River Song is owned by River Song Farm and Stables, LLC and managed by Lisa Krist, a West Des Moines native and riding instructor who was recruited to return to Iowa from Los Angeles and New York to manage River Song and build a new equestrian dream. For the last 10 years she trained horses and taught English and Western riding, hunter-jumpers and dressage in New York, and prior to that was successful in finance and investment banking. She began her competitive career as a consistently winning competitor in Intercollegiate competition on Miami University’s Equestrian Team in Oxford, Ohio and also competed successfully in various other equestrian competitions on privately-owned horses. While at Miami University, she instructed students who took horseback riding for college credit and was selected by the Equestrian Team's coach to teach Miami's football team to ride. The football coach sent HIS team to learn to ride and thereby develop balance, agility, grace and endurance to improve their football skills.
Upon graduation, Lisa moved to California, and while working at Morgan Stanley in Los Angeles, was invited by the prestigious Flintridge Riding Club in Flintridge, California to visit their facilities, then by the Flintridge Huntmaster to join and ride as a professional for the Club. She also had many private equestrian clients for whom she rode and trained in Los Angeles. She was then moved by Morgan Stanley to New York City, where the equestrian bug bit again and she began teaching riding lessons and riding camps at Pelham Bit Stables, where she also "test drove" the new horses acquired at auction by this very active sale barn. After teaching part time for a year, she realized she liked teaching riding much better than finance, and quit investment banking and gave up the money to teach riding full time, creating a highly successful business and a very large client base.
More recently in New York, in addition to a heavy full-time teaching schedule, Lisa did quite a bit of “specialty” equestrian teaching for special needs and at risk children and adults, which she continues to do in Iowa. She has successfully taught, motivated and encouraged blind, autistic, disadvantaged, disturbed and other special needs children and adults with various other disabilities, including adults with fibromyalgia and children with Attention Deficit Disorder. She has also had some very unusual and interesting clients – for instance, the client who, at 64, was at the highest level of Samurai warriorship – shooting a 7-foot bow and arrow from the back of a galloping horse - something only six people in the world are doing. Whatever the challenge – Lisa takes it on and gets it done!
Lisa has taken great care to hire only the most experienced, friendly, dedicated and hard working staff available to care for River Song's property, horses and clients. River Song Farm and Stables is a first class facility with first class horses, and although we are new, we are working hard to be the best full-service riding stables in the state. This is a HAPPY place, and there’s a lot of love out here. We love our horses, our boarders and our clients – and they love us back.
Come see for yourself – then come join us!
ONCE YOU'RE HERE, YOU WON'T WANT TO LEAVE!
