William Stiffler  - President, Executive Director and Founder

Bill first became interested in rescuing horses more than 20 years ago after his brother Bob (RJ), who had been working as a thoroughbred race horse trainer in California, returned home to Littleton, CO to help take care of their ailing father.  Having witnessed the fate of former racehorses, RJ initially decided to return to the tracks to adopt or to help with racehorse adoptions. RJ would buy horses from various racetracks and trainers he knew in the business and bring them home, where the brothers would retrain them before placing them in new homes. While some became trail or companion horses, others went on to compete in various equestrian events such as English hunter/jumper shows and Western competitions.

Bill grew up in Greenwood Village on a gentlemen's ranch and has lived with a passion for horses ever since.  He started the rescue informally with his brother Bob years ago, rescuing thoroughbred racers from slaughter and retraining them as pleasure horses. Bill is an entrepreneur and has owned several businesses.

Karen Stiffler  - Board Member

A successful and well respected realtor in Colorado, who donates a portion of her commissions to Friends of Horses Rescue and Adoption.

Kent & Dawn Gleasure - Board Members

Kent and Dawn have been members of FOHRAA since its inception.

Clay Harper - Honorary Board Member

Working and playing with horses for over 40 years has been Clay's life's greatest pleasure.  In that time He has studied the great trainers' methods and techniques.  In doing so, he's found that having a bag full of tools, ways to solve problems is what you need to train horses.  Why?  Because not all methods work with all horses.  The more tools you have and the more trainers you learn from, the more successful you will be.

Some time ago Clay decided to further his career and collect more tools, with John and Josh Lyons in their certification program, achieving Select Certification Status.  It has proven to be a great asset.  Clay conducts hands-on riding and training clinics and demonstrations around the country, often in collaboration with today's best trainers.  For more information on Clay's training, click here.  

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