to get involved with 4H and other horsemanship programs like the USHJA horsemanship quiz challenge. Both programs have manual after manual full of knowledge that she references today. She believes for any youngster remotely interested in horses these are the best ways to learn all aspects of the life cycle and various ways of collaborating with horses. The second thing she suggests is that nothing can replace a good mentor. Ruthie was very candid in her struggles through working and college but will be graduating in May and now has a business, “Faodail Equestrian LLC” that has exploded since September of last year beyond their imagination. Ruthie and Israel currently have two part-time employees who are helping with the day-to-day operation. They are hoping to expand with a few more horses and have a waiting list for people who want to bring their horses to their facility. However, they plan to slow down a little bit so that they can step back and take a look at where the trajectory is heading, what that looks like, and how they want to tweak it. Ruthie would also like to eventually compete at the Grand Prix level, Continued --
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