Meghan de Garay
has been a familiar face in the sport horse world as a key team member of Mary Alice Malone’s legendary Iron Spring Farm for three decades. Also a cornerstone of the KWPN-NA, Meghan currently serves as a member of the Stallion Committee, Marketing Committee, and Board of Directors, and for her tireless efforts on behalf of the organization Meghan was selected as this year’s
recipient of the Tony de Groot Member of the Year Award,
presented at the KWPN-NA Annual Meeting in Florida. As our inaugural Member of the Month, let’s find out more about Meghan:
KWPN-NA:
Did you grow up with horses? Were/are you a rider/competitor?
Meghan:
I loved horses from a very young age. My parents used to take me and my siblings for drives in the country, and any time I saw a horse I went crazy and wanted to stop, even before I could talk! That progressed to collecting Breyer Horses, and then trading stable work for riding lessons by age 12. I eventually got my first pony named Sandpiper, and then a few years later a horse named Paper Moon. My neighbors also raised Standardbreds, so I spent every moment I could at their farm helping with the horses. I pretty much lived there from the time I was 14 until I went to college. I did try going to some local shows with my horses, but I would suffer from really bad nerves and completely forget what the jumper course was after about the second or third jump. So ultimately I just rode for fun, and I put a lot of miles on my horse riding bareback all over the countryside. But actually I am a bit of a timid rider, so anymore I prefer to be involved with and around horses more than being on them.
KWPN-NA:
How did you get involved with ISF and the KWPN-NA?
Meghan:
After a year at college I decided to take time off and work as a nanny for a family which was very involved with dressage horses. The woman, Lorinda Lende, was a Grand Prix rider and had amazing Dutch horses – they were gorgeous, had great temperaments and amazing movement, and I was just hooked on them the minute I met them. I still remember those horses (and their bloodlines), so I guess that is when I first became interested in the breeding side. Through Lorinda I met Belinda Wertman, who was the agent she bought her horses from, and got to know her pretty well. After a few years I left Lorinda’s, but I was so hooked on the horses I knew that going back to school wasn’t really what I wanted to do.
I was in between jobs and I think I asked Belinda if she had any ideas for me, so one day Belinda called and told me she knew of someone looking for a nanny, and it was Mary Alice Malone. I went for an interview and then shortly after started at Iron Spring Farm in October of 1987. That grew into helping out with the phones, and then assisting with paperwork involved with the horses and breeding operation (such as stallion breeding reports, registering foals, keuring and horse show entries). When I first started, ISF had recently started getting approved KWPN stallions and breeding KWPN horses, such as Winston (Roemer) and Sebastiaan (Persian Path xx) in 1985, with Roemer (Pilatus) arriving a year later; then in 1988, Consul came stateside as well. So all of the Dutch system and horses were very new in North America, and in a way I kind of grew up with them because when I started at ISF in 1987 I was just 24 years old, and now the rest is history. Long story short, my job morphed from nanny, to office help, personal assistant, office manager, and then breeding manager, which is my current title.
KWPN-NA:
What is your favorite thing about the breed?
Meghan:
I think I love everything about the KWPN horse! They are beautiful, athletic, smart, with great temperaments and characters, plus they are so talented and versatile.
KWPN-NA:
Who was/is your favorite Dutch horse?
Meghan:
I can’t say that I have just one favorite. The first one I fell in love with was a mare of Lorinda’s named Carmen who was by the KWPN-approved Thoroughbred stallion Pastrocio. Nimmerdor captured my heart when I met him on my first trip the Netherlands in the early 1990’s, but Judgement ISF (Nimmerdor’s grandson) has to be my #1 (tied with his daughter Pippy who I bred).
KWPN-NA:
Is there anything that people don’t really know about you or would be surprised to know?
Meghan:
I love to hunt and be in the outdoors. I just started deer hunting in 2014 and I am hooked! Being out in the woods, I can decompress, turn off and unhook from all my devices (cell phone and computer), and I get to experience nature in a very different way and see all sorts of crazy and wonderful things while I’m out there.